Denver Seminary

The rhetoric is heating up. Emotive metaphors like "invasion" and "flood" are used to describe Hispanic immigration into the United States. The fact that this in an election year guarantees that discussion on immigration will continue to be impassioned and the debate overly simplistic. As is the case with many controversial topics, the reality is more complex and the issues more nuanced than what the media present.

Estimates of the number of undocumented Hispanics immigrants in this country range anywhere from 12 to 20 million. The topics that demand attention for reasonable discourse are multiple. They would include issues such as the long history of Hispanic immigration, information concerning relevant legislation over the last century, a study of labor needs in various industries, careful analysis of the cost/benefit ratios of the immigrant presence and spending patterns, and an awareness of typical assimilation patterns of immigrant populations.

In the face of these complexities and concerns about the future, how should Christians respond to the immigration debate as Christians? What might a self-consciously Christian perspective look like and a more Christian tone sound like? Those who claim that the Bible is their final authority for faith and practice need to turn to the Scripture and search its pages for guidance. There actually is much in the Bible that is pertinent to immigration; it has much to contribute to the thinking and attitudes of all Christians - both those of the host country as well as believers among immigrants.

The Contribution of the Bible

Image of God.

The place to begin the discussion is with the image of God in Genesis 1. There are differences of opinion as to what the image refers - some hold that it means that humans have a will, intellect, emotions, and are spiritual beings; others say that it means that humans have the privilege of ruling as God's vice-regents on earth; still others believe the image deals with relationship with God. All of these options, however, agree that every person has supreme value and potential.

How is any of this relevant to the national debate? It is a reminder that immigrants are made in the image of God, too. They are worthy of respect, and they have great potential to contribute to society precisely because of the gifts God has given them. This crucial starting point can move discussions away from defining immigration exclusively in terms of national identity, economic impact, or security. Immigration, first and foremost, is about people who are precious in the sight of God.

Narratives.

Accounts of migration fill the pages of the Old Testament. In Genesis the patriarchs go to Egypt for food. Naomi and her family move to Moab in a time of famine; years later, now widowed, Naomi moves back to Bethlehem with Ruth her daughter-in-law. Naomi the immigrant finally has returned home, and now Ruth is the immigrant. Her sterling character attracts Boaz, though, who later takes her as his wife.

Many are forced to leave their homeland for other reasons. Joseph is sold into slavery, but he eventually becomes second to Pharaoh in Egypt and saves that nation from starvation. He also paves the way for Jacob and his descendents to migrate to the Nile Delta and settle in Goshen. Centuries later, thousands are taken into exile far away, when Israel falls to Assyria and Judah to Babylon.

Life in other realms could be harsh. In time, the Israelites in Egypt became slave labor for Pharaoh's building projects. Inscriptural evidence indicates that some of those in the Assyrian exile became domestic servants, while others were assigned to work on farms or in construction. Psalm 137 reproduces the feelings of anger, shame, and homesickness of those forcibly removed from Judah by Babylon.

Not everyone endured such a harsh fate. Daniel, for example, was deported to Babylon and lived in the royal precincts, where he served several kings with wisdom. Esther's uncle Mordechai seems to have been a man of some means, and this young woman became the queen of the Persian Empire. Nehemiah was cupbearer to Artaxerxes, while Ezra, the priest-scribe, ministered among his exiled people and would lead a contingent back to Jerusalem.

In all of these cases, one can observe different degrees of cultural, linguistic and sociopolitical assimilation by the Israelites. There is no one pattern that can be applied to each case. The slaves of Egypt, for example, came to enjoy that nation's food, but there was no opportunity for social acceptance or economic advancement! How unlike the experiences of Ruth and Esther. Even privileged individuals, like Daniel, are never totally accepted, no matter their contribution to the common good.

It is also interesting to track the various responses of the host peoples - from the Egyptian anxieties of being overrun by large numbers of foreign workers to the trust of Artaxerxes placed in Nehemiah. In other words, the treatment of immigrants, however they arrived, was also an issue in the ancient world.

Old Testament Law.

Sooner or later immigration requires legislation. It has always been so. The law codes of Israel are testimony to this inescapable necessity of regulating the wages, legal standing and rights of immigrants, and offering avenues for a level of integration into the broader society.

Sojourners in Israel would have been a vulnerable group. In fact, they are classified with widows and orphans as most at risk. As foreigners, they were excluded from the historic land tenure system. They also were separated from any kinship networks that would have been able to help them in the trials of life. Because of this precarious condition, the laws codes in the Old Testament make several provisions that amount to a safety net against disaster. These outsiders qualified for the gleaning laws (Lev. 19:10; Deut. 24: 19-22) and the triennial tithe (Deut. 14:28-29). They were to be given rest from their labor on the Sabbath (Exod. 20:10; Deut. 5:14), and no one was to take advantage of them in the courts (Deut. 1:16-17; 27:19). Sojourners were allowed to participate in the Sabbath, the Day of Atonement, Passover and the Feasts of Weeks, First Fruits, and Tabernacles. By allowing them to take part in their religious life, Israel actually was giving outsiders entry into the most treasured part of its cultural identity.

This concern for the sojourner in their midst was grounded in Israel's past. It had been born as a nation of despised foreigners, workers in an oppressive system in Egypt. God, though, had redeemed them in the Exodus, and that experience as immigrants was to mark them as a people for all time. Because they had come from immigrant stock, they were to be compassionate to the foreigners, who moved into their land. They were never to forget their immigrant history. That history defined them, and their treatment of the outsider was a measure of their faith in God (Lev. 19:34). God had designed Israel's laws to shine as an example to other peoples (Deut. 4:5-8), and the provisions for the sojourner were part of this exemplary legislation.

The New Testament.

The Gospel of Matthew recounts that Jesus and his parents fled to Egypt when he was a small child to escape Herod's rampage (Matt. 2). This Jewish family lived, in other words, as refugees for a time in a foreign land. Of course, in due course they moved back to Judea, to the town of Nazareth.

In his teaching Jesus never dealt directly with the topic of immigration, but he did speak on many occasions about those who were different. One of the groups he singled out were the Samaritans, a loathsome people to many Jews. For example, in John 4, Jesus speaks with a Samaritan woman at the well, and in Luke 10 he uses a Samaritan as a paragon of righteousness in the response to the question "Who is my neighbor?"

The epistles also can help orient thinking on immigration. They teach that all Christians are sojourners, strangers in a strange land whose ultimate citizenship is found elsewhere (Phil. 3:20; Heb. 13:14). 1 Peter speaks of believers as "aliens and strangers" (1:1; 2:11). This address could refer to the fact of our spiritual alienation from the surrounding culture, but some research suggests that the recipients of this letter may have been literal exiles. If so, that legal standing in the Roman Empire added another layer of foreignness beyond their spiritual status as Christians.

Finally, hospitality is a fundamental Christian virtue. One mark of the faith is to be gracious to others (Rom. 12:13; Heb. 13:2; 1 Pet. 4:9) - even our enemies (Luke 6:27-28; Rom. 12:14, 20-21; 1 Pet. 3:9). This quality is one of the required character traits for those aspiring to be leaders in the church (1 Tim. 3:2; Tit. 1:8).

It is clear that both testaments have much to teach Christians of the majority culture in the United States. This brief survey of the biblical material shows that immigrants are worthy of respect, that migration always has been part of human experience, and that some great biblical heroes were displaced persons. Old Testament Law underscores that legislation must be benevolent to the vulnerable. Israel's experience can serve as a reminder, too, that many in this country have a history of immigration in their past (parents, grandparents, or great grandparents) and that this memory should influence how they view newcomers. With his words about the Samaritans, Jesus forces believers to consider the possibility that those who are different may be the very ones that can lead us to a deeper faith, while the epistles call us to care for the outsider. After all, every Christian is an outsider-a sojourner and alien-at least in a spiritual sense.

Hispanics and biblical teaching.

What Scripture has to say about immigration and immigrants, however, cannot be limited solely to believers of the majority culture. It has much to say to those who have moved here from other countries, too. A rehearsal of the same themes and narratives treated earlier bears out this fact.

The truth of the image of God can serve as an encouragement: Yes, we have worth! But the fact that all are made in the image also makes a claim on immigrants. It should function as a motivation to develop skills for the social good and to live responsibly in their newly adopted land.

The narratives of the Old Testament can serve at least a dual purpose. On the one hand, immigrants discover accounts of people in the Bible with which they can identify; they can find those dealing with similar challenges, frustrations, and prejudices. At the same time, those lives stand as examples of how to live faithfully before God and contribute to the host society at all kinds of socioeconomic positions, from the harvest fields (Ruth) to the halls of government (Joseph, Daniel, Nehemiah). While it is true that the laws of Israel toward the sojourner were welcoming and generous, the invitation had the expectation of reciprocity. Entering into that religious world would have meant that they learn Hebrew and convert to the God of Israel. Benefits of assistance were accompanied by the reminder that everyone was equal before the law (Lev. 24:16, 22).

New Testament teaching also cuts both ways. To follow Jesus is to respond to those who are unlike us, and this host country is different! In addition, we are all fellow pilgrims, "strangers in a strange land" - although for the immigrant that strangeness is not only spiritual; it is also racial, cultural, social, political, and linguistic.

Where Do We Go from Here?

Christians in this country stand at two borders and must make a decision at each one. There is the national border with Mexico. What will Christians decide in the political arena? How will they vote? How will majority culture and Hispanic believers act toward one another and in the larger society in this election year?

The other border is the decision point of faith. Will Christians-both of the majority culture and among the immigrant population-allow the Bible to shape their attitudes and actions? All hold the Scriptures in common and desire to serve God and live lives worthy of a higher calling. The question is whether all will engage the multiple and complicated challenges of immigration as Christians? This is the more important line each Christ-follower must decide to cross... or ignore. It is this border for which all believers are accountable to God.

M. Daniel Carroll R. (Rodas) is Distinguished Professor of Old Testament at Denver Seminary. He is of Guatemalan-American heritage. His latest book is Christians at the Border: Immigration, the Church, and the Bible (Baker Academic).

• Month
• Agenda