A Theological Consideration of Immigration

Over the past several weeks, there have been issues pertaining to illegal immigration, racialism, and other things related to national sovereignty and identity arising in my little world. In many respects, my mind has not changed much on these issues over the past 8 years or so....I say "not much" but that is not to say the shift was small. One can hold two fundamentally different opinions at different points in his life...and yet have many of the same beliefs. The support structure for the beliefs has changed...either for better, or for iller.

My political views are currently being informed directly by the Scriptures, and yes...the Old Testament. Previously, I held to a "Two Kingdom" view: I was living on the earth, waiting for heaven...and I just kinda sat on my lump of earth looking heavenward on occasion and wondered where the connection between the "secular" and sacred was. As some proponents of Two Kingdom theory would say, God rules the Church by His Word, but the world by Providence...and by Providence, they really mean man sets up his own kingdom by his own standards, and since we're Calvinists, we'll just say that's Providence when we really mean man is autonomous.

Today, many would liken my approach to a second camp called "Christian Reconstruction", or would simply label me a "Theonomist". I'm not sure if either of those descriptors would be accurate. I've read a couple of books by Theonomists (who are also Christian Reconstructionists), but those schools of thought have a lot of baggage attached to them that I really haven't studied...in the mean time, I just describe my approach as "theonomic"...I'm not necessarily a "Theonomist", and I'm certain to use the lower-case "t" when I say theonomic. I'm a Presbyterian (old school, not the liberal mainline version), and Presbyterianism is historically "theonomic". Samuel Rutherford was a Presby, and he wrote Lex Rex...the precursor to our American style of government...though our founders made the religious foundation a bit ambiguous (to say the least). The rule of law, and specifically, a law informed by God's Law was foundational to Old School Calvinists and the preservation of individual liberty while preventing tyranny of the mob or the tyranny of a dictator.

Many have forgotten how instrumental the Old Testament Law has been to Western Civilization, but it's clear. Many think "Oh, that OT Law was wicked cruel"...yadda yadda yadda. That's simply not the case. The Law is concerned with many things, but there are three that jump out time and time again: the fatherless, the widow, and the sojourner. I'm leaving out other things, like incorporating idol worship and other things related to the first table of the Law, so I'm really looking more at the second table.

If the sojourner (i.e. the alien) was of great importance to God, and how His people treated them was brought up constantly, why is it that Christians don't seem to give much consideration to this fact? Perhaps it's because we don't want to sound like liberals...and many will think my view to be liberal if they fail to take the time to reason from the Scriptures. I'm far from liberal. If libs hold to a similar view to me it is an accidental thing arrived at from completely different routes.

What does the Bible say?

Deut 10:17-19
17"For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.18"He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing.19"So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

This passage isn't exclusive to Deuteronomy 10. It is stated and restated throughout the Pentateuch. The Biblical appeal in favor for the alien is two-fold: 1. God executes justice for him and gives him food and clothing... 2. and we were also aliens in Egypt, so do as God says.

Many Evangelicals have divorced their faith completely from the Old Covenant...you know, it's "those types and shadows and all, therefore it's meaningless"...or so they seem to think. What it fails to acknowledge is that God grounds the treatment of aliens on His own activity...something we are to emulate. God hasn't stopped caring for the alien...does the advent of Christ suddenly nullify the command to us to do likewise?

Here are some snippets from the OT:

Ex 22:21 "You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Ex 23:9 "You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Lev 19:10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.

Lev 23:22 "And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God."

Lev 25:35 "If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you.

God was so thoroughly clear as to how the sojourner was to be cared for that He used that standard as the kindness to be shown to a native son of Israel who found himself in need...yet we neglect this aspect that God says is part and parcel to a land where justice flows. Nations that ignore this standard will be judged by it...and God seems to think very little of those who pervert justice for the alien.

Psalm 94 3-9a
³O LORD,how long shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked exult?
⁴They pour out their^H)"> arrogant words;
all^I)"> the evildoers boast.
⁵They^J)"> crush your people, O LORD,
and afflict your heritage.
⁶They kill the widow and the sojourner,
and murder the fatherless;
⁷ and they say, "The LORD does not see;
the God of Jacob does not perceive." ⁸ Understand, O dullest of the people!
Fools, when will you be wise?
⁹ He who planted the ear, does he not hear?He who formed the eye, does he not see? ¹⁰ He who disciplines the nations...

Nations will be judged by all of the above...yet we want to build walls to keep out the alien and and kick them out?

[admittedly, there are many questions that would be raised while reading this entry...such as the fact that illegals are breaking our law. I have some considerations concerning that among other things, but may save for future installments. This is a first to get our minds back to the Word]