A Theology of Immigration

Estimated reading time: 25 minutes

We need a theology of immigration. This post is a stepping stone towards exploring what that could look like.

Why is a Theology of Immigration Needed?

This is an age of increasing nationalism, hatred, jingoism, wars, and economic strife. We need a reminder of the way of the Gospel. Jesus teaches us to love the neighbour, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner, and care for the poor. Scripture tells us that perfect love drives out fear. But people are driven to fear the outsider, especially the foreigner, and demonise the immigrant.

We are living in an age where even people who claim to follow Christ are letting fear get the best of them. Fear breeds hatred. Faith seems no protection against fear. There are plenty of people who benefit when the economic bottom-half of the country are taught to fear the foreigner and the immigrant. The more the working-class blame immigrants for the cost of living, the less they will blame the actual culprits. The myth of scarcity drives resentment against immigrants without a cause. But, worryingly, that same myth has infiltrated faith.

Rising Nationalism

Christians, especially cultural Christians, are joining a rising tide of Christian nationalism. They are being told that the Christian way of life is disappearing. Or that we were a ‘Christian country’ and that identity is being taken away. The word ‘taken’ is really important here. When people’s identity is threatened, they are given an enemy. The enemy is someone to fear and therefore someone to hate.

We need a theology of immigration which challenges this fear and speaks the truth of the Gospel. If we do not welcome the stranger, care for the most vulnerable, and reject nationalism, we cannot follow Christ.

Immigration Theology in the Old Testament

The Old Testament gives us our first insight into a theology of immigration.

The driving narrative throughout the Old Testament is God’s liberation and rescue of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. The Exodus narrative is the foundation for the Jewish Law’s ethical reality. Again and again the refrain rings out. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. Welcome the stranger because you were strangers in Egypt. Care for the foreigner because you were slaves in Egypt.

Because the Israelites had been slaves and then redeemed into freedom, they had a responsibility for how they treated other people. They had to treat others how God had treated them. The command to welcome the stranger was a test of how willing the Israelites were to obey God.

Distinction in Hebrew Between Sojourners and Foreigners

Hebrew uses two different words for strangers and foreigners. Ger, which broadly means sojourner or stranger, and Nekhar, which means foreigner. The word Ger also means a member of one Israel tribe living in a different tribe’s land. Ger is the word that we would associate with an immigrant. Someone from a different people group who takes up residence in the land but was not born there.

Some argue that the word Nekhar used for foreigner refers to someone who does not integrate. It describes someone who remains outside of the Israelite community. They suggest that the command to welcome the stranger does not apply to any immigrant. Only the person who has a legal relationship with the country in which they are residing. However, the words Nekhar and Ger are used pretty interchangeably throughout the Old Testament.

Looking ahead to Luke

I find that argument to be similar to the expert in the Law in Luke 10. He wanted to equivocate over who his neighbour was so he could get around the command to love them. I think the same thing is going on here as well. God has been clear in the commands given in the Bible. Trying to apply modern immigration law to the Bible is anachronistic at best. What we find in Scripture is a narrative ethic that we inhabit. God has set us free, and we have to live according to that freedom.

If you want to go deeper on this topic, read this article: Topical Bible: Stranger and Sojourner in the Old Testament

The Covenant of Land

Stranger or sojourner was sometimes used quite pointedly to mean someone who is not a landowner (Gen 23:3; Lev 25:23). They were residing in the land but could not own the land. The relationship with the land is essential to grasp the understanding of a theology of immigration in the Old Testament.

Israelites had a covenanted relationship with the land. It was a gift from God, parcelled out to the tribes. The Israelites did not own the land. It did not belong to them. It belongs to God. The Israelites get to live in it through their covenant with God. That is why when the Israelites broke the commandment, they experienced times of famine and environmental desolation. Membership in the people of Israel was covenantal as well. That is why someone not born in the land could still become a member of God’s people. Circumcision – covenant faithfulness – was the marker of belonging.

The land belonged to God. The Israelites were its covenantal custodians. The expansion of the covenant to all nations meant expanding the covenantal understanding of land to the whole world. Now, the covenant between humanity and God includes the entire world, not one country.

The Theological Motivation of Exodus

The Exodus story is the central story for understanding the Bible. The rescue from slavery, the institution of Passover, and the giving of the Law, become the key themes for almost every Bible story. Because of this, the people of Israel are always the ones that God redeemed from slavery. God gives the Law to people God rescued as a continuing covenant. Jesus framed his ministry in terms of a new Exodus. God is always the God who rescues the slave. The Lord takes the side of the oppressed over the oppressor. That is why the command to love the neighbour and care for the stranger is so important.

When the Israelites escaped Egypt, they did not go alone. They left with a mixed multitude of people (Ex 12:38). This likely refers to Egyptians, slaves, and foreigners who joined the Israelites during their Exodus journey. God’s wonders had impressed them, so they followed God’s people out of Egypt. From the very beginning of their journey, the Jewish people included individuals from other nations. These individuals had become part of their community.

Covenantal Land

For other nations, land and identity were something won, something attained, something to be jealously guarded. Israel’s land and national identity was a gift from God to share with the world. The covenant with God included caring for strangers, widows, and orphans as if they were family. So if Israel did not live up to their expectations, the covenant would be broken. Breaking the covenant meant losing the land. This is exactly what happens when the Jewish people go into exile in Babylon.

Legal and Economic Protections for the Stranger

Apart from the Moabites and Ammonites (Deu 23:3), people from all nations could become part of the community of God. This included all the rights and protections under the Law of Moses.

Sojourners and strangers had to obey the Law, despite not being circumcised. For example, they could not blaspheme the name of God, or work on the Sabbath. The stranger was allowed to glean in the fields (Lev 23:22), and participate in some religious festivals (Deu 16:11). They could make sacrifices for unknowing sins, and were expected to abide by the Jubilee commandments. They were also exempt from the dietary and purity Laws except where they would come into contact with Jews.

God Prioritises the weak and the outsider

God always priorities the weak and the vulnerable. This includes strangers in communities they do not come from. In Deuteronomy 10:18-19 we see God’s care for the stranger being emphasised:

He executed justice for the fatherless and widow, and he loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. So you also must love the foreigner, since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

However, unless the sojourner submitted to circumcision, they would never be an Israelite. There was a cultural and religious distinction centred on circumcision. If a sojourner was circumcised they become like one who was born in the land (Ex 12:48). This is because membership to Israel was not national identity but covenantal identity.

God’s covenant had a universal element to it. Everyone could become part of it. Place of birth did not limit the covenant. National identity was secondary to covenantal identity. We see in Isaiah 56:6-7 the prophetic hope that everyone, including foreigners, would become part of God’s people.

This leads us into the section on the New Testament.

Immigration Theology in the New Testament

In the New Testament we see further foundations for a theology of immigration. Again, we should not approach the Biblical texts expecting it to speak directly to our 21st century questions. However, just as with the Old Testament, the New Testament gives us a narrative ethic to inhabit.

Jesus the New Adam

The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was for all people in all times and places. Jesus preached to the Jews, but people from every nation were listening. Jesus said that the person with the most faith was a Roman centurion. A member of the occupying forces recognised who Jesus was. He had more faith than any of the disciples. With that simple statement, Jesus demonstrated that the exclusivity of God’s people was coming to an end.

Belonging to God depended on faith, not nationality or ritual adherence. Through Jesus, the words of the prophet Isaiah were coming true. Jesus said:

My house shall be a house of prayer for all nations. Mark 11:17

Everyone was free to worship God. No more court of the Gentiles. No more curtain protecting the holy of hollies. But Jesus wasn’t just transforming the Temple. Through his death and resurrection he was changing all humanity through the entire body of Christ. Because of this, the church is a home for every nation. Which means that monocultural or single ethnicity churches do not demonstrate the radical and beautiful truth of the Gospel.

Because if this Jesus gives us a new command and a new example.

Jesus and the Stranger

Jesus commands us to love one another as he has loved us, and he tells us what this looks like. In Matthew 25 Jesus tells us that when we clothe the naked, feed the hungry, visit prisoners, and welcome the stranger, we are doing it to Jesus. In fact, Jesus said that we will be judged on whether or not we do those things. If we do not do those things, then we do not know Jesus. How we treat the most vulnerable matters. This includes strangers, immigrants, and refugees. If we do not feed them, clothe them, care for them, and love them, then we do not know Jesus. No where does Jesus say only do this for people with the right paperwork.

The example of the Good Samaritan

The Good Samaritan did not stop to ask whether the person in need deserved his help. He did not check his nationality or residency first. Now did he ask whether there was anyone else who needed his help more. He saw a person in need. He helped him. That is what God commands us to do. That is what it means to love our neighbour. To see a person in need and then serve them. We do not do this based on whether they are like us or not. We do not have more responsibility to our families, or our own nation and communities than to strangers. If anything, the opposite is true.

It is easy to love your family. It is hard to love your enemy. Jesus commands us to love our enemy and our neighbour. To love someone is to serve them and take responsibility for their wellbeing.

Pentecost

At Pentecost, the world changes. Pentecost is the celebration of God giving the Law to Moses. But at Pentecost Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to people from many nations. Following God is not limited by nation, and, more crucially, it is not limited to ritual obedience to the Law. The Holy Spirit living in a person gives evidence to belonging to God, not obedience to the Law or circumcision.

Nation, ethnicity, culture, and cultic purity no longer establish identity. Those things remain. However, they are less important. It is Christ that matters. Our identity comes from Christ. The Holy Spirit living in us demonstrates this. This is the promise of Pentecost. Because of Pentecost, we cannot make assumptions based on nationality. Pentecost is what allows Paul to write that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek.

Neither Jew nor Greek

Paul wrote:

As many of you as were baptised into Christ have clothes yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:27-28

Paul is clear. In Christ, all other markers of belonging fade away. All other identities are secondary to our identity in Christ. It doesn’t matter where we come from, or what our economic status is. All that matters is that we are in Christ. The same is true for anyone else. A Christian from any other country is first and foremost our sibling. Our shared identity in Christ is more important than what country they are from, their gender, or their economic status.

The radical new identity that Christ creates is the foundation for Pauline ethics. But this is not limited to the church. The church is only the foretaste of the new creation which is breaking into our reality. New humanity in Christ, shown in the church, is the promise for the future. There will be no national boundaries, not differences from culture and creed, in the new creation. Only the shared reality of being in Christ.

An Objection?

You might say… “Oh, but all of that only applies to fellow Christians.” Or, you might say… “Yeah, but sojourners were people who had got agreement to be in the land. They came legally.” I think I have already demonstrated that the second point isn’t true. Further, sojourners had to obey the Law, but they did not have to keep all of the Law such as all the festivals, dietary laws, and being circumcised. They were welcomed into the land without having to assimilate into the culture. The sojourners had to obey the law, but did not have to lose who they were.

As for the first point, I think that is clearly wrong. Our shared identity might be in Christ, but there is another human identity which sits beneath that. We are all created in the image of God. Every human is a child of God, even if they have wandered away. Everyone has essential dignity and worth because they are part of God’s creation. Every life is sacred because every life is in the image of God. Someone’s essential value does not go up or down depending on what they believe or what country they come from.

Jesus Commands us to Love

Jesus’s commands to love the neighbour, pray for our enemy, feed the hungry etc. are not dependent on national origin or legal status. The only qualifying factor is need. Further, the need of a person is not determined by whether they are closer to us or whether they are strangers. It is purely based on the actual need of the person at that time. The Bible tells us to welcome the stranger. If you start quibbling over who the stranger is, then you are playing the same pious games as the teacher of the law asking who his neighbour is.

Then there are times when we welcome the stranger, we end up welcoming something else as well.

Welcoming Angels

There is a strange little line in the Letter to the Hebrews. It says do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, because many have unknowingly welcomed Angels by doing so.

It isn’t qualified and it isn’t a metaphor. The writer means what they say. They when you show hospitality to strangers, sometimes you are doing it to angels. This verse links back to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the book of Ezekiel we learn that the sin of Sodom was a lack of hospitality shown to the angels. This verse is not just an encouragement. It is an warning.

We need to welcome the stranger because you never know if they are an angel. We should always treat the stranger at our door, or indeed in our country, as if they were Christ. Because if we do not, we may face the same consequences as Sodom.

A Different Kind of Kingdom

In John 18:36 Jesus tells Pilate that His kingdom is not like the kingdoms of this world. The kingdom of God is not ruled with power or maintained by fear. God’s kingdom has open boarders because all are welcome in it. Jesus rules over every nation, every country, every state. All powers and dominions and rulers are subject to Christ. Although many are in rebellion.

Being a citizen of heaven means our allegiance belongs to Christ before any other nation or power. That is why Christian nationalism must be rejected by everyone who follows Christ.

The Heresy of Christian Nationalism

Christian nationalism is heresy and idolatry. If we are to develop a theology of immigration, we need to get rid of any nationalistic tendencies.

Jesus is Lord, Not Caesar

The starting point is really simple. You cannot be a Christian nationalist and follow Jesus. This is simply because we recognise that Christ is our only Lord. Nations and countries have rulers. But none of them are God. Therefore, our first allegiance is always to Jesus. If our highest and first allegiance is to Jesus, that means all of our other allegiances are negotiated. We cannot give our total support to whatever nation we belong to.

Our faith and obedience to Christ is more important than the accident of birth that gave us our nation. Being British or American or Russian is secondary to being a Christian. My obedience to Christ is more important than my obedience to my country and its rulers. There is always a limit to my relationship with my country. I cannot say that my country is better than any other simply because I live here. Nor can I say that other people are not as good as me because they come from other countries.

We are all sojourners in this world. We are all passing through on our way to the new creation which is to come. I belong to the eternal kingdom of heaven, not the transitory nations of this world.

Nations Cannot Be Christian

A simple truth is that a nation or a country cannot be Christian. Only a person can be Christian. A community is Christian only in so much that its members are all Christian. A nation cannot be Christian because it cannot turn the other cheek, it cannot love its enemy, and it cannot go the extra mile. A country cannot give its ultimate allgeiance to Jesus because its first priority is always continuity. A state must continue to exist. Nations use violence and force to maintain order, to provide safety, and to enact control. Therefore all nations act against the Gospel.

The laws of a nation may be based on Christian teaching, but they are not Christian. No country has Christian laws, no matter how many like to stick up the ten commandments. A nation cannot be Christian so Christian nationalism is inherently flawed. Christian nationalists are not Christian, they are simply corrupting ideas of white Christian history to fulfill their own identities and ideologies. They are not for Christianity. Instead, they are against Islam or atheism or ‘wokism’ or whatever thing they think poses a threat.

Nationalism is based on fear, insecurity, and feelings of inferiority. Christianity is antithetical to those things.

Borders Are A Product of Sin

Borders exist because of fear. Fear of scarcity, of difference, and of status. Nations and countries exists in distinction to other nations and countries. Whenever we make a group, we always saying we are not those people as much as we are saying we are these people. Borders and divisions exist because of sin. Pay attention to what I’m saying. I’m not saying differences are sinful. Far from it. In Genesis 10, there are many peoples and tribes with many languages. Part of the evil of the Tower of Babylon in Genesis 11 is that it forces everyone to be the same. God restores the difference by returning them to their languages. Difference is not sinful.

Boundaries and borders are sinful because they are the social and political markers of the consequences of sin. Humanity should have been united. We are not. The consequences of the fall persist in our political and social lives. We have to move away from thinking that borders provide protection and security towards recognising that they prevent us from being fully human. Borders create and sustain fear, which inevitably creates hatred for what is different.

Land as Gift

The land we live on is a gift it doesn’t belong to us. All of creation belongs to God. We live here because the land has been given to us as a gift from God. We are told to care for it, nurture it, and tend to it. But not to dominate and control it. That also means we cannot be possessive over land.

What makes land belong to anyone except force? Whether that is economic, social, or violent force doesn’t really matter. When we start thinking the land belongs to us we need to think again pretty quickly. The land was here before us, it will be here long after us. We hold land in trust for the generations which are to come after us, not as a resource to be exploited and used for our own benefit.

No one can own the land. A nation exists in space, but it does not own the land it dwells upon. It may control it and jealously guard it, but it does not own it. If the land is given as gift, it is given to everyone as gift, not only to a elect few or to a particular form of government. Land as a gift prevents us from seeing our country as something that exists by divine right. It is not ours. Who are we to decide who gets to be in it?

How Big is Our Table?

When we are faced with so many people in need of help our response should but be to control access, but to make the table longer. There is room for everyone if we do not hoard but are willing to share. The early Church in Acts 2 and 4 shared everything they had in common. They made space for each other. They sold their own property and gave p their wealth so that everyone had enough. But countries hoard their wealth out of fear. They keep other countries in crippling debt to control them.

When Christ is the source of our security and safety we are set free from the fear of scarcity. Where we place our trust and security has an impact on our confidence in the world. Perfect love drives out fear, and without that fear, we can share what we have and build a longer table. A Christian cannot be a nationalist because a nationalist wants to build bigger walls, while a Christian must learn to build bigger tables.

The Internationalism of The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army is an international movement. It’s internationalism is central to its identity. Even during times of global warfare, the Army has remained resolutely united in it’s internationalism. There is a story you can read in this post about an encounter between two Salvationists on opposite sides of the Second World War.

The International Salvationist

The Salvation Army has always considered itself above petty nationalisms because it belonged to a higher kingdom. It’s internationalism is not just a practical matter – it is a theological statement. The Army does not belong to any nation because it belongs to God.

In 1914 Bramwell Booth said:

All lands are my fatherland because all lands are my Father’s.

A Salvationist belongs to the Kingdom of God first, then to The Salvation Army, and only then to any one nation or country. The Salvationist is committed to the salvation and transformation of the whole world, not only the bits of it they like or the people that look like them.

Nationalism goes against the whole spirit of Salvationism. The Salvation Army works around the world in over 130 countries. A Salvationist cannot say they will put their country first without saying their Salvationist siblings are less important to them than the people from their own nation.

The Salvationist Vision of a World Without Borders

In 1968, on the same week when the Rivers of Blood was being given by Enoch Powell, the Army published an article in the War Cry on internationalism. It was written by Lt. Col. Rose Flemming and was called “Across Frontiers.” She said that in Christ, and wherever Christ was found, there is no distinction between peoples. Frontiers and boarders are caused by distrust. It is sin which leads to the division nations, not the desire of God. She said that when we can get neighbour love into our hearts, then all class and racial barriers will be overcome.

The Salvationist hope for world-wide conversion includes the hope for the end to the nations. All will be one in Christ and there will no longer be any difference between rave or nation or place of birth. All will be made one, so any difference unites rather than divides.

A Theology of Immigration

A theology of immigration that is rooted in the narrative of scripture, grounded in love, and given in expectation of the eschatological reality, looks like a feast. It is a wedding feast where many important people were invited, but did not come because they were too busy fighting over who would get the most important seat, or did not want to be seen at the party with their political enemy. So the Groom goes out into the streets and lanes and brings in everyone else to celebrate and eat and drink together.

There is a difference between a political position on immigration and a theology of immigration. A theology of immigration is hopeful, daring, and acts in best faith. It acts in the assurance of God’s promise and within the commands of the Gospel. Good theology is about bringing the future reality of the kingdom of God into the present world. This means realising the reality of Christ’s death and resurrection for everyone here and now.

Is Everyone Welcome?

Yes, everyone is welcome. A country gets the right to determine who should or should not be in their country. But a theology is not a political principle. Theologically speaking there can be no principle for stopping someone sojourning in our land. Further, we have a divine command to provide hospitality to the stranger. Regardless if how someone comes to our land, we have a duty to show them love and hospitality.

Jesus tells us to welcome the stranger. We must treat the stranger and the immigrant as if they were Christ himself returned to us. God has told us to love the neighbour, and we need to make sure we are paying attention to who our neighbour is.

Who Is Our Neighbour?

Luke 10 tells us that our neighbour is the person who shows mercy to us. Equally, we become a neighbour when we show mercy to others. Being a neighbour is a relationship, not a status. It is something we become when we see someone in need and take responsibility for them.

There is no qualifier on that need. It does not matter where the person comes from, how they got here, or whether they are here illegally or otherwise. It does not matter what their background is, what their race is, or what they believe. If they need our help, we are commanded to help them. We do not have a greater responsibility to people who are like us. We are not told to put our own country or fellow nationalists first. Quite the opposite. We are commanded to love our neighbour and love our enemy. Not to focus on those who like us first.

We have to remember who God favours.

God is On the Side of the Poor and Oppressed

God is on the side of the weak, the poor, and the oppressed. The Lord sets slaves free. Jesus said his ministry was to proclaim good news to the poor, to set the prisoner free, give sight to the blind, and food to the hungry. This is what the church is now called to. Anytime we are on the side oppressing the vulnerable, hurting the weak, rejecting the poor, and banishing the different, we stand against Christ.

With the case of immigration we need to take this really seriously. It is easy to say that the laws exist for a reason, that people have to do things properly, or that there isn’t enough to go around. It is hard to follow the way of Jesus. Being faithful to the Gospel means taking a social risk. But is a bigger risk to put yourself at odds with Christ. Where is Christ today? He is on the small boats with dying children and people risking everything for a chance at a better life.

The Radical Hospitality of the Gospel

The call to love and care for the stranger is a reflection of God’s character. It shows God’s desire for us to embody God’s holiness and compassion in our communal life. The way we love those who are different from us is the visible evidence of our discipleship. The degree we are able to offer hospitality to the stranger in need is the degree to which Christ will judge us.

We must treat everyone as if they were Christ. Giving them the same honour and respect, the same love and consideration. If we welcome everyone as Christ we may well get taken advantage of from time to time. We may get hurt. We may lose credibility. But what we will not lose is God’s blessing. We will be following the commands of Jesus to love our neighbour.

The heart of the Gospel is radical inclusion, and that is something we need to reflect in our lives. It is not just about our churches, it is about our communities. How do we welcome and honour and make space for difference? We must learn to love people that are different from us. How can we learn to move beyond fear to be able to love and care for people that we are being told are the source of all our problems? By trusting in the love and grace of Christ for us.

The church has a duty to remind the world that everyone is made in the image of God. No one is illegal in the kingdom of God. Everyone is valued and sacred. We hope and wait for a world without borders, without boundaries, and without fear. It us our sacred task to start to make that world a present reality for us today.

Conclusion

Obviously this is a complicated subject. There are a huge amount of views, some credible, some stupid, and some plain evil. If nothing else, I hope this has made you think again about some of the questions around immigration from a theological perspective.

I don’t have the answers to the big questions. I’m not a politician or a statesman. I am not trying to fix the world. I am trying to shine the light of Christ onto it. So that even if political pragmatism or ideological fervour might drive you towards a particular conclusion, you will remember that Christ always takes the side of the poor and the oppressed.

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