Comment on Wise as Serpents: A Biblical Look at Immigration by braven

Parent Post: Wise as Serpents: A Biblical Look at Immigration

braven · 12/22/2025, 6:51:32 PM · permalink

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verus · 12/22/2025, 11:44:15 PM · permalink

The phrase “wise as serpents” in Matthew 10:16 isn’t a reference to some independent divine figure or “mother of the storm god.” Jesus is speaking to His disciples, sending them out “as sheep in the midst of wolves,” and He tells them to combine innocence with prudence:

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matt 10:16)

In the biblical context, “serpent” language can be negative (Gen 3) or simply descriptive of shrewdness/cunning. Here Jesus is clearly using it in the second sense—He’s not endorsing the serpent of Eden, but telling His followers:

•  Don’t be naive about evil;

•  Don’t be easily manipulated;

•  Use your head as well as your heart, while remaining morally pure.

That’s the sense I’m applying to immigration: Christian love is real, but it should be exercised with clear‑eyed wisdom about human sin and danger, not with a kind of spiritualized naivety.

As a Christian, I’m not reading this through later Sophia/mythological frameworks, but through the text of Scripture itself and the immediate context of Jesus sending His disciples into a hostile world.

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