Yet again the local paper comes through with an article that I just have to respond to. This time it's about a theology professor in Los Angeles, who has written a new book on our immigration problems from a supposedly Christian point of view.
This (I'm sure) well-intentioned professor of theology is trying to encourage the church to "minister" to the immigrant population. So far so good. The main problem, and it's just a teenie little one (note the sarcasm here), is that he advocates breaking the law to do this. He insists that "the Gospels describe Jesus as a border violator." And so Christians ought to follow in Christ's footsteps and "start violating local borders." Whoa! Hold on there fella!
Let me respond to his "Christian" view from a Christian point of view (!):
1. Jesus definitely challenged the accepted norms of His day, no doubt about that. He questioned the traditions of the day, but did so by calling people back to what the Bible says not to any personal agenda. And, in challenging the norms of the day, Jesus NEVER broke the law NOR did He ever advocate anyone else's doing so. He was totally without sin (2 Cor. 5:21; Hebrews 4:15).
2. Jesus clearly went outside the "camp" (a la Hebrews 13:11-13) or "borders" of Judaism and brought the Gentiles in. And, as Ephesians so eloquently instructs us, Jesus breaks down the "borders" between nationalities, between sexes, between classes, and between races. Again, no question here. But Paul is speaking from a spiritual perspective about the church rather than from a geographical, national, or physical perspective. There is no slave and free in Christ. There is no black and no white. There is no Jew and Gentile. All who believe in Christ are ONE spiritually, and, thus, they are to be one spiritually. And we are to labor to make sure this is so. But this oneness does not necessarily apply geographically, nationally, or physically.
3. Jesus always had a HIGH regard for the law. His criticism of the Pharisees was NOT that their view of the law was too high but that their view of the law was too low. See, for instance, the "you have heard but I say" discourse in Matthew 5. Here Jesus says things like you Jews have heard "do not murder," but I say to you that whoever insults his brother in anger will be judged (Matt. 5:21ff). In other words, Jesus was teaching them that the law "do not murder" meant more than simply "don't physically murder someone." It also meant "do not murder someone's reputation" or "do not murder someone with your words" and, conversely, "love one another." See also the occasion when Jesus calls the religious leaders to task for being exacting in their obedience of parts of the law but ignoring the weightier matters of it (Matt. 23, especially vv. 23-4).
4. The Bible clearly teaches that Christians are to obey the civil laws of the land. For instance, Romans 13:1-2 says: "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment" (ESV). THUS, the one who resists the governing authorities is not actually following Christ but is resisting Him!
5. Jesus oftentimes broke with accepted traditions that were added to the laws. In other words, the religious leaders would typically develop their own ideas of what it means to obey a certain law. For instance, in regard to the Sabbath law, the religious leaders developed an intricate system of their own do's and don'ts, their own opinions of what it meant to keep the Sabbath command. Oftentimes they would add loopholes so that they could "keep" the law without actually having to keep the law.
In sum, I am all in favor of finding ways to minister to immigrants. But, whatever we do, we need make sure we are staying within the bounds of the law. Maybe the current laws are bad laws. Maybe they need to be changed. The answer is to work to change them not to disobey them. Shame on this theology professor for advocating that we do so and all to support a social (not Biblical) cause!
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