Is An Open Border Okay with God?
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.’ (Acts 17:26)
Paul, in his visit to Athens and his speech to the Areopagus Council while there, provided in Acts 17:26 that it is God who created the nations of the Earth, giving them their own history, language, and culture in addition to the boundaries that formed them. God initiated the separation of people into nations when the Tower of Babel was being built by the people who were uniform in language and culture in Genesis 11:1-9. This ‘uniformity’ of man likely would have been the creation of a one-world government back then (and all the perils we now see happening before us today), thus God dispersed the people and divided them by differing their history, language, and culture – and setting up boundaries or borders for their lands.
God also provided definitive borders for Israel and their surrounding nations, first to Moses and then to Joshua when the Israelites entered and conquered Canaan after their exodus from Egypt and wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. While wandering, Moses showed great respect for national borders, when he asked if Israel could traverse through Edom, and the king of Edom said no (Numbers 20:17-21). Moses respected their wishes and went around Edom. (Later Edom would become part of the land given to Judah, in Joshua 15.) Jesus also acknowledged ‘all the nations’ in the Great Commission, and God provides for the defense of nations for their security. There are many Scriptures regarding the sanctity of boundaries for nations as well as personal property boundaries between neighbors.
Illegal immigration and crossing into another’s territory without permission is not supported in Scripture as being ‘OK’. The Lord wants us to obey the laws of nations and those who lead us, and there are proper methods to legally enter another nation, such as visas, permits, and claiming asylum from persecution. The destruction of another nation’s language, border, and culture is not of God; the Chinese in the 1950’s did this to Tibet, as did the former Soviet Union when it ruled over several of the ‘Stan’ nations (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan) and Ukraine. It can be argued the US did this in their push to the West in its Manifest Destiny period when it pushed aside Native American nations to achieve it. As one would want their home respected by their guests, nations want visitors or immigrants (legal or otherwise) to respect the border, history, language, and culture that has been established.
Conversely, Scripture tells us that we need to be hospitable and kind to those who are foreign to our nation. Leviticus 19:18 says we are to love our neighbor like ourselves (and Jesus also reinforces this in his Two Greatest Commandments in Matthew 22:39); Leviticus 19:34 specifically states we are to love the peaceful visitor or sojourner as we would a neighbor. We are thus commanded to love and respect those who are here as immigrants (legally or otherwise). This does not mean we cannot deport them or enforce border security, but as God would provide for us, we need to provide mercy to those who come here.
It is wrong for those who come illegally to stay, and should go back to their home, but we cannot repay wrong with wrong but instead provide them hospitality and comfort and God’s love while they are with us and as they depart. It is not wrong, though, to have illegal immigrants returned to their homelands or to prevent their entry without proper formalities.
