Sermon Snippets - The Bible and Slavery

As I was preparing for Sunday's sermon, it struck me that this was a perfect opportunity to revive what had been a regular part of this blog - "Sermon Snippets" - which offered a preview of the upcoming message.

This coming week, we'll be studying the book of Philemon. Philemon is basically Paul writing a letter of recommendation to a slave-master (Philemon) regarding a returning slave (Onesimus).

So knowing simply that, we are forced to confront a pretty major moral question before we even get into the content of the letter. That question being,

"Why does the Bible remain silent (if not tacitly approving) the morality of slavery?"

I will get to a direct answer to that question, but first it is helpful to understand slavery in the Greek and Roman world of the Bible.

When we as Americans hear "slavery" and "slave-master", images and ideas come to the forefront of our minds that are associated with our own nation's awful practice of slavery. Recent depictions of the Civil War era like 12 Years a Slave, Django Unchained, and Roots have to different degrees sought to depict what it was like.

If at all possible, we should divorce ourselves from those specific connotations as slavery in the Greco-Roman world was different than American during the Civil War period.

How was it different?

Well, below is a graphic which compares the two, along with present employee/employer relationships. 

 

In essence, Civil War-era slavery was based on racism, a relationship of cruelty,  the practice of kidnapping, and was a social system where the authority had absolute control of the slave. 

Slavery in the Greco-Roman World was not based on race but rather was a working class level of status. There is clear evidence that masters were compelled to treat their slaves with decency, in order to get the most out of their workers. There were certainly plenty of exceptions where abuse and violence were perpetrated, but as a rule, slaves were treated decently. Also, rather than straight kidnapping, slaves came from a variety of entry points. Some were captives of war who'd otherwise face death, some were born into it, and sometimes people would sign contracts to be slaves for limited periods of time in order to improve their financial or social status. Finally, the Bible-era slave had relative freedom in their daily lives compared to the overbearing tyrannical control of the American (and British) systems. 

So with that information in mind, does the original question still burn in your mind? Does the context help 'soften' the harshness of your objections?

It does for me, but at the same time I believe the question is still legitimate. If we are all made in the image of God as Genesis 1-2 tells us, why doesn't the Bible outright condemn slavery? Why didn't God come out and call them to abolish it?

Having researched both Ephesians 6:5-9 and Philemon recently, I've come to two conclusions. 

1. The need to abolish slavery was not urgent during this point in history.
   
   In other words, the level of slavery's evil and abuse was not as pervasive as it would be under the English and American empires. Scripture certainly speaks to how individual slave-owners of their day were to treat their slaves, but it had yet to become enough of an cultural problem for the people of God to address it theologically. Ultimately they would and Christians like John Wilberforce were at the forefront of eradicating what had become a grave communal sin. But slavery in the Roman empire was not inherently evil like slavery in later times would become.
   
2. The Church had a more important mission at this point in history.
   
   The Christian faith was still in it's infancy during the time the writers were penning the New Testament. Early on they were seen from the outside as a sect of the Jewish faith. As the Early Church wrestled and grappled with differentiating themselves from this label, they also needed to legitimize their movement and clearly communicate what it is that they were adhering to. New religions were looked on with great suspicion in the Greco-Roman world and we know early Christians battled false accusations such as cannibalism because of their beliefs and practices (celebrating Communion).
   Before they could fix all of the cultural ills of their day, they needed to establish their message and identify who they were and what they believed. In the long term, the pieces were in place to abolish slavery. But the highest priority was to proclaim Jesus as Savior to a lost and dying world.

Now that we've laid the above principles as a foundation, we can properly study the book of Philemon. It is a short letter that causes us to ask plenty of questions itself as it is filled with compelling nuance and ambiguity. But hopefully this basic treatment of Scripture and Slavery has been helpful. Below I will post references to a number of commentaries that I've found helpful in gathering this information.


Garland, D. E. (1998). Colossians and Philemon (The NIV application commentary series; NIV application commentary). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan. Pg. 359-366.

Lincoln, A. T. (1990). Ephesians (Word biblical commentary, v. 42; Word biblical commentary, v. 42). Dallas, Tex.: Word Books. Pg. 411-428.
 
O'Brien, P. T. (1999). The letter to the Ephesians (The Pillar New Testament commentary; Pillar New Testament commentary). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co..

Saarinen, R. (2008). The Pastoral Epistles with Philemon et Jude (Brazos theological commentary on the Bible). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos Press. Pg. 199-211.

Snodgrass, K. (1996). Ephesians (The NIV application commentary series; NIV application commentary). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan.