Originally published on the Quaker Universalist Fellowship blog (6/30/18)

Amid the wide global turmoil stirred by America’s current flexing of authoritarian nationalism, a deeper spiritual turmoil has been brought to light by the current administration’s use of the apostle Paul’s Letter to the Romans.

There is a willful blindness at work in this government and its supporters, a steadfast unwillingness to acknowledge—or care—that the families fleeing to the United States from Central America are refugees seeking asylum from violence in their homelands.

Romans 13:1-7

13 ¹ Let everyone obey the supreme authorities. For no authority exists except by the will of God, and the existing authorities have been appointed by God. ² Therefore those who set themselves against the authorities are resisting God’s appointment, and those who resist will bring a judgment on themselves.

 ³ A good action has nothing to fear from rulers; a bad action has. Do you want to have no reason to fear the authorities? Then do what is good, and you will win their praise. ⁴ For they are God’s servants appointed for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you may well be afraid; for the sword they carry is not without meaning! They are Gods servants to inflict his punishments on those who do wrong.

⁵ You are bound, therefore, to obey, not only through fear of God’s punishments, but also as a matter of science. ⁶ This, too, is the reason for your paying taxes; for the officials are Gods officers, devoting themselves to this special work. ⁷ In all cases pay what is due from you—tribute where tribute is due, taxes where taxes are due, respect where respect is due, and honor where honor is due.

– A New New Testament: A Bible for the Twenty-First Century,
edited with commentary by Hal Taussig (2013)

The statements that stirred the controversy

Attorney General Jeff Sessions – “I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes,” Sessions said during a speech to law enforcement officers in Fort Wayne, Ind. “Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves. Consistent and fair application of the law is in itself a good and moral thing, and that protects the weak and protects the lawful.”

– “Sessions cites Bible passage used to defend slavery
in defense of separating immigrant families,”
by Julie Zauzmer and Keith McMillan,
The Washington Post (6/15/2018)

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders – “Where in the Bible does it say that it’s moral to take children away from their mothers?” [CNN reporter] Acosta asked. “I’m not aware of the attorney general’s comments or what he would be referencing,” Sanders replied. “I can say that it is very biblical to enforce the law.”

– “‘You’re a parent!’ Things got personal in the White House briefing ...,”
by Callum Borchers, The Washington Post (6/14/2018).

How does Romans 13 apply to immigration matters?

As an exercise, here are literal readings verse of Romans 13:1-7, along with queries and plausible conclusions regarding the controversy between these officials and a range of Christian leaders.¹

The verses

1. You must all obey the governing authorities. Since all government comes from God, the civil authorities are appointed by God and so anyone who resists authority is rebelling against God’s decision, and such an act is bound to be punished.
2. You must all obey.
3. You must all obey the governing authorities.
4. All government comes from God.
5. The civil authorities are appointed by God.
6. Anyone who resists authority (of governing authorities) is rebelling against God’s decision.
7. An act (of rebellion against governing authorities) is bound to be punished.

Queries

• Which statements are true?
• Which are true to your experience?
• Which should be obeyed by all people?
• What are the implications for your life?
• Which should be taught to children?

• Are any of these statements literally true?
• Substantially true? Partially true? Selectively true?
• Significantly true? Historically true?

Plausible conclusions

It seems that the U.S. government, President Trump, Jeffrey Sessions, President Bush, President Clinton, President Reagan, and President Carter are correct in their application of Romans 13 to the separation of refugee children from their parents, and in the prosecution, detention, adjudication, incarceration, and deportation of refugee children and parents.

It seems that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Franklin Graham, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church, the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, McGill University, and the America magazine are not correct in their interpretation of Romans 13 with regard to the separation of refugee children from their parents.

Reclaiming Paul

Texts do not exist in some realm of timeless truth. They are always located, both in their creation and in their contemporary interpretation. Treating a text as if it can simply be abstracted out of its social and cultural context is, in fact, to strip it of its full original meaning….

While fundamentalists—whether Biblical or Buddhist—assert that a naïve uninformed reading of a religious text is the best means of revealing its meaning, such a reading only unreflectively locates our own meanings into the text.

– “In Defense of Ritual,” by Richard Payne,
Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly (Summer 2018)

In his 2004 book In Search of Paul: How Jesus’ Apostle Opposed Rome’s Empire with God’s Kingdom, John Dominic Crossan describes the social and cultural context in which Paul wrote his letter to the Christian house churches in Rome.

Crossan explains that Romans “must be read against the specific situation of Roman Christianity in the mid-50s with the old emperor, Claudius, very dead and the new emperor, Nero, very alive.” Claudius had persecuted Christians violently and driven them out of the city of Rome. Nero would do the same.

[Paul] recommends obedience to human authority especially with regard to taxes (read 13:1-7). This is not an abstract theology of civil authority that can be generalized to all Christian situations, but rather concrete and prudent advice for Roman Christians…not to rebel against civil authority for what happened to them under Claudius and for what awaited them when they returned a decade later under Nero.” (394)

To make sure that modern readers of Paul understand this context, Crossan adds the following:

There is a time and a way to obey, and a time and a way to disobey. There is a hierarchy within resistance, opposition, and negation. On June 17, 1940, according to Eberhard Bethge’s Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography, when the fall of France made everyone around him jump up to give the Nazi salute, Dietrich Bonhoeffer did likewise, saying, “We shall have to run risks for very different things now, but not for that salute!” (394)

What, then?

“Paseo de Humanidad” (Parade of Humanity), by Alberto Morackis, Alfred Quiróz and Guadalupe Serrano.
A painted metal mural on the Mexican side of the US border wall in Heroica Nogales, Sonora.

This brings us to a final biblical admonition, one far more deeply and powerfully embedded in the Old Testament’s prophetic speech than Paul’s compassionate cautioning of his Roman followers.

Leviticus 19:33-34 ³³ And should a sojourner sojourn with you, you shall not wrong him. ³⁴ Like the native among you shall be the sojourner who sojourns with you, and you shall love him like yourself, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

– The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary,
translation and commentary Robert Alter (2004)

What is your response to Romans 13:1-7?  How do we witness to our faith in this time and place in history?  How do you answer those in power?

Note & Image Sources

Image: “Icon of the Apostle Paul," by Adrian Hart. Based on the work of Russian iconographer and fresco painter, Archimandrite Zenon, which draws on early Christian iconography.

¹ See “Christian Leaders to Jeff Sessions: The Bible Does Not Justify Sepa...,” by Jennifer Bendery, Huffington Post (6/15/2018).

Image: “The Wall in Nogales,” by Jonathan McIntosh on flickr (9/17/2009) [ Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) ].

A painted metal mural attached to the Mexican side of the US border wall in the city of Heroica Nogales, Sonora. The mural is titled “Paseo de Humanidad” (Parade of Humanity) and was created by artists Alberto Morackis, Alfred Quiróz and Guadalupe Serrano. It depict the struggles and harsh realities of economic refugees traveling through the Sonoran desert to reach the US.