Did the Bible Encourage Slavery?, Part One
Friday, June 4
Slaves must always obey their masters and do their best to please them. They must not talk back or steal, but must show themselves to be entirely trustworthy and good. Then they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way. (Titus 2:9-10)
Few aspects reveal the profound depravity of mankind more than the institution of slavery. By treating people made in God's image as commodities to buy and sell, this barbaric system has persisted nearly from the start of human history, continuing its brutal exploitation and abuse to this day. It torn children from parents as if they were mere litter, separated husbands and wives for economic gain without regard for the pain it caused. This institution is a shameful stain on humanity and vividly demonstrates the wickedness that can reside in the human heart.
In the first century, one out of three people in Rome and one in five elsewhere were slaves. A person could become enslaved through war capture, debt default, voluntary self-sale, being sold as a child by destitute parents, birth to slave parents, criminal conviction, or kidnapping and piracy. Unlike the racially based slavery that emerged in the Americas in the 1600s, ancient slavery was racially inclusive, crossing racial, social, and national boundaries. Slaves, like other property, had no rights, though their conditions varied. Some worked in fields and mines in gangs, while others were skilled workers or trusted managers. Interestingly, slaves were often better off than free laborers.
However, if a slave attacked his master, the entire household was slaughtered, and until the Christian emperors' era, the punishment for rebellion was crucifixion. One might have expected that Christianity’s spread would lead to the end of slavery, but unfortunately, that was not the case. Justinian (AD 527–565) attempted to abolish slavery, yet its numbers increased again, and after the fall of the Roman Empire, it evolved into serfdom. The Crusades further fueled the slave trade, and in Venice, Christian slaves were sold to Muslims. In the modern era, approximately 24 million Africans were enslaved, many sent to America where they served Christian masters. A truthful history also shows that African slavery by Africans was widespread for centuries. Nevertheless, from the fifteenth century onward, the pattern changed drastically, with humanity committing acts of unimaginable shame — kidnapping, family destruction, and rampant cruelty. Given this context, and considering Paul’s words in this verse, does Christianity promote slavery?
Doing the Word
Work for your superior as if you’re working for Christ.
Prayer
Dear Father, help me to be faithful in my work under whomever You have placed me to serve. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Oppression and Slavery
Slavery is a system of oppression. Slavery is inconsistent with the divine purpose for man at creation [Dominion], it is incompatible with the concept of man as the image and likeness of God [Genesis 1.26-28] and it conflicts with the position of the believer who is in Christ [1 Corinthians 7.23]. Therefore, slavery is not benign, in fact, it is the symbol of that institution from which man is set free by the new birth.
Galatians 4:3 [NASU]
Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God
Slave theology has created a doctrine of slavery which contradicts that presented by Scripture. The purpose of this slave theology is to justify American slavery by:
➢ Justifying American slavery by falsely equating it with the regulated institution established in the Law of Moses.
➢ Using the argument from silence of the prophets, apostles, and Jesus, regarding the pagan practice of slavery in their day to prove that the institution was outside the scope of the gospel and Christian sanctification.
➢ In this way, the bible teachers and Christians justify the permanent separation of the oppressed from the continually compounding proceeds of their stolen labor, while commanding their silent acceptance of the continued exercise of oppression in its more advanced forms.
Slavery Is Oppression
Deuteronomy 23:15–16 (KJV 1900) 15 Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee: 16 He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him.
Israel, the nation in which God resided, was apparently a nation of refuge for any escaped slave. In this passage, to return an escaped slave is equated with oppression. To fail to return a slave to his master was not considered a crime. Not only are the Jews commanded not to return him to his owner [if he were merely an employee, why would he need to escape?], but neither are the Jews permitted to oppress him by re-enslaving him or exploiting his vulnerability in other ways.
Slavery is oppression. The Jews were oppressed as slaves in Egypt. God delivered them from slavery without compensation to the Egyptians.[190] On the contrary, the Jews plundered the Egyptians on their way to freedom [Exodus 12.36]. God regulated the institution of slavery in Israel. In so doing, he removed the oppressive elements from it. Gentile slaves could be held as property, even intergenerationally [Leviticus 25.46], but they could not be obtained by kidnapping, or as stolen property.[ccii] Slaves could not be injured or raped without severe consequences.[191]
God regulated in the Law human systems which were harmful to mankind if left unregulated, such as polygamy [Exodus 21.10-11], divorce [actually regulated by Moses, Deuteronomy 24.1-2], and manslaughter [Numbers 35.22-29, 32]. God’s regulation of slavery within Israel was an alternative to worse alternatives that existed amongst the Gentiles. Slavery in the Bible as regulated by God for Jew or Gentile, kept the institution as a solution for the situations described above, while removing the sinful elements. God does not regulate sin, he prohibits it. It was an imperfect solution applied to sinful men, but it was not, in the form commanded by God a sin, or oppression. God did not create a situation where Jews were free to commit sin against Gentile slaves. On the other hand, the Gentile slave system that God replaced, was denominated by the abuses that the Law of Moses discouraged. An example of these abuses is readily found in American slavery, which was founded upon men stealing, the theft of labor, rape, and severe forms of violence.
Revival and Nationbuilding A Biblical Guide for Black Nationbuilding Richard G. Walker