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Gov. Greg Abbott is fulfilling his duty before God as a lesser magistrate. His actions are not rooted in rebellion but rather in submission to the highest authority in existence: the Triune Creator God.
“The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States.”
The first line from Gov. Greg Abbott’s, R-Texas, letter rebuking the federal government for failing to defend the border and reasserting Texas’ right to protect itself from a mass invasion will no doubt go down in history as an opening salvo in what is turning out to be a significant constitutional crisis.
The January 24 letter serves as the latest development in the ongoing standoff between the federal government and the state of Texas over who has the authority and responsibility under the Constitution to defend the Texas border, and the nation’s border, from a mass invasion of illegal aliens.
Before we talk about how we got here, we must define terms. An alien is someone from a foreign country who is not a citizen of the host country but is subject to the requirements of the law, while an immigrant is someone who has relocated from a foreign country for the purposes of living in a new country. While the terms illegal alien and illegal immigrant are often used interchangeably, they are not the same terms.
Now, let’s take a look at how we got here.
Make no mistake, this is not an accidental crisis. For many years, the U.S. southwestern border has been an increasingly chaotic, dangerous, and unsustainable mess. The number of undocumented and illegal aliens crossing into the United States grew significantly over the past three years, setting a historic record in each succeeding year. In December, the House Committee on Homeland Security released a fact sheet reporting that since January 2021, there have been 6.2 million alien or migrant encounters on the Southwest border and 1.7 million fled without being apprehended. In 2023, in addition to being the worst year yet in terms of raw numbers (3.2 million encounters), Border Patrol agents also identified — and apprehended — 169 individuals listed on the terror watchlist trying to cross the southwest border; they also arrested 35,433 aliens with criminal records, including 598 known gang members.
The problem is that although migrants seeking asylum can present themselves at any number of legal points of entry, many try to get in undetected, and this is the marquis difference between an immigrant and an alien. And this is where the conflict between the state of Texas and the federal government hit a new level.
Gov. Abbott blames the federal government for the crisis at the border, citing its open border policies. In response to the federal government’s failures, Texas has installed physical barriers, including razor wire, along the border, especially in areas where illegal aliens are seeking to evade detection.
In October 2023, a lawsuit was filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, claiming that federal agents had unlawfully destroyed state property by cutting the razor wire. The lawsuit stated that border patrol agents had “seized and damaged” the razor wire “more than 20 times.”
In a significant development, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling on January 22, 2024, allowing U.S. Border Patrol agents to remove the razor wire set up by Texas along the Mexican border. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 in favor of the Biden administration, marking a victory for the liberal president from the (ostensibly) 6-3 conservative court.
In response to the ruling, Gov. Abbott issued the previously mentioned letter, in which he argued:
“Under President Biden’s lawless border policies, more than 6 million illegal immigrants have crossed our southern border in just 3 years. That is more than the population of 33 different States in this country. This illegal refusal to protect the States has inflicted unprecedented harm on the People all across the United States.”
Gov. Abbott goes on to make the constitutional case for why he must ignore the unjust actions of the federal government, in light of a very vague and confusing Supreme Court order, and protect his state and citizens.
“The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, § 4 has triggered Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense. For these reasons, I have already declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and protect itself. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary. The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other Texas personnel are acting on that authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border.”
By taking this stand, Gov. Abbott is, whether he realizes it or not, embracing the biblical role of the “lesser magistrate.”
The Christian doctrine of the “lesser magistrate” is a principle that came out of the Protestant Reformation and helped form the basis of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the American Revolution of 1776. It has played an important role in the development of Christian political theology and what is also known as Christian “resistance” theory. Alex Mason, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Aberdeen, defines the concept, explaining that the doctrine of the lesser magistrate is
“a unique Christian theory of resistance to authority which was first detailed in Magdeburg Confession of 1550. This doctrine teaches that when a ruler has become an incorrigible tyrant (within a very limited set of criteria), he has abdicated his claim to legitimacy. Consequently, those magistrates with lesser authority under him may defy and resist the illegitimate magistrate (and his unjust laws) for the sake of protecting others.”
Writing for Liberty University’s academic journal for the John W. Rawlings School of Divinity, Dr. Daniel Samms explains why the concept may sound foreign to our modern American ears: “The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates is hardly known in evangelical circles of the present era. Having experienced unprecedented freedom of worship over the last two centuries, many Christians in the West have had little interest in doctrines of resistance until recently.”
Samms also shares another excellent definition, drawn from Matthew J. Trewhella’s book The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates: A Proper Resistance to Tyranny and a Repudiation of Unlimited Obedience to Civil Government. Trewhella argues that “The lesser magistrate doctrine declares that when the superior or higher civil authority makes unjust/immoral laws or decrees, the lesser or lower ranking civil authority has both a right and a duty to refuse obedience to that superior authority. If necessary, the lesser authorities even have the right and obligation to actively resist the superior authority.”
To put it plainly, this concept argues that it is good, right, and just for certain subordinate rulers (like governors) to ignore the tyrannical laws and dictates of higher authorities (like presidents) for the sake of protecting those most immediately under their care.
In practice, this means that even the lowest/most locally elected official in the United States has been given the authority and duty by God to protect the citizens under his care from tyrannical rulers and injustice — injustice that is either being ignored by higher authorities at best, or actively perpetrated by those higher authorities at worst. For example, if the President proclaims an order contrary to the Constitution, a state governor can ignore that order and protect the citizens in his state from prosecution.
Which is exactly what Gov. Abbott is doing.
By defying the federal government, Gov. Abbott is fulfilling his duty before God as a lesser magistrate. His actions are not rooted in rebellion but rather in submission to the highest authority in existence: the Triune Creator God. Gov. Abbott is also rightly parsing out the present authority structures in the United States. Over both the President and the Supreme Court sits the Constitution. And Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution clearly states, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion.”
If what is happening on our southern border doesn’t constitute an invasion, nothing does.
Romans 13:4 teaches Christians that “the one in authority is God’s servant for your good.” By leaving our nation open to cartel violence, an influx of drugs, and rising crime, the federal government has failed to act as God’s servant for our good. Gov. Abbott, on the other hand, is doing the right thing. His actions are defensible both on constitutional grounds and on Christian grounds when viewed through the doctrine of the lesser magistrate.
It’s not just right — it’s his duty.
American Christians should support Gov. Abbott in this endeavor but also pray for all of our leaders, as Paul instructs us, that they would make wise decisions, advance the good and restrain evil, and enable Texans and all Americans to “lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”
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