The Myth of the Law-Abiding Christian

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. Earlier this week, I joined a Rapid Response to ICE training in Grand Haven. We began by reviewing the principles that guide those who organize immigrant solidarity efforts. One statement especially caught the room’s attention: We reject the legality of ICE and the current immigration enforcement system. A few participants raised their eyebrows. One person said, “Wait—isn’t the problem that ICE violates the law and people’s constitutional rights? Shouldn’t we be saying ICE should obey existing laws?” The trainers acknowledged that concern but explained their stance goes deeper. They believe the entire legal framework—how we criminalize migration, how ICE operates with minimal accountability—is itself unjust and must be rejected on moral grounds. That conversation has stayed with me, especially as I read about protests in Chicago last week, where clergy and community members stood in the street to demand justice. One pastor was struck by a pepper ball as police moved in on demonstrators. The image of a pastor—collar on, hands raised in nonviolent protest and prayer, hit by a projectile fired by the state—reminded me how far we’ve strayed from understanding what faithful citizenship really looks like. Many people assume Christians are supposed to be law-abiding citizens. Romans 13 gets quoted a lot: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.” Some use that verse to suggest obedience to civil law is a Christian virtue. But that interpretation ignores both context and history. Paul wrote those words to a tiny, vulnerable community in the Roman Empire that had no vote, no legal recourse, and no safety. His point was about survival, not blind obedience. If we read the Bible as a whole, it’s full of holy lawbreakers. Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah defied Pharaoh’s order to kill newborn Hebrew boys. The prophets routinely disobeyed kings. Daniel prayed when it was illegal. The apostles said to their rulers, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.” And Jesus himself? He broke Sabbath restrictions to heal, challenged temple systems that exploited the poor, and was executed as a political criminal by the state. Faithful Christians have always wrestled with unjust laws. During the civil-rights movement, clergy and laypeople filled jails because they believed segregation was immoral even if it was “legal.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., from his Birmingham jail cell, wrote that one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws, defining justice by whether a law uplifts or degrades human personality. That’s why the training’s rejection of ICE’s “legality” struck me not as problematic but as profoundly Christian. Our immigration system didn’t always treat border crossing as a crime; it was once a civil matter. It wasn’t even that 100 years ago. ICE itself was created only in 2003, after 9/11. The idea that families fleeing violence and poverty should be detained, deported, or separated isn’t ancient law—it’s recent policy. Christians committed to the Gospel of welcome have every reason to resist it. Nonviolent resistance is not chaos; it is disciplined love in action. It refuses to mirror the violence of the oppressor yet also refuses to comply with evil. It’s the ethic Jesus modeled on the cross and the ethic that has powered movements for justice ever since. So the next time someone tells you “good Christians follow the law,” remember: our highest allegiance isn’t to Caesar or to a flag—it’s to the kingdom of God, where strangers are welcomed, captives are freed, and love is the only law that truly matters. Thanks for being with me. To find out more about my parish, you can go to sjegh.com. Until next time, remember, protest like Jesus, love recklessly, and live your faith out in a community that accepts you but also challenges you to be better tomorrow than you are today.