Does the Bible permit or, even worse, encourage slavery? Reading Bible passages out of context might suggest it does. Critics of Christianity could read Titus 2:9 or 1 Peter 2:18 and ask one to justify commands for slaves to obey their masters.
Out of context, the Old Testament is disturbing (Leviticus 25:44-46) and makes provision for slavery. Does this entail that God endorses the practice of slavery? Out-of-context such quotations can put Christians on the back foot. Are we defending an immoral Bible?
Track record
The history of Christianity demonstrates the objection is false. Paul’s famous letter to Philemon urges him to receive his runaway slave as ‘no longer a slave’ but ‘as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.’ (Philemon 16). Amazingly, the apostles boasted that they were bond-slaves of Christ.
Paul’s words begin a process of undermining the basis of slavery in the classical world. All people are created equal. Slavery would be abolished in the Roman world with the spread of Christianity. In later history, John Newton and William Wilberforce would be Christian campaigners against the slave trade.
The Old Testament prohibits trading of slaves (Exodus 21:16). Israelites could not be slaves for more than six years and should be paid on their release (Deuteronomy 15:12-14). The law gave slaves protection (Exodus 21:20-21) and would have prevented sex slavery. The slavery of the ancient world was a dreadful business, but the Old Testament law reveals a new way of organising society in which slavery is out of place. Unlike Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon, slavery in Israel was not seen as an appropriate position in life for a lower class. After all, the Israelites themselves had once been slaves and now experienced freedom. The God of the Bible is the God of liberty, not oppression.
Biblical realism
If the Old Testament law regarding slavery is realistic about the economies of the ancient world, then so too the New Testament is realistic about how to live in a fallen world. Paul’s words to slaves in Titus 2:9 reflect a biblical realism. In this letter, Paul was not addressing the ill-treated slaves who worked the Roman galleys or mines, but the bond-slaves or indentured servants who worked as household servants. Perhaps through financial ruin, or crime, men and women might be sold into this form of slavery. But as a household servant it was possible to raise a family and earn enough money to buy freedom or be released as a result of loyalty (‘manumission’). Paul is clearly not endorsing slavery as God’s ideal. He is giving servants practical advice on how to be disciples in their circumstances. No wonder many of the first converts to Christianity were slaves (Galatians 3:28).
The abolition of slavery in the modern world has been a process, and it is far from complete. Slavery continues in many parts of the world unchecked and a criminal underworld continues to trade on human misery in the modern West. Christians can, and should, whole heartedly oppose this atrocious dehumanisation with full confidence of biblical support (Amos 2:6).
