Of all the things a pastor does, chief among these things is a pastor’s calling to be a faithful teacher of the Holy Scriptures in their parish community. Consequently, with all the Bible quoting going on these days concerning the current issue of global mass migration, I would be remiss in my pastoral calling and obligations if I did not offer a balanced biblical instruction about this issue. There’s a lot of Bible cherry picking, self-righteous virtue signaling, guilting and shaming going on concerning this issue right now. Also, this global mass migration issue is especially important as we observe the 25th Anniversary of September 11th this year.
In any ethical discussion, Lutheran theology always asks first and foremost, “What does God’s Word within the Holy Scriptures tell us?” So, what does the Word of God say about things such as national boundaries and sovereignty, rule of law and law enforcement, hospitality to strangers and charitable service to those in need?
Acts 17:26–27 states that God “made from one blood every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the Earth, having determined the times set for them and the boundaries of their dwelling places.” Deuteronomy 32:8 and Genesis 10–11 present the distinctions and boundaries of nations as deliberate God-ordained acts of divine providence. In other words, the beautiful tapestry of nations and ethnicities is not accidental but on purpose. It is divinely ordered according to God’s creative and redeeming will.
Therefore, there is nothing wrong or immoral with modern ethno-states (for example: Japan, Norway, Israel, Korea, Armenia, etcetera) who seek to maintain a majority ethnic population for their nations. On the other hand, there are exceptional nation-states that are intentionally multi-ethnic “melting pot” countries in which both naturalized immigrants and native-born citizens assimilate and grow together to form a unique and united national culture. Our own United States of America is the preeminent example of a “melting pot” nation-state in which our “one nation under God” (from The Pledge of Allegiance) is indivisibly molded and formed according to our founding documents and principles rooted in the worldview and traditions of Western Judeo-Christian Civilization.
Romans 13:1–7 and 1 Peter 2:13–14 describe civil rulers as God-ordained agents of maintaining law and order for the sake and wellbeing of their citizenry. So, any governing authority’s primary duty is to its citizens. In addition, 1 Timothy 5:8 treats failure to provide for one’s own household as a denial of the faith. Consequently, in a similar way, the nation-state functions as an extended household that maintains preferential care for its citizenry. This ordering of care is not un-Christian; it is the biblical structure of “ordered love” (ordo amoris). Basically, biblical ordered love and justice do not require a nation to allow mass migration at the expense of other duties, responsibilities and concerns.
It is true that the Bible clearly and repeatedly commands hospitality to the Ger which is the Hebrew word for “resident alien” or “sojourner” (see Leviticus 19:33–34, Deuteronomy 10:18–19, Exodus 22:21). Yet, the ger was expected to live under Israel’s law (Leviticus 24:22 and Numbers 15:15–16), observe the Sabbath, and they could not automatically claim full citizenship rights and equal political power or supplant the covenantal identity of Israel. Therefore, the biblical virtue of hospitality was never a blank check for allowing overwhelming mass entry. Israel controlled its borders and required assimilation to its national laws and culture.
It’s also important to note that the New Testament does not reverse this Old Testament pattern for the governing authorities of a nation-state. Moreover, according to the New Testament, the Church of Jesus Christ is a global and multi-ethnic spiritual body that prays and advocates for peaceful international relations, but the Church is not a political body dedicated to eliminating borders and erasing national distinctions. Interestingly, the famous John Lennon song, Imagine, has become a kind of globalist anthem over the past 50+ years, uplifting the ‘dream’ of a world without borders. However, biblically speaking, the content of this song cannot be considered to have any kind of spiritual or ethical weight for faithful Christian believers. This catchy but unbiblical song is simply not the creedal manifesto that some modern Christians have made it into.
Of course, our Lord Jesus did say, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:35), and his Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) addresses personal and ecclesiastical responsibility toward neighbors in need. But individual charity and communal charity do not constitute a divine command for governments to blindly follow, because any dutiful governing authority must weigh issues of scale, speed, legality, compatibility, and long-term effects on the common good. These are governing considerations that private charity does not face in the same way.
Moreover, mass migration also creates space (unholy space) for human trafficking and the exploitation of both migrants and citizens alike. So, the desire for legal boundaries, secure borders, well-ordered migration with rational limits, a process of assimilation, and a genuine refugee prioritization within capacity, is not an un-Christian desire. It is consistent with both compassion and the God-given duty of a nation-state to its citizens. For example, the Prophet Nehemiah’s rebuilding of the battlements of Jerusalem is a prime biblical illustration of the good and moral responsibility of a government to its citizens before all other responsibilities.
Lastly, it is very important to say that the Holy Bible nowhere justifies indifference to refugees fleeing genuine persecution. The same biblical texts that uphold borders also forbid oppressing the resident alien who is lawfully present. All nations may (and should) receive true refugees and lawful immigrants who can be absorbed without destroying the rule of law and social trust. So, the biblical witness regarding the present issue of mass migration is a clear witness against mass scale and speed that destabilizes a host nation. The biblical witness is clearly against the elevation of global mobility over and above the rights and duties of citizenship, and it’s against treating borders as morally illegitimate. However, it is also clearly not a rejection of all migration or of mercy toward the sojourning stranger who comes with well-meaning intentions and under lawful terms.
My sincere prayer is that this balanced biblical instruction will be useful and helpful to you during these bewildering times we are living through.
Grace & Peace, Pastor Tim