House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) offered a Bible lesson on immigration after Pope Leo XIV advised policymakers to engage in "deep reflection" about the treatment of immigrants.
After the pope cited the book of Matthew to ensure that migrants' "spiritual rights" were respected, a reporter asked Johnson to provide his own interpretation of the Bible.
"How would you respond to Pope Leo in scripture?" the reporter wondered.
"So you want me to give you a theological dissertation?" Johnson replied. "Borders and walls are biblical. From the Old Testament to the New, God has allowed us to set up our civil societies and have separate nations. Immigration is not something that's frowned upon in Scripture. In fact, it's welcome. We're to welcome the sojourner and love our neighbor as ourselves."
"But what's also important in the Bible is that assimilation is expected and anticipated and proper," he continued. "When people cite passages out of the Old Testament, they say, well, you're supposed to take care of the sojourner and the neighbor, treat them as yourself, welcome them in. Yes, but that is an admonition to individuals, not to the civil authorities."
"The civil authorities are given authority under Scripture to maintain order. Romans 13 says that the civil authorities are God's agents of wrath to bring punishment upon the wrongdoer. And it says, if you do right, you have no fear of the civil authorities, but those civil authorities are necessary."
Johnson said he saw the Bible as "a calling to maintain order in society."
"Sovereign borders are biblical and good and right, and they're just because — it's not because we hate the people on the outside, it's because we love the people on the inside," the speaker argued. "We should love our neighbors ourselves as individuals, but as a civil authority, and the government has to maintain the law."
"And that is biblical, and it's right, and it's just. And I'm happy to have this lengthy debate with anybody and at the time they want to."