What Does the Bible Say about Immigration?

Few topics are as controversial today as immigration. The world and the Jewish community in particular are reeling from the attack in Australia where a Pakistani father and son gunned down dozens of innocents while they were celebrating a Jewish festival. Americans have been shocked by the scope and size of the recently uncovered Somali embezzlement scheme. Chile recently elected a right-wing president, and one of the main reasons for this appears to be fears about security and immigration. 

As an American, immigration feels like a uniquely American issue to me. Ever since 2016, President Donald Trump has run on a border wall and shutting down illegal immigration. In his most recent election, he ran a campaign that was largely focused on pushing back against illegal immigration, and took home a sweeping victory carrying all seven “swing states.” But this isn’t just an American issue. It’s making the news in Europe, Australia, and even South America. So as Bible-believing Christians, what do we do about immigration? 

I don’t have all the answers, but God’s Word does. That doesn’t mean that the answers we are looking for will be quickly discovered and easily applied. Challenging, complex life issues will require long, thoughtful engagement with Scripture. We need to go back to the Bible repeatedly and study it long so that the wisdom of the Creator can lighten our path. This post won’t be the be-all, end-all on immigration. I don’t know that such a post will be written at all, certainly not soon and certainly not by me. But I do think I can make a few general observations that can give a starting point for important, if awkward conversations. 

The Bible commands God’s people to show kindness to outsiders.

The first and most basic question we should be asking is, “If I see an immigrant or foreigner in my country, does the Bible give me any instruction on what I should do?” What does the Bible say about immigrants? To do a word study like this, you would want to focus on the Old Testament word ger and the New Testament word xenos. These words are often translated as “stranger, alien, foreigner.” They describe someone moving to or through an area who is an outsider. God is very clear how He wants these strangers treated.

The Hebrew word ger is related to the word for sojourner. It’s used of people like Abraham – wandering nomads or people who move to an area they weren’t born into. In fact, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are all seen as sojourners, and Israel was seen as a sojourner in the land of Egypt. For this reason, when Israel settled in the land, God told His people to care for the sojourner in a number of ways. First, they were to leave them some crops to harvest (Leviticus 19:10). Further, God tells Israel not to wrong the strangers, but to treat them as if they were full citizens, because after all Israel knows what it’s like to be the foreigners (Leviticus 19:33-34; Deuteronomy 10:18-19). 

In the New Testament, the early church is commanded to show hospitality to all. The word for hospitality is philoxenia (Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:2; cf. 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8; 1 Peter 4:9), which means a love of strangers. In particular, it was the expectation that travelers from other cities and countries would be given lodging, especially if they were Christians. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus judges the sheep and the goats based on how they treat Him, the foreigner (Matthew 25:35, 38, 43, 44). The word here is often translated as “stranger” but it’s our word xenos, or foreigner.

We must not miss this. The Bible directs followers of God to show warmth and kindness to the outsiders. Israel is to do this because they were strangers and because God cares for the outsider. In the New Testament, the church is to do this because the way we treat foreigners is the way we treat Jesus. This means that if you see someone with a hijab, or if you hear someone speaking Spanish, the Bible is clear how you should respond to that individual. You should show them kindness and welcome them. That was the heart of God in the Old Testament and that is the expectation of Christ in the New Testament, and that is how we should respond. 

There is a difference between public policy and personal interactions

As an individual Christian, it is my responsibility to love the foreigner, and to show them the love of Christ. Governments have a different responsibility. Their responsibility, according to passages such as Romans 13, is above all to protect their citizens by promoting justice and punishing wrongdoing. One of the most explosive things that has been coming to light regarding the Somali fraud ring was the behavior of government officials who essentially knew it was happening but did nothing to stop it. Put simply, they did not fulfill their obligations to protect their citizens and to punish the wrongdoing and promote good.

Governments have a responsibility to think through issues such as, “How many people should we bring into our country?” “How rigorously should they be vetted?” “Should we prioritize people with a similar or at least compatible worldview?” A failure to carefully ask these questions can result in harm. It can result in a government bringing in large numbers of foreigners that do not hold the values of the country and putting the population at risk. There has perhaps been no more tragic example of this than the grooming gangs scandal in England. Love of neighbor does not mean looking the other way when your citizens get hurt. 

A further complication to this issue is that in America, and in all Western-style democracies, the citizens of the country play a role in shaping policies. That means these are not just decisions that are being made by a king or an emperor somewhere. It is a decision made by representatives we elected, and who are accountable to us. This means that we have a dual responsibility as citizens of our country. We are to love the foreigner, but we are also to think carefully and vote wisely for immigration policies that protect our families and our neighbors. 

 

Cultures are not the same, and some cultures are better than others.

I once visited a country on a mission trip that was in disarray, to put things mildly. That missionary has since come off the field because it has become too dangerous for him and his family to continue there. While we were there, he explained some things about the history of the country that stuck with me. He said that when America overthrew its colonial overlords, America sought to build a nation founded on God’s Word. While there were some deists in the mix, the founders of our country held Scripture in high regard and studied it carefully. They prayed for wisdom while writing the Constitution. The result was America. 

The missionary told me that the country he was serving in had made a different choice. Rather than serving God, they decided to serve Satan after they shook off their European overlords. The result was that witchcraft and voodoo became ubiquitous, and the country has become an absolute disaster. Anarchy is the rule of the day, and people have little hope of things getting better. I was saddened to see the filth, the lack of respect for human life, the violence, and the hopelessness of the country. But what else would you expect from a country that set out to serve Satan? 

We can look at the wealth and success of European countries that for centuries followed at least some form of Christianity and see God’s blessing. We can see Middle Eastern cultures that have followed the Quran for centuries and see that generally speaking they are not as successful as Western countries, but they are better than others. This is what we would expect, because after all Scripture tells us that “righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). We cannot and should not pretend that a culture that makes the worship of Satan its foundation, and the culture that makes the Quran its foundation, and the culture that makes Scripture its foundation are all somehow the same.

This means that not all immigration is the same. Some immigrants will come from cultures that are more closely aligned with ours, and will be better fits. Other immigrants will come from cultures that think very differently from Americans on a number of issues. Accepting immigrants, especially large numbers of immigrants from these cultures, can cause problems. This also means that our goal for immigrants should be enculturation. We should want all immigrants coming to this country to have a goal of becoming Americans. Especially those who come from worlds with very different ideas and ideals, the goal should be for them to adopt an American way of life, because they have come to America.

 

Every culture has something redeemable.

But wanting other cultures who have moved here to become acclimated to our culture doesn’t mean that we are better than them in every way and everything they do is wrong. This is a mistake I fear some on the right are making. There is an almost smug attitude that says, “Multiculturalism is wrong when it argues that all cultures are equal. Not all cultures are equally good.” This much I would agree with. But then they go on and argue “And our culture is the best and really doesn’t have anything to learn from these inferior cultures.” This is just flat-out wrong.

Because humans are made in the image of God, and culture is produced by humans, virtually all cultures will have something redeemable. How can I say this? Because in Revelation we read that in the eternal state the nations of the earth will bring their riches into the city (21:24-26). I don’t think this will simply be some uniform currency, as if everyone will send a crypto payment lump sum every month to New Jerusalem. I think the point is that the nations will bring in the best of what they have to offer. I think New Jerusalem will be a vibrant, sprawling menagerie of cultures, customs, art, food, and beauty that shows the glory of the Creator refracted through the prism of hundreds of unique cultures. 

 

God is a God who loves real, genuine diversity. The end of time is not some static monolith of everyone adapting the perfect culture, but of every culture being perfected by burning away the dross. We long for that day, and at times we get a glimpse of it here on earth. I’m privileged to be at a church that got a taste of that with a special event we call “Global Christmas Village.” We celebrated different Christmas traditions from all around the world, heard carols sung in the native tongue of different members of our church, and were encouraged with a sense of unity that didn’t ignore our differences but gloried in the fact that through our differences we could all praise the one Creator together. 

One day, what we now get a taste of here and there will be the case all over the world. Until then we must wrestle with what our immigration policies must be, and we must overcome our natural tendency to favor our own group so that we can love the outsider as God commands. In a world that loves to swing on pendulums, going from one extreme to the other, those of us who follow God must be willing to hold our ground. We must welcome the outsiders and share the gospel with all who are here, and also be wise and careful as a country about who we invite in. We must recognize the foolishness in saying that all cultures are equally good, and also recognize the foolishness of saying that our culture has no room for improvement or has nothing to learn from others. And we do all of this longing for the day when the new song is sung, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slaughtered, and you purchased people for God by your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:9).

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Ben Hicks is the Associate Pastor at Colonial Hills Baptist Church in Indianapolis. This article originally appeared on his Substack.

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