The Feed

Thinking Biblically About Immigration
by Matt Soerens

While the Bible does not provide a specific prescription for a U.S. immigration policy-or for any other particular policy decision-there are certainly principles that guide us as we consider the immigration dilemma and seek a policy that reflects God’s love, compassion, and justice.

When we read the Bible as a sacred narrative of God’s interaction with humanity, we find that immigrants and refugees play many of the most important roles in the story. We see throughout Scripture how God has used the movement of people to accomplish His greater purposes. Like immigrants and refugees today, the protagonists of the Old Testament left their homelands and migrated to other lands for a variety of different reasons.

Abram, later Abraham, is introduced in Genesis 11 as an immigrant from Ur to Haran. Abram’s journeys did not stop there: this Ur-born immigrant later journeyed on to Canaan, with a stay in Egypt as well. Abram’s decision to leave Haran and bring his family to Canaan parallels the stories of many historical and contemporary immigrants, who leave the lands that they know and cross borders in pursuit of a promise-in this case a divine promise that God would bless him, make of him a great nation, and bless all nations through him (Gen 12:1-5).

Scripture suggests that all of us, as followers of Christ, whatever our nationality, have become aliens in this world, as our allegiances are to lie not primarily with any nation state but with the Kingdom of God. Paul reminds the believers at Philippi that their citizenship is in heaven, while both Peter and the author of Hebrews refer to believers us “aliens and strangers” in the world (Phil 3:20, 1 Pet 2:11, Heb 11:13).

God used migration throughout Scripture to accomplish his purposes and bring his people to a greater understanding of his will for creation. We can assume that the God who used migration so vividly throughout the Bible is the same God who works today to move his people from one place to another. Since so many of the characters of the biblical story were migrants of one sort or another, it is not surprising that God gives us a great deal of guidance as to how to interact with immigrants.

God reminds the Israelites early on of their own history as aliens in a foreign land, commanding them that, given their own experience, they should welcome the immigrant among them.

In Leviticus 19:33-34, God commands the Israelites, “When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.” In fact, Israel’s very identity was tied to how they treated the foreign-born, as it was a reflection of Israel’s trust in God to provide and of their willingness to follow his commandments.

Over and over again, God admonishes Israel that the foreigner must receive equal treatment to the native born, without discrimination. The words of Exodus 12:49, which are repeated throughout the Pentateuch in nearly identical words many times, make clear that the same law is to be applied without prejudice to both the Israelite and the immigrant living amongst them: “The same law applies to the native-born and to the alien living among you.” This mandate for impartial treatment has both a positive and a negative connotation: immigrants should receive all the same rights and protections as the native born citizen, but they also should be subject to the same rules and restrictions.

At the same time, immigrants are recognized as being particularly vulnerable, and God therefore commands the Israelites to take special concern for them. The term usually translated as alien or sojourner appears repeatedly in conjunction with two other categories of people of special concern to God: the fatherless and the widow. For example, Deuteronomy 10:18 says that God “defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.” Psalm 146:9 echoes this concern: “The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.” The same linkage extends throughout the Old Testament, such as in Ezekiel, where the evil rulers of Israel are condemned for having “oppressed the alien and mistreated the fatherless and the widow” (Ezek 22:7).  Likewise, in Zechariah, where we are commanded, “Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor” (Zech 7:10).

While the Bible does not specifically state to support one piece of legislation or another today, general Biblical principles of welcome and concern for the stranger can help us form policies that are inclusive and welcoming of the immigrants in our communities.