Immigration: Who Is My Neighbor?

The Public Square
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New Warhorn Media post by Tim Bayly:

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Gentlemen

Thank you for your work on the podcast. I think it does us good to get dissenting views on topics where there’s much uniformity among us.

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On immigration - yes, I know that there are huge challenges, but where the Gospel is concerned, there are also opportunities; because there is evidence that people can come to faith much more easily outside their ‘home’ cultures than within them. The other thing is that modernity and now post-modernity, which have been very corrosive of Christian commitment over the years, can be equally corrosive of other religions as well - even Islam, where the situation in the UK is more nuanced than I sometimes see reported in the American press.

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Excellent, Ross. Thank you.

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Thank you for the podcast. Thankful for you and Pr JĂźrgen.

Here’s some extra food for thought from Calvin. While we shouldn’t push his words too far as he was not directly addressing 21st century immigration policies, his repeated call for us to earnestly pray for and love ‘all men’, ‘brothers’, ‘neighbors’, ‘everyone’, ‘strangers’, ‘unbelievers’, ‘fellow-men’, ‘all men’, ‘those furthest removed from us’, ‘everyone in general’, because they have ‘the same nature’ and ‘my image’, and that ‘God’s image is engraved on all men’, does speak to us as Christians on the issue. Notice especially his use of Eph 5.29. [Note: I just extended the excerpt]

From a sermon on 1 Timothy 2.1-2, Above all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, supplications and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and for those appointed to high office, so that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, in all godliness and decency.

Prayer is the first and foremost exercise expected of God’s children. It is by prayer that we test the genuineness of our faith, when we turn to our God and call upon his name, and when we do not think only about ourselves and our concerns but generally include all who are joined to us and who are in one way or another close to us. God has established the bond of unity between all men, so that they should acknowledge each other as brothers or else as neighbours. So in our prayers this is the practice we should follow: our prayers should not be concentrated only on ourselves or on our acquaintances; our love and concern should extend to everyone, whether great or small, whether intimate friends or strangers. Of course nothing stops us respecting those relationships which Scripture itself commends to us. If we want to pray to God for all men, we must begin with those who are united with us in faith and in obedience to the gospel, for they are members, so to speak, of God’s household. Nevertheless in our prayers for the faithful we should feel compassion and pity for helpless unbelievers who continue to walk in error and ignorance. We should entreat God to draw them to us, so that together we may be of the same mind.

Such is Paul’s purpose in this passage—to show that God’s children should not spend their time in useless and unprofitable labours but should call on God that he might have a care for the salvation of all. Morning and evening this ought to be our task. The door will thus be shut to Satan. He will not be able to deceive men or to lead them into wicked and futile speculations.

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Thus the apostle tells us to concentrate on prayer and to give ourselves strenuously to prayer and supplication, not only for ourselves and our own affairs but for the whole church and for everyone in general.

We turn now to those for whom Paul says we ought to pray: for kings and for those who are highly placed and in authority. When he bids us pray for all men, he means us to show love one to another, asking God to be merciful to all and to gather us together into the heavenly inheritance, for he has made and fashioned us in his own image. We must, I repeat, pray earnestly first of all for God’s church, and because we are joined to one another God allows and indeed commands us to feel all the more concern for each other. What other purpose does our common brotherhood serve? Paul naturally has no wish to do away with the close relationships which Scripture everywhere commends. Still, his meaning is that we should not only pray for the faithful who already have fellowship with us, but for all who are far off––for unhappy unbelievers. Although they seem distant and separated from us by a thick wall, we must feel pity that they are lost and should entreat God to draw them to himself.

Since this is so we must see how wicked it is if each of us seeks only his own profit and has no care or regard for his fellow-men. Our Lord did not create an infinite number of worlds in which we should each dwell apart, living for ourselves and for our personal advantage. He made us to be together, one with another. He intended us to live together, and therefore bound us to each other, reminding us that we must share with our neighbours. That was why he created us with the same nature. When I look at someone I am meant to discern my image in him, seeing myself in his person and recognizing myself in him. Even more noteworthy, however, is the fact that God’s image is impressed on every human being. So if we honour and reverence God in any way at all, we cannot scorn his image which is engraved on all men. We must remember what Scripture says: ‘No one hates his own flesh’ (Eph. 5:29). That would be monstrous, contrary to human nature. Now the word ‘flesh’ applies to all of us, both great and small, and to those who are furthest removed from us, just as the prophet Isaiah says (Isa. 58:7). God has brought us together on the condition that we each help our neighbour to the best of our ability and as our means allow.

This ought to be clear from the prayers we make to God, for this is the best way we can assist those who need our help. If I intend to serve those to whom God has bound me, I must of course consider the means I have to hand and I must act as the opportunity arises. Nevertheless the greatest good which we can do for men is to pray to God for them and to ask him for their salvation. It is precisely here that Paul bids all believers demonstrate their love. And if our concern must extend to unbelievers who have no common bond with us, what must we do for those who bear the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who share in the same baptism and who are members of the church?

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Calvin’s words above are such a rebuke to the nationalists in the church today, but they don’t care. So sad. So dangerous to sheep who are by nature credulous. Thanks for calling our attention to this.

Also:

Reminds me of Pastor Von Hagen’s closing words exhorting us to learn to love the immigrant as our neighbor, to “look in their eyes.” There we recognize the image of God we share with them. Love,

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