Chapter 22: Specific Battlefronts: 4. Race – 3. The Church, the Bible & Slavery

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CONTENTS

PART 22.1 Christians & History

Additional Resource

The Basics

PART 22.2 The Old Testament & Slavery

22.2.1 The pre-existence of slaves

22.2.2 Slavery and the Law of Moses

PART 22.3 The New Testament & Slavery

22.3.1 Instructions to Slaves

22.3.2 Instructions to Masters of Slaves

PART 22.4 Some Conclusions

PART 22.1 Christians & History

Additional Resource: Please note some of the following page is taken from a previous article on this site which appeared as an Appendix to a series appraising a book by an atheist. In its fullest form it can be found at http://www.readbiblealive.com/GodisnotGreat/GNGAppendix3.html

We will not deal here, for the sake of space, with the particular subject of how some in the church in the past have wrongly understood scripture to condone slavery of Africans, but it is there in that Appendix.

The Basics: The accusation against Christians in respect of slavery, is that we tolerated it, our God tolerated it, and we let it happen. Well that requires us to note some truths from our particular perspective:

1. In this ‘fallen world' (see chapter 5.2) slavery has existed from the earliest of days as the stronger dominated the weaker. No excuses, it happened; it's what sinful mankind does – and still does.

2. The fact of slavery continued to happen and was thus incorporated into the so-called early civilizations of Greece and Rome. It was simply an established fact of life; conquerors in wars took prisoners and made them slaves.

3. God's presence, the Bible reveals, is always there ‘in the background' so to speak until He revealed Himself through the nation He brought into being for that purpose, Israel. He gave them laws, which included how to treat ‘slaves' (as we will see later in this paper) making them more like modern ‘servants'.

4. God never forces or imposes His will on mankind and life or humanity's development came in ordered stages, as an observation of the development of, say, science shows, and can be seen in chapters 7 & 8 of the book, “God's Love in the Old Testament” on this site, found at

http://www.readbiblealive.com/GodsLove/GodsLoveCh7.html

5. Thus God waits until mankind develops and is ready, and circumstances are right, before seeking to bring major changes in world attitudes, such as that in respect of slavery. The apostle Paul who made brief references to slavery would have been highly ineffective if he started teaching, “You mustn't have slaves.” The world-attitude at that times was set. We see how he did speak to a friend, Philemon, about taking back a runaway slave, accepting him as a brother, a serious life change. (See the letter to Philemon).

6. Various writers of Christian history have picked up on the fact that believers in the early centuries may not have campaigned against slavery as such, but some actually bought slaves and freed them or worked in other ways to have slaves released. See Rodney Stark's ‘The Triumph of Christianity' and ‘The Victory of Reason', Tom Holland's ‘Dominion', John Dickson's ‘Bullies and Saints', and finally Glen Scrivener's ‘The Air we Breathe'. All of these attest to Christian involvement, right back in the early church, the so-called ‘Dark Ages', and later, helping slaves long before the evangelical, William Wilberforce joined the cause and became a leading abolitionist on this side of the Atlantic. For more on this refer back to chapter 21 and Murray's comments on the UK's role in working against the slave trade.

PART 22.2 The Old Testament & Slavery

The Old Testament shows us a) that slavery existed world-wide, and then b) God's laws for Israel that curtailed and controlled the slavery that existed.

22.2.1 The pre-existence of slaves

•  The local king or warlord, Abimelech, who Abraham encountered, had slave girls (Gen 20:17).

•  Abram also had slaves, because that was what Hagar was considered (Gen 21:10) although she was much nearer the concept of ‘a servant' and, yes, an abused one.

•  Joseph was sold by his brothers as a slave to the Midianite traders (Gen 38:28) who were obviously slave traders, who sold him on as a slave to Potiphar in Egypt where slaves were obviously common (Gen 39:1).

•  Joseph subsequently spoke about making one of the brothers a slave (Gen 44:10).

•  After 400 years, Israel still living in Egypt, were all made slaves for the Egyptians (Ex 1:11-14).

•  It is quite clear therefore, that in those early years slavery was a well-established world practice, an expression of oppression by powerful people over less-powerful people, an expression of sin in the world, and a well-established practice that sinful men were not likely to give up easily.

22.2.2 Slavery and the Law of Moses

•  “If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished ”  (Ex 21:20). An obvious restraint on bad slave owners.

•  The law of Strict Liability (as our present law calls it) held an owner accountable to anyone gored by his bull if he knew the bull had a tendency to do that. If they are killed by it, the owners life is forfeit, whether the dead person was a slave or not. If they were simply gored and were a slave then a fine is imposed. Laws of consideration that covered both slaves and non-slaves. (Ex 21:28 -32).

•  The slave as well as anyone else was granted a day's rest on the Sabbath (Ex 23:12).

•  “If a man sleeps with a woman who is a slave girl promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment .”  (Lev 19:20). The slave girl is thus protected from powerful men.

•  “If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt,  they must not be sold as slaves.”  (Lev 25:39-43) Israelites were not to work as slaves and were eventually to be released back home.

•  “Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property.”  (Lev 25:44,45). Israelites could join in the same practice as the rest of the world. Note that is not a mandate to treat foreign slaves harshly:  “ Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt.”   (Ex 22:21 Also 23:9)

•  “If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand him over to his master. Let him live among you wherever he likes and in whatever town he chooses. Do not oppress him.”  (Deut 23:15,16) Israel could thus become a refuge for fleeing slaves, who could join Israel and become one with them.

Thus if we look carefully, we find that the Law given to Moses regulated what was an existing practice in the world and forbade Israelites to be slaves, to accept slaves from other countries but to treat them well. A slave fleeing to them was to be given refuge. Contrary to much that is spoken about slavery in the Old Testament, there is a caring and concerned element in the Law that helped slaves coming from the world.

PART 22.3 The New Testament & Slavery

The comment is often made that the New Testament is silent on the matter of slavery. That isn't quite true:

22.3.1 Instructions to Slaves

“Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God .”  1 Pet 2:18-20

“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.”  Eph 6:5-8

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Gal 4:28

Notes:

•  These instructions come in letters to churches and are therefore instructions to slaves who are Christians and part of the church. For them to be able to hear these instructions read out they would have to take part in the ordinary life of the church, i.e. although they were still slaves there was obviously an equality in the faith, slave and non-slave (Gal 4:28 above)

•  The message to slaves was ‘stand out in the way you serve', with the clear implication that their witness will lead others to Christ.

22.3.2 Instructions to Masters of Slaves

“Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.”  Col 4:1

“the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.”  Eph 6:8,9

Notes:

•  The message for those who owned slaves and, for the same reason as above, were obviously Christians, was treat them well.

•  The reason given is that God is watching you and (implied) you will be answerable to Him.

PART 22.4 Some Conclusions

•  It seems almost as if God knew that, in those early days, there is little point in saying the world, ‘Don't have slaves', because the world was not ready to receive it.

•  What the Christian world was ready to receive was the possibility of the division between master and slave being almost removed where they were Christians, or at least the master was a Christian.

•  The benign attitude towards slaves by the Christian community meant that a number worked to have slaves released, even while the world at large was against that happening.

•  God knew that there would be, at a specific time later in history, when world slavery (because it was common) would rise up in some of the leading nations in the world where there was a Christian influence, and after a period of acceptance (yes, even by many Christians), there would rise up among a number of those Christians a conscience that would work and work until slavery was abolished.

•  It is worth noting in passing, I believe, that people worked in service (‘below stairs') in a very class conscious world right up until the early part of last century, under conditions that were not far off slavery at times. The social structures of society would require the pressures of social change following the First World War before change would come for such workers.

•  Today we consider such servitude immoral although voices are really rarely raised against prostitution slavery, which is common in many parts of the world, possibly nearer to home than we would like to think, or child labour which is akin to slavery, and certainly the slavery of children being drafted into fighting gangs in certain war-torn areas of the world. (Slavery or people trafficking is The biggest money-making crime in the world today!)

•  Although the Christian church was obviously slow to take up arms against slavery, and even accepted it for a long period, the church (comprising largely of ordinary people) were not the instigators of slavery and were in fact the majority of those fighting for abolition.

•  Competing against culture has always been difficult and Christians are still human beings who don't like to flow against the tide. We can be grateful that some did!

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