In an interview earlier this week, Vice President JD Vance defended the Trump administration’s “America First” policy on illegal immigration by saying:
“There is this old school…and I think it’s a Christian concept…that you love your family, and then you love your neighbour, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that…prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far left have completely inverted that. They seem to hate the citizens of their own country and care more about people outside their borders. That is no way to run a society.”
That angered many leftists, especially progressive “Christians.” They cited the parable of the Good Samaritan and the Sermon on the Mount as a supposedly biblical refutation of JD Vance’s words. Progressive pastor Zack Lambert said:
“It’s important to point out that this is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10), the sermon in his hometown synagogue (Luke 4), and basically every other time he opened his mouth.”
Progressive theologian Joash Thomas also said, “I am a theologian trained at one of America’s top conservative evangelical theological seminaries. This is not a Christian concept; it’s a Western individualistic one.”
Perhaps Joash Thomas knows this: Judas was trained by the best theologian—it didn’t make him a trustworthy voice on ethics.
The vast majority of JD Vance’s critics are leftists. However, some conservative Christians have shared concerns about his words. They suggest his words neglect or contradict the brotherly love Christians should have for foreign believers.
I don’t think their concerns should be readily dismissed, but JD Vance is right.
He is referencing an old concept called “ordo amoris” or ordered love. Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle taught this concept, and it was echoed by Christian theologians like Augustine and C.S. Lewis. More than that, it’s a principle implicitly taught by God in the Bible.
The concept of ordered love means some people or some things should have more of our affection and attention than others. It suggests there is a hierarchy of obligations we must adhere to.
For instance, when I was a single man, the most important person in my life was my mom, followed by my siblings. However, now that I’m a married man with two children, my obligations have changed.
The most important person in my life is my wife, followed by my children, my mom, and my siblings.
That doesn’t mean my love for my dear mom has diminished. That’s impossible. She is my hero and always will be. Since I’m eager to be the kind of husband she didn’t have in my father and the kind of parent she is for me—my love and admiration for her is greater than it has ever been.
It’s crucial to understand that. The emphasis of the hierarchy of love isn’t that we should love some people less than others. The emphasis is that we should love some people more than others.
For instance, when Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).” That isn’t a call to withhold love from our enemies. It just means love between friends is greater than love between enemies.
It’s natural and Biblical to prioritize our families first, our local communities second, our nations third, and the rest of the world after that.
That shouldn’t be a controversial statement. It’s true that everyone on earth is our neighbour and we’re commanded to love them all. However, just as I have different obligations towards my wife and mom, I have different obligations towards the neighbours in my community and country than my neighbours in other parts of the world.
So if it’s not wrong to prioritize our family, what do Matthew 12:46-50 and Luke 14:26 mean?
Christians are indeed our real, eternal family. It can be hard for us to believe right now, but we have more in common with foreign Christians than our unbelieving relatives. We have the same father in God and the same home in heaven, and though they are not our blood relatives, we were redeemed by the same blood of Christ. Our loving relationships with unbelieving relatives are nothing compared to the brotherly love we’ll have with other Christians throughout eternity.
In that sense, our obligations to other Christians are sometimes more important than our relationship with our unbelieving relatives. The key word is “sometimes.” Meaning, it depends on the circumstances. It depends on what the Bible says about the issue.
For example, on Sundays, our obligations to Christians are a bigger priority than our obligations to our family. It’s sinful to neglect church on Sundays to spend time with your family (Hebrews 10:25).
A Christian teenager with a Muslim family is obligated to prioritize church on Sunday morning over her own family, no matter the consequences. That is Jesus’ message in Luke 14:25-26: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”
It means that when Christians love Christ, and therefore other Christians, unbelieving relatives might accuse us of hating them. This is, after all, why some Muslim fathers murder their children. That is why Jesus immediately follows his words with, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:27).”
Christians in northern Nigeria know exactly what that means. Jesus is saying the cost of following him could mean being murdered by your own family.
However, there are times when we must prioritize our unbelieving relatives over other Christians. For example, the Bible says, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever (1 Timothy 5:8).”
I have a Biblical responsibility to provide for my family. But I do not have the same obligation to provide for other Christians.
So JD Vance is right. We shouldn’t prioritize illegal immigrants over our family and nation. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t love them. It just means our obligation to our families is greater than our obligation to foreigners.
I mentioned earlier that some of JD Vance’s theologically conservative critics shouldn’t be readily dismissed. This is because, though there is nothing unbiblical about ordered love, it’s important to know that there are unbiblical versions of it growing in “Christian” and conservative circles.
Over the last couple of years, a small but growing group of conservatives and “Christians” have embraced white nationalism and kinism in a sinful overreaction to woke ideology. They often justify their racist and segregationist views by appealing to ordered love.
They say ordered love means white people should love and protect other white people over others. For this reason, they oppose “interracial” marriage and immigration from non-white people.
I’m preparing what I hope will be a strong rebuke against this foolish ideology at the Did God Really Say? conference in the Detroit area on May 3rd. But in a recent article, I said:
“The Bible commands us to love Christians, our church members, our families, and our nations in specific ways. But it doesn’t command us to prefer people with our skin colour over others. Black people are not my people, and white people are not your people either. Unlike our ethnicities, nationalities, and religions, our skin colours do not shape our core identities.”
Some conservatives are concerned about Vance’s words because they know they will be misused by opportunistic racists. But that doesn’t mean JD Vance was unwise to appeal to the ordered love.
Wisdom doesn’t cease to be wisdom when fools misapply it.