Slavery

I was reading the book of Philemon in the New Testament and found it quite interesting in the discussion of slavery.  In this blog entry we will look a little closer at the Bible dealing with the subject of slavery. 

We note that in all of the writings of the NT there is no specific demand for the absolving of the practice of slavery.   It was quite common in that day.  People owned slaves as property.  The owner was free by law to treat that person however desired.  The slave could be bought and sold, treated well or not, could even be killed if that was the owner's desire.  The slave was simply the property of the owner.

There are several places in the NT where slavery is mentioned and dealt with.  In the book of Philemon, Paul is writing to his friend Philemon to give him specific instructions about how to deal with Onesimus, a run away slave of Philemon's.  This slave ran away from his master, Philemon, somehow found his way to Rome where Paul is imprisoned, learns the Gospel from Paul, and is now facing having to go back to his master.  Onesimus has been a help to Paul and is quite close to Paul at the writing of this letter.  Paul is explaining to Philemon that Onesimus should be received back warmly, still a slave, but now also a Christian.  Paul is not saying that Philemon should release Onesimus, giving him his freedom.  But he is saying that he needs to treat his slave as a brother in Christ. 

We can see that in a world where slaves are often mistreated, this new direction is quite a contrast.  And while it doesn't do away with slavery directly, it opens new doors to social change, to changing how people deal with one another. With this change, this new way of thinking, will come the eventual end of slavery in most societies.

In Galatians 3:27 and following, it reads, "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

From all of the teaching of the Bible, from the words of Jesus to the teaching of the apostles, it is clear that there is no place for slavery in the world of the Christian.  All are the same in the eyes of God....and all should be same in our eyes as well. 

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