Does the Bible Condone Slavery, Part 2

Last month, we examined the Old Testament teaching on slavery to see what it was, why it existed, and how it compared to God’s moral teaching. Turning to slavery in the New Testament, the Roman Empire allowed slavery everywhere for anyone who was not a Roman citizen. Legally, slaves came mainly from five groups: the children of slaves, infants abandoned at birth, captives of war, those sold into slavery to work off a debt, and those who sold themselves into slavery because of poverty. Additionally, illegal slavery via piracy and kidnapping was common around the Mediterranean during the entire history of the Empire.

Estimates of the extent of slavery vary greatly for the first century AD, from 10-20% of the Empire’s entire population of 50 million people, to 35-40% of the population of Italy alone.

Under Roman law, slaves had few rights. A slave was considered the property of his master and could be bought or sold at will. However, he could be freed by his master or purchase his own freedom and thus become a Roman citizen. Against this backdrop, we can evaluate how the New Testament writers treated the practice of slavery.

First, we must note that Jesus spent little time addressing the legitimacy of Roman civil law. When asked if it was lawful (under the Mosaic law) to pay the Roman poll-tax, Jesus replied, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.”[1] That is, Christians have an obligation to obey their nation’s civil laws while also obeying God’s moral laws. Paul almost certainly had Jesus’ statement in mind when he wrote Romans 13, instructing Christians “to be in subjection to the governing authorities” (vs. 1) and to pay their taxes (vv.  6, 7).

Why didn’t Jesus speak out against slavery? When He announced that He had come to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy: “He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives … to set free those who are oppressed,”[2] He was speaking primarily of rescuing the lost from their slavery to sin. Political and legal freedom were secondary. Contrary to Michael Pahl’s claim in part one, Jesus was not, in any way, endorsing the Roman practice of slavery. Rather, He was saying that there had to be a spiritual revolution first, before there could be any successful social revolution. The Jews learned this lesson the hard way when they rebelled against Rome in AD 70, only to see Jerusalem leveled and the Temple destroyed.[3]

Second, when Christianity was born, ancient Rome was organized into a strict hierarchy of social classes divided into two categories: citizens and non-citizens.[4] There were three classes of citizens: the Patricians, who were the aristocrats and controlled Rome’s wealth and political power; the Equites, who were wealthy landowners, but not part of the aristocracy; and the Plebeians, who were the common workers. The non-citizens consisted of both slaves and former slaves. Liberated former slaves had more rights than slaves but fewer than most citizens. The Roman law Lex Aelia Sentia, passed in AD 4, required a slave to be at least 30 years old to be freed, and his master had to be at least 20 to grant him freedom. In that case, the former slave could receive citizenship, with some limitations.

When we compare Roman society to the New Testament concept of humanity, we find significant differences. For one thing, according to Scripture, all humans are made in God’s image, thus making us all precious in God’s eyes.[5] For another, we all become “sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” when we are “clothed with Christ” in baptism. Then “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”[6] That is to say, secular social class distinctions do not apply to Christ’s kingdom, the church. All Christians are on an equal footing, spiritually, before God as His adopted children (Galatians 4:4-7).

However, the social progress made in the church did not immediately impact the legal realities of the Roman Empire. Slaves were still slaves in the eyes of the law. Why didn’t the apostles agitate for a social revolution to end slavery? That had already been tried and failed, with terrible consequences. In 72 BC, Spartacus, an escaped slave, led a slave revolt against Rome. After several victories, Spartacus and his army were defeated in southern Italy. Thousands of escaped slaves were killed in battle, and thousands more were crucified as a warning to any other slaves who might contemplate a rebellion. Therefore, the apostles, through their writings, commanded Christians to go beyond the Roman civil law and apply the greater principle of God’s moral law to their relations with one another. 

The five New Testament passages listed by Michael Pahl as indicative of God’s endorsement of slavery contain key teachings by the apostles on this very subject.[7] For example, in Ephesians 6, Paul commands children to obey their parents, which is the fulfillment of the fifth commandment. At the same time, fathers should not provoke their children to anger but rather teach them God’s discipline. Likewise, slaves are to obey and serve their masters willingly, as if they were serving the Lord (vs. 7). In return, masters were not to abuse their slaves (vs. 9).

Peter also teaches (1 Peter 2:13-24) that though Christians have spiritual freedom in Christ (vs. 16), they should still submit to the government (vv. 13-15). In the case of servants (slaves), they should submit to their masters, both good and bad, even if their suffering is unjust, just as Christ suffered unjustly for a greater purpose (vv. 18-24). Then Peter goes on to talk about how husbands and wives should treat one another (3:1-7). He concludes, “To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil” (vv. 8-9).

Contrary to Michael Pahl’s claim, none of these admonitions constitutes an endorsement of slavery. Rather, the apostles were laying the foundation for the eventual demise of slavery, along with other social evils. For example, Paul repeats the Old Testament condemnation of slave traders, lumping them together with immoral men, homosexuals, liars, perjurers, “and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching.”[8]

Additionally, Paul encouraged Christian slaves that spiritual freedom in Christ is more important than physical freedom, saying, “For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise, he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave” (1 Corinthians 7:22). However, in the same passage, Paul also counsels that, if a slave can gain his freedom, he should do so (vs 21), and conversely, a free man should not sell himself into slavery (vs 23).

The book of Philemon gives us an example of how the apostles applied their teachings on slavery to real-life situations. Philemon was an important member of the church at Ephesus. He was evidently converted by Paul on his third missionary journey and became a “fellow worker” with Paul, even hosting a church in his home.[9] Several years have passed, and now Paul is under house arrest in Rome, awaiting trial before the Roman Emperor Nero.[10] Sometime during this two-year waiting period, Paul meets Onesimus, a runaway slave from Ephesus who belonged to Philemon.[11] Paul has converted Onesimus and is sending him back to Philemon bearing Paul’s letter, no longer a runaway slave but now a fellow Christian. Though Philemon had the legal right to severely punish his slave, Paul trusted him to treat Onesimus as a “beloved brother.”

If, as Pahl claims, owning slaves was considered a blessing from God, we would not expect early Christianity to be popular among slaves and the lower classes, who would have suffered most from such a theological position. Yet Paul writes, “For consider your calling brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen” (1 Corinthians 1:26-28).

In fact, early Christianity drew from all classes in the Roman Empire. Two of the prominent early converts were Lydia, a successful merchant of purple cloth in the city of Thyatira (Acts 16:14-15) and Erastus, the treasurer of Corinth (Romans 16:23; 2 Timothy 4:20). Paul also refers to “saints” (Christians) in Caesar’s household, which could include members of the royal family all the way down to the servants. Theologian and church historian Robert M. Grant has argued that the early church was “largely middle class in origin.”[12]

Finally, we must challenge Pahl’s claim that the belief that “slavery was a divine blessing” has been the Christian view through history. He says, “It’s only in the last 150-200 years that the tide of Christian opinion has shifted on slavery.”[13] On the contrary, following Paul’s lead, the early church converted slaves and, wherever possible, purchased their freedom, with some notable results. For example, in 218, Callistus, a former slave, was elected Bishop of Rome. This was not the result of a late development in Christian theology.

Sociologist Rodney Stark notes, “Slavery ended in medieval Europe only because the church extended its sacraments to all slaves and then managed to impose a ban on the enslavement of Christians (and of Jews).”[14] Among those Christians who opposed European slavery were Queen Bathilda of the Franks in the seventh century, Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne in the eighth century, and Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the eleventh century. Stark concludes, “The theological conclusion that slavery is sinful has been unique to Christianity (although several early Jewish sects also rejected slavery).”[15]

The primary exceptions to the anti-slavery trend in Europe were Spain, where Christians and Muslims enslaved one another from the eighth century into the fifteenth as they battled for control of the Iberian peninsula, and the Caucasus region between Europe and Asia, during the same time period, where Slavic tribes sold white slaves to Italian merchants who, in turn, traded them to Islamic countries such as Egypt.[16] It is no coincidence that the slave trade between Africa and the New World, which began in the sixteenth century, involved Spain and Islamic slave traders before spreading to other European nations, including England.

John Newton (1725-1807) was an English merchant ship captain who was involved in the transatlantic slave trade. In 1748, Newton became a Christian but continued in the slave trade until poor health forced him to give up sailing in 1754. He began studying for the ministry and was ordained by the Church of England in 1764 and accepted a preaching post in Olney, England. While serving there, Newton and his friend, poet William Cowper, wrote a hymnal which included Newton’s most famous hymn, the autobiographical Amazing Grace. Over the years, Newton felt increasingly convinced to speak out against the slave trade.

In 1785, Newton met William Wilberforce, a young Christian politician. Wilberforce was considering leaving politics to enter the ministry, but Newton convinced him to stay in Parliament and work with Newton to abolish the slave trade. Together, they founded the Anti-Slavery Society in 1787, twelve years after Ben Franklin started a similar society in America. In 1807, nine months before Newton died, the House of Commons finally abolished the slave trade. However, the statute did not free existing slaves. Wilberforce continued to fight for the emancipation of all slaves until poor health forced him to retire in 1825. In 1833, the Slavery Abolition Act freed all remaining slaves. Wilberforce died three days later, knowing that his forty-six-year Christian crusade to end slavery in Britain was successful.

Newton and Wilberforce were not, as Pahl claims, part of a late shift in the tide of Christian opinion about slavery. Rather, they were the natural result of thousands of years of biblical teaching, going back to Moses and extending through Jesus and the apostles to the early church, to see all people, regardless of their social status, as able to be adopted into God’s family (Galatians 4:1-7).

In conclusion, we should note that, while slavery has, technically, been outlawed in every country worldwide since 1981, there are still an estimated 50 million slaves in the world, a number equal to the entire population of the first-century Roman Empire! India alone has an estimated 13 million to 14 million slaves. It is not a coincidence that the highest levels of slavery today occur in non-Christian countries. Therefore, when someone criticizes Christianity for being “soft” on slavery, we have every right to ask what religion or movement has done and is doing more to oppose slavery today than Christianity has done.