What Does The Bible Say About Foreign Aid?

Christians who are otherwise like-minded can experience different reactions to the Trump administration's skeptical posture toward publicly funded foreign aid. Some wish the federal government would continue supporting international Christian aid organizations, while others judge taxpayer dollars better spent here at home. While Scripture speaks with perfect authority, it does not address every issue with equal attention or clarity, and on this issue, Scripture provides no specific instructions.

However, this does not mean that the Bible says nothing relevant to the wisdom, prudence, or morality of foreign aid. It only means that any inference we make about foreign aid in Scripture must be taken as just that -- a matter of wisdom -- rather than a "thus saith the Lord." As we seek to submit all our lives to the counsel of God's word, we should also investigate what Scripture has to say that relates to foreign aid -- even if the fruit of this search may not be as bountiful or certain as other queries may be.

For the purposes of this article, I will only consider foreign aid funded by the U.S. government through taxes and/or debt. International charity projects pursued by private organizations, funded with private donations, are a separate issue; they may be tangentially relevant to the piece, but they may interact differently with any principles or conclusions drawn.

One Christian principle that applies to virtually any interaction with fellow human beings is the love of neighbor. Shortly into Donald Trump's first term in office, Catholic Relief Services CEO Sean Callahan and then-president of World Vision, Richard Stearns, argued in The Washington Post, "Jesus declares that loving our neighbor -- wherever they live -- is one of the greatest commandments, a corollary to loving God."

With one caveat, this is largely correct. In Matthew 22:34-40 and Mark 12:28-34, Jesus famously summarizes the Ten Commandments, the entire Mosaic law, and indeed the entire study of ethics into two great commands. The greatest is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37). The second is "like" the first because it flows out of it -- namely the command to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39). Luke 10:25-28 records the same summary of the law in a different context, as the prelude to the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37).

Yet the one caveat dramatically alters the application. Callahan and Stearns argue that Jesus instructs us to love our neighbor "wherever they live," as a justification for international charity work. But this seems to stretch Jesus's teaching too far. In Greek, as in English, the word "neighbor" connotes a sense of proximity or "nearness." The good Samaritan may have hailed from a different country as the Jew beaten by robbers, but he became his neighbor, in a sense, when he encountered him on the road. If we recognize this element of "nearness" in the word "neighbor," Jesus's command -- at least in its primary sense -- is to love the people we personally encounter, who are nearby us.

"As Christians, we believe in the parable of the Good Samaritan. We believe that everyone, in a sense, is owed 'neighbor-love,'" explained David Closson, director of Family Research Council's Center for Biblical Worldview, on "Washington Watch." "But there's another principle -- it's called the principle of subsidiarity -- that says that there is a greater love that's owed to those closest to you." He cited 1 Timothy 5:8, "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."

Foreign aid proponents might respond that modern technologies such as telecommunications, the internet, and air travel have rendered distant corners of the globe much "closer" to us than they were to previous generations. We can call someone suffering from an earthquake in Turkey, read up-to-date news reports about a famine in Sudan, and conceivably act to alleviate a plague in Congo in ways that people who lived in previous centuries simply could not.

There is merit to this argument, but since those places are still more distant than our own land, I don't believe it overrides the principle of subsidiarity. (In any event, this area ventures far into "wisdom territory," where Christians must exercise discernment, without clear guidance from Scripture.)

Proceeding one step beyond the individual obligation to love our neighbors, we must next ask whether this command applies to government. Simply put, Scripture does not directly apply the command to love one's neighbor to government, but there may be an instrumental, prudential role for government to play in facilitating private charity. "While the U.S. government doesn't directly share this mandate [to love one's neighbor]," concede Callahan and Stearns, "it plays a critical role in fulfilling the moral responsibility of all Americans to help those less fortunate."

According to Scripture, a government official's primary duty is to establish justice. This involves judging impartially (Deuteronomy 1:15-17), punishing evildoers (Romans 13:1-15), and defending the rights of the poor and helpless (Proverbs 31:1-9). A government's primary tool is the sword, not the loaf.

Whether government should facilitate or participate in foreign aid is a largely extra-scriptural question. Perhaps the most relevant biblical reference is 1 Timothy 2:2, where Paul instructs Christian churches to pray for government officials "that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way" -- in other words, so that government will leave Christians alone to follow God.

Extra-scriptural issues are not necessarily unimportant, nor something Christians should avoid. It simply means that Scripture provides no direct counsel on the point. This is not surprising because foreign aid, as practiced by modern governments, was not even invented until centuries after Jesus walked the earth.

Nevertheless, it might be helpful to think through several biblical examples that fall into the more general category of "people in one place materially aiding those in another." I suspect that such accounts, even if not consciously drawn to mind, shape the moral imaginations of Christians who believe that foreign aid is a good thing for Christians to do.

In Genesis 42-45, Joseph provides grain to his brothers, who travel to Egypt from the land of Canaan. The dramatic account turns on Joseph's secret identity and his shrewd test to determine whether his brothers have changed, but the context is a famine in one nation alleviated by food from another.

Yet Joseph's policy of storing up food and later selling it (Genesis 41:33-36) is not strictly foreign aid as such. Joseph's brothers and other inhabitants of Canaan come to buy food in a commercial transaction (Genesis 42:5); this is not a no-strings-attached handout. Joseph's food policy even extended to the inhabitants of Egypt (Genesis 47:13-26), who had to buy food just like the Canaanites. Joseph's policy, informed by God's revelation, did ensure "that many people should be kept alive" (Genesis 50:20), but it was not simply altruism. As Pharoah's official, Joseph operated in Pharoah's interest, amassing wealth and property in exchange for food.

We should also note that the genre of these chapters is historical narrative. Moses presents events as they occurred, without necessarily endorsing every deed. These chapters are descriptive, not prescriptive. With that said, it's safe to say that Moses does present Joseph's actions positively, as an outworking of his God-given wisdom. But the reason for that, within the context of Genesis is that God is using supernatural means to demonstrate his covenant faithfulness to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by keeping alive the seed of the woman, even through conflict with the seed of the serpent.

On the latter half of his third missionary journey (Acts 19:21-21:16), Paul collected contributions from Gentile-majority churches he had established in what is now modern Greece, for the benefit of poor, persecuted Christians in Jerusalem (Acts 24:17). While not a major theme in Luke's historical narrative, Paul discusses this project at length in at least three letters (Romans 16:25-27, 1 Corinthians 16:1-4, 2 Corinthians 8-9).

Paul's mission provides a prototype for many charitable campaigns run by churches today. And its international scope (or at least inter-regional scope, since it stayed within the Roman Empire) suggests that Christians can and should carry out such work across national boundaries today.

Yet the limiting principle in Paul's work was its purpose, "supplying the needs of the saints" (2 Corinthians 9:12). This effort involved Christians taking up a collection for the benefit of other Christians. Thus, primarily, Paul's labors demonstrate the essential unity Christians share across geographic and ethnic boundaries, enabling one part of the body of Christ to joyfully sacrifice for the sake of another part of the same body. 

Extrapolating Paul's mission to justify international work outside the body of Christ -- no matter how selfless or missions-driven that work may be -- hits further from the mark. Finally, it's worth noting that Paul's collection for the saints was an entirely private affair, with no government engagement except opposition.

During Israel's golden age, King Solomon exchanges gifts (1 Kings 10:2-13) and establishes treaties (1 Kings 5:10-12) with foreign kingdoms. Due to the wonderful figures of goods exchanged, this could be viewed as a type of government-backed foreign aid.

However, it is more accurate to treat these incidents as foreign exchange. In 1 Kings 5, Solomon and King Hiram of Tyre establish a trade treaty to exchange lumber (an export of Tyre) for food (an export of Israel). In 1 Kings 10, Solomon and the queen of Sheba exchange lavish gifts, which was a customary way for ancient monarchs to establish peaceful relations.

In the grand story of biblical history, Solomon's treaties with gentile rulers carry an evangelistic significance far greater than merely an ancient trade pact. As a result of their interactions, both Hiram (1 Kings 5:7) and the queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10:9) praise the God of Israel. God had chosen the nation of Israel as a means by which "all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord" (Numbers 14:21), and he had promised to Abraham, "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:3). Solomon's foreign relations were the first steps toward fulfilling this grand design -- though through Solomon's later idolatry God's purpose still awaited its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

In this sense, the kingdom of Israel had a unique purpose and role in history, even extending to its foreign treaties. Since no other nation holds the same God-given status as ancient Israel, no other nation can use ancient Israel's foreign policy as an exact model for its own affairs.

To summarize, Scripture clearly commands believers to love their neighbors as themselves. However, this command to individuals does not apply in the same way to government. Government is tasked with upholding justice, advocating for the poor and helpless, and punishing the wicked. 

Thus, while neighbor-love prompts many individual Christians to acts of charity at home and abroad, foreign aid is on the periphery of governmental priorities. According to the principle of subsidiarity, a government has a greater obligation to its own people than to inhabitants of distant lands.

To the extent that a government has margin to look out for the welfare of the poor in other countries, foreign aid is an indirect and distant application. Scripture instructs government officials, "Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy" (Proverbs 31:8-9).

After doing this for its own people, a government can heed this instruction by advocating for religious freedom in other countries. An unfortunate reality of our sinful world is that many governments either oppress or refuse to protect their own subjects based upon what they believe -- especially if they are Christians. Instances of religious persecution are among the most visible instances of injustice committed against the world's poor.

Our government cannot address every instance of oppression in the world. But it can emphasize the most grievous, opening its mouth for the rights of all who are destitute far more effectively than writing large checks for humanitarian projects. Biblical principles don't forbid publicly-funded foreign aid, but there are far more direct applications of biblical principles to foreign policy.

Originally published at The Washington Stand