Romans 13, Jeff Sessions, and the Cultural Heritage of Conservative Immigration Policy

Jeff Sessions, Dept. of Justice photo

A few days ago, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a lifelong Methodist, cited  Romans 13 in the Bible to justify the imprisonment of undocumented immigrants and the separation of immigrant children from their parents. Since this is still in the news, let's talk about what's going on with Romans 13.

Sessions' Bible interpretation seemed to shock many Christians across the world, while, at the same time, Sessions seems to have been blindsided by the reaction to what he probably thought was an innocent, straightforward, fundamentalist, Bible-based opinion. My question is, why was anyone surprised? Because no one should have been surprised. Why are two sides so polarized about a simple question?

Here is what Sessions said in his June 14, 2018 speech in Fort Wayne, Indiana:

"First—illegal entry into the United States is a crime—as it should be. Persons who violate the law of our nation are subject to prosecution. 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 them for the purpose of order." 

Here is the relevant section for Romans 13:1-4 (NRSV):


"Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval; for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer."

Sessions' use of this Bible passage surprised and shocked many Christian leaders. Leaders of his own church, the United Methodist Church, condemned his statement as a gross misrepresentation. It does seem excessive to think that refugees and immigrants have committed such great wrong as to invite "wrath upon him that doeth evil." But none of this should have surprised anyone. Anti-immigration advocates have long cited Romans 13 to support their opinion, and anyone who pays attention to conservative rhetoric would have recognized this as a standard conservative talking point. For example, Ralph and Danielle Drollinger's Capitol Ministries, a nationwide ministry dedicated to "creating 50 biblically based ministries of evangelism and discipleship in the 50 state capitols of the United States of America," says on their website that Romans 13 positively obligates governments to suppress illegal immigration.:

"In terms of immigration, for a government to be pleasing to God and receive His blessing, it has no option but to protect its citizenry from illegal immigration per Romans 13:4 and 1 Peter 2:13-14. It must always protect its borders and punish those who enter illegally."

Simillarly, Charisma News, a popular Christian Right website uses Romans to justify harsh treatment of immigrants:

"The Romans passage gives freedom to countries to punish anyone who breaks those laws. Selective partisan theology would have people believe that good goals or motivations justify the breaking of laws to achieve a good end." 

For months, my social media feed has been filled with tweets and Internet memes that cite Romans 13 to justify strict anti-immigrant policies. (In the wake of this controversy, Romans 13 seems to have strangely vanished from my social media feed. It will, no doubt, return.)

I am not at all surprised that Sessions and Huckabee Sanders misused the Bible to support a distinctly anti-biblical viewpoint. But the entire incident shows that conservatives and liberals are living in different rhetorical universes: liberals seem utterly unaware that anti-immigrant Christian groups are using Romans 13 to justify practices that appall liberals. At the same time, Sessions seemed to have been quite astonished that anyone would object. We hear a lot about conservatives living in a media bubble. But liberals also live in their own media bubble, and seem to be absolutely unaware of what conservatives are thinking – until it is too late and the damage is done.

If conservatives and liberals are going to have any reconciliation, they need to be familiar with each other's rhetoric. They clearly are not. And this failure to recognize, or even be aware of, one another's viewpoints is not only the effect of polarization, but one of its causes.

At the same time, it is quite a stretch to apply Romans 13 to immigration. In Romans, Paul actually says nothing specific about immigration whatsoever. That the Christian Right finds it necessary to stretch a marginally relevant, out-of-context passage to support their viewpoint strongly suggests not only that their view lacks biblical support, but also that, somewhere deep inside, they know that their view lacks biblical support.. Does it not?

The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U. S. A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved.