I posted this article because of a recent comment to my post called “No “transitional forms”, No missing links”. This article can be found here.
Question: “Does the Bible condone slavery?”
Answer: There is a tendency to look at slavery as if it was something of the past. It is estimated that there are today 12.3 million people in the world who are subject to slavery: forced labor, sex trade, inheritable property, etc. For more information, please visit – http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2006/. As those who have been redeemed from the slavery of sin, followers of Jesus Christ should be the foremost champions of ending human slavery in the world today. The question arises, though, why does the Bible not speak out strongly against slavery? Why does the Bible, in fact, seem to support the practice of human slavery.
The Bible does not specifically condemn the practice of slavery. It gives instructions on how slaves should be treated (Deuteronomy 15:12-15; Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 4:1), but does not outlaw the practice altogether. Many see this as the Bible condoning all forms of slavery. What many people fail to understand is that slavery in Biblical times was very different from the slavery that was practiced in the past few centuries in many parts of the world. The slavery in the Bible was not based exclusively on race. People were not enslaved because of their nationality or the color of their skin. In Bible times, slavery was more of a social status. People sold themselves as slaves when they could not pay their debts or provide for their family. In New Testament times, sometimes doctors, lawyers, and even politicians were slaves of someone else. Some people actually chose to be slaves so as to have all their needs provided for by their master.
The slavery of the past few centuries was often based exclusively on skin color. Black people were considered slaves because of their nationality – many slave owners truly believed black people to be “inferior human beings” to white people. The Bible most definitely does condemn race-based slavery. Consider the slavery the Hebrews experienced when they were in Egypt. The Hebrew were slaves, not by choice, but because they were Hebrews (Exodus 13:14). The plagues God poured out on Egypt demonstrate how God feels about racial slavery (Exodus 7-11). So, yes, the Bible does condemn some forms of slavery. At the same time, the Bible does seem to allow for other forms of slavery. The key issue is that the slavery the Bible allowed for in no way resembled the racial slavery that plagued our world in the past few centuries.
Another crucial point is that the purpose of the Bible is to point the way to salvation, not to reform society. The Bible often approaches issues from the inside-out. If a person experiences the love, mercy, and grace of God, receiving His salvation – God will reform his soul, changing the way he thinks and acts. A person who has experienced God’s gift of salvation and freedom from the slavery of sin, as God reforms his soul, he will realize that enslaving another human being is wrong. A person who has truly experienced God’s grace will in turn be gracious towards others. That would be the Bible’s prescription for ending slavery.
Could you give me historical references for your notion that biblical era slavery was different? This is simplistic, to my view, and does not stand up to (I may be wrong) the enslavement of all when captured in war. Slavery is slavery. If a slave owner repents, good. But if he doesn’t ‘come around’ his slaves are still slaves.
But thank you for considering this topic. It is real in our world and one of the many things we should concern ourselves with in opening our hearts and minds to God’s world and the work He calls us to do.
In my personal study, most slavery in the Bible the LORD did not condone. I am doing a reading with several ladies that includes big chunks of scripture in one week. Last week we read through Genesis, and this week we are reading through Exodus. So far I have seen that any type of enslavement against a person’s wishes, where people are mistreated and abuses, is detested by the LORD. There are examples in the bible of another kind of slavery. This type of slavery seems to me more like that of an unpaid worker, working to make up for debts and other such things. The bible never comes right out and says that this is okay. It just give guidelines of how a slave should behave and how a master should treat his slaves.
This reminds me of a scripture memory verse that my son and I listen to in the car.
Colossians 3:22-25
22Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.
I agree with the majority of this, but I do not agree the the Bible was not to reform society. I believe it was given to transform our soul and reform society that people could come to know Christ deeper and that more people could hear the gospel. God desires righteousness and justice in a nation as well as in an individual.
The form of slavery written about in the Old Testament was actually what we know today as indentured servitude, not true slavery and as required by the Mosaic Law, that servitude ended after a period of seven years, I believe.
In the New Testament, the Bible was not encouraging the overthrow of the current oppressive system (Rome) but to find a way to be of the faith while living in an imperfect society (which included slavery) awaiting the Kingdom of God. It outlined how Christians who were either slave owners or slaves were to behave towards one another. They were not to behave as the people outside of the faith behaved, especially slave owners who could often be very cruel. This is not an endorsement of slavery as some would have it, but a way to work with the system that they found themselves in until the Kingdom of Heaven comes to right all wrongs.
No, not all slaves were liberated after a certain time under OT law.
http://www.heterodoxy.com/societyofchristians/slavery.pdf
This is quite a up-to-date info. I’ll share it on Twitter.