What does the Bible say about Syrian refugees?
With the Syrian refugee crisis--an issue that is very close to my heart--being in the news so much, I thought I would write a blog post compiling Bible verses that are relevant to how we as Christians react to this great international need.
This is by no means a comprehensive list of verses that address the issue. The Bible has a lot to say about helping the poor and the stranger, but I have collected verses that help to answer these seven questions:
1. Are we as individuals responsible for caring for refugees?
2. Is my country or state responsible for caring for refugees?
3. Is it better to focus on caring for the poor in my own country?
4. Are we really called to spend our limited resources on foreigners?
5. What if these refugees pose a threat to my personal safety or the safety of my country?
6. Why can’t we just send money or aid to refugees in other countries?
7. How does my treatment of refugees affect my relationship with God?
Here goes...
1. Are we as individuals responsible for caring for refugees?
The Bible teaches that we as Christians are responsible for caring for the poor, for widows and orphans, and for strangers. Here are two of many verses that teach this.
“This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor’” (Zechariah 7:9-10).
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).
Refugees fall into many of these categories. Many are orphans or widows or have lost other family members. Many have lost all of their worldly possessions and are in financial need. They have all fled their home and are foreigners in a strange land. Here we see that Christians are specifically called to treat these people with compassion, mercy, and justice.
2. Is my country or state held responsible for caring for refugees?
Maybe you agree that individuals should treat refugees with kindness, but you aren’t sure if the government is also responsible for caring for refugees. Here are two verses that address this issue.
“Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you; be their shelter from the destroyer. The oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease; the aggressor will vanish from the land” (Isaiah 16:4).
“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; while the poor and needy suffered outside her door” (Ezekiel 16:49).
Here are two verses that address political nations in their treatment of refugees and needy foreigners. The first exhorts a nation to accept and care for refugees. The second speaks to the condemnation and punishment of a nation that had no regard for the suffering taking place outside of its door.
As Christians, we cannot control every decision our government makes, but we are commanded to do all we can to seek justice for the refugee.
“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow” (Isaiah 1:17).
3. Is it better to focus on caring for the poor in my own country?
Maybe you are so overwhelmed by the poverty and suffering that you see in your own country that you can’t even imagine trying to take on even more people who are in need. Indeed, the Bible teaches us to care for the poor in our own land, as we see here.
“If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.” (Deuteronomy 15:7-8).
However, God also has a particular love and care for those who are strangers in a strange land.
“For the Lord your God...loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:18-19)
As Christians, it is our particular duty to reach out to and care for those who are sojourners.
4. Are we really called to spend our limited resources on foreigners?
We as individuals and as a country have limited resources. It may seem unwise to invest those resources into foreigners. Here is a conversation that Jesus had that directly addresses this issue.
“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
‘You have answered correctly,’ Jesus replied. ‘Do this and you will live.’
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’
In reply Jesus said: ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. “Look after him,” he said, “and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.”
‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’
The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’
Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’” (Luke 10:25-37).
In this story, Jesus praises a man who rescues and gives generously to a man from a neighboring enemy country.
Jesus calls us to “Go and do likewise.” We are specifically called to love and give generously to foreigners in need.
5. What if these refugees pose a threat to my personal safety or the safety of my country?
This is a difficult question to answer, because of course there is nothing wrong with wanting to keep your own family or country safe. However, it is taught in the Bible over and over that it is more important to follow God, love others, and do what is right than it is to protect your own life. We are called to live out of love rather than out of fear. Here are some verses that address this.
“Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity” (John 12:25).
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear... Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister." (I John 4:18, 21)
Refugees are not our enemies. They are helpless and harmless civilians fleeing the terrorists we fear. However, it is a real possibility that a few dangerous criminals who seek to harm others may try to blend in with the millions of refugees fleeing Syria. But we are called to love them too.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:44-45)
As Christians, we serve a God who loved us when we were His enemies, even to the point of dying for us.
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8).
The greatest way we as Christians can emulate Christ is to lay down our own lives for the sake of loving others.
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.” (John 15:13).
6. Why can’t we just send money or aid to refugees in other countries?
Sending aid to refugees who are in other countries is a wonderful and Biblical idea. We are called to give to those in need.
“Give generously to [them] and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to” (Deuteronomy 15:10).
I would personally recommend giving to Heart for Lebanon, a Christian organization in Lebanon that aids many of the 1.5 million refugees living in the country. Here is a link to their website: http://www.heartforlebanon.org/
However, in addition to giving, Christians are called to show hospitality.
“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2).
“Be hospitable to one another without complaint” (1 Peter 4:9).
Giving is a great part of loving those in need, but we are also specifically called to be welcoming.
7. How does my treatment of refugees affect my relationship with God?
God identifies closely with the poor, the needy, and the stranger.
Jesus said, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in...
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’” (Matthew 25:35,40).
In fact, Jesus himself lived as a refugee in Egypt as a child. Herod, an evil ruler, called for the mass killing of young boys in his country and so Jesus’ family was forced to flee and live as foreigners in Egypt.
“’Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’ So [Joseph] got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’ When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi" (Matthew 2:13-16).
Jesus has harsh words for those who mistreat or ignore the needy.
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed... For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in."
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’" (Matthew 25:41-45).
When we mistreat or ignore “the least of these,” God takes it personally. Jesus goes so far as to say that those who do not care for the poor are cursed and cut off from God.
This may be difficult to hear, as I am certain that we can all think of a time in our lives when we did not emulate God’s love toward those in need. In fact, the Bible says that we are all guilty of grave sins that separate us from God, and that we deserve punishment for those sins.
"All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
“For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
Fortunately, as I wrote before, God loves us even in the midst of our sin and our separation from Him. He loves us so much that He died in our place for the sins we have committed against Him and against others.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).
Jesus died for every sin, even the sin of ignoring or mistreating those in need.
"[Jesus] is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:2).
If we accept the sacrifice of Jesus to cover our sins, we will face no condemnation.
"There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1).
Even as we continually fall short of loving others the way God has loved us, we cannot be separated from God’s love.
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8)
I really hope that these verses will be helpful when thinking about the Syrian refugee crisis and in conversations you have about refugees in the future.
To recap, the Bible…
1. Holds us responsible for caring for refugees.
2. Holds nations responsible for caring for refugees.
3. Teaches us to care for the poor in our own countries as well as those in need from other countries.
4. Calls us to give generously to strangers in need.
5. Exhorts us to lay down our own lives in order to love others.
6. Calls us both to give to those in need and to show hospitality to them
7. Equates our treatment of those in need with our treatment of God.
*A personal note:
I spent a year living in Lebanon, and I have many dear friends, neighbors, and co-workers who are Syrian, some of whom are refugees. My personal experience in the Middle East has shaped my view of the issue and has greatly increased my compassion for Syrian refugees. I know in my own heart I am callous to many people around the world who are suffering to whom I have not had the same kind of first-hand exposure. I do not wish to condemn anyone who opposes the resettlement of Syrian refugees in their state or country, as I know that I too have shown indifference to suffering. I wish I had the same passion for all people and all hurts as I do for this particular issue. I hope this confession of a tiny portion of my own sin is enough to keep you from interpreting my passion for this issue as hatred for those who disagree. I sincerely wish that my own compassion and the compassion of all believers would grow toward all people.










