Slave-dom
from a biblical perspective
Many readers probably remember the old Bob Dylan song where it was stated, "You've gotta serve somebody, either the devil or the Lord". We might nod in agreement, and yet serfdom or slavey itself is commonly rejected as evil and detestable. To be a slave in any way or fashion is for some a hard concept to get their mind around. But maybe from the Biblical perspective, slavery isn't always so bad.
The apostle Paul's insight is most enlightening.
- ROMANS 6:16 Do you not know that when you offer [paristemi] yourselves to someone as slaves, to obey him, then you are slaves of him whom you obey? This is true, whether the master be sin (slavery to him ends in death), or obedience (slavery to him ends in righteousness). [Barrett's Translation]
Paul wrote here that each one of his readers had been given a choice of either remaining a slave to sin, or else offering and presenting themselves to be obedient slaves to GOD. As such, the option of which they were faced wasn't between being enslaved or being set free, but rather it had more to do with what kind of master one was enslaved to. Was slavery for them going to end in nothing more than death and decay, or was it going to produce righteousness and end in eternal life?
Paul continued.
- ROMANS 6:17-18 Thanks be to God! You were indeed slaves of sin, but from the heart you gave your obedience to that Christian doctrine to which as slaves you were handed over. You were liberated from sin, and you were made slaves to righteousness. [Barrett's Translation]
Many of them had evidently made this choice to become slaves to GOD. They had decided, as slaves, to devote and whole-heartedly commit themselves to the Christian teaching which they had received, thus being set free from the bondage of sin. It wasn't that having previously been slaves, that when they became Christians they were then set free to live as they pleased. Rather, they were to exchange slavery to sin for slavery to GOD.
- ROMANS 6:20-23 For when ye were the servants [slaves] of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants [slaves] to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Being enslaved to sin, they produced no spiritual fruit but when converted to Christianity they became ashamed of those things which they had previously done (6:19). Then, being freed from those unholy and ungodly ways, throwing off the bonds of that despicable lifestyle, they then became slaves to GOD. Now, they were able to produce that fruit of the spirit (GALATIANS 5:22-23), which ushers in holiness and then everlasting life.
Apparently then, there can be merits to slavery. It must sometimes be good to be a slave, that is if you have the right master. And yet it seems as if most everyone strives to be free so as to do as they please, but hardly anyone has any desire whatsoever of being enslaved. Howbeit, in Paul's illustration, slave-dom was a universal and unavoidable reality; the only real choice involved was to whom were they going to be enslaved.
Of course Paul was speaking only figuratively here, but it must be recognized and admitted that a sinful lifestyle can inflict no less pain and suffering upon a person as did a cruel master of ages past. Sin can just as easily rip apart a family as could a greedy overlord when he decided to sell off the kids or a spouse of one of his slaves for a better gain on his investment. And sin, such as theft and drunkenness, adultery and gambling, can just as readily ruin a person's health and livelihood as did actual slavery in days gone by.
As such, becoming a Christian wasn't just a social or trivial thing that many of Paul's readers casually joined or attached themselves to. When they became enslaved to the pursuit of righteousness, it was more than just a once a week affair. Instead, it was to be the driving force of their lives. Indeed, every waking hour, their whole purpose and being was to be spent learning to become righteous. Subjecting themselves to the Christian principles they had now become slaves of righteousness.
- ROMANS 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that [as slaves] ye present [paristemi] your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
For Paul's readers, the choice was either to be an obedient slave to the gospel so as to learn to become righteous, or they were going to remain slaves to sin. According to Paul's argument here, the choice wasn't between being a slave or being free, but rather being a slave to sin or beoming a slave to GOD. Slave-dom wasn't an option, it was a continuing and unavoidable reality for each person. Either they were going to be in bondage to sin, or being freed from sin they were going to be in bondage to the Christian doctrine.
As such, freedom's only real and eternal advantage was when it was a freedom from sin, as Yeshua instructed His followers.
- JOHN 8:31-34 NRSV Then Jesus [Yeshua] said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
- They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, 'You will be made free'?" Jesus answered them, "Very truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin".
The freedom He was proclaiming was freedom from sin. Yeshua wasn't teaching that if they became His disciples that then they could go and live as they pleased, but rather, if they devoted themselves to His teaching, then they would become free from sin. As such, regardless how free we may think that we are, if we are slaves to sin we have no true freedom. Perhaps that is why so many today are unhappy and unfulfilled, walking around aimlessly in a gloomy fog of bewilderment. They may loudly and proudly proclaim their liberty, as did the religious leaders in Yeshua's audience, but they are too often just slaves to their desires.
Peter espoused this same truth.
- 2 PETER 2:19 While they [the false teachers of verse 1] promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
Of how much worth is physical liberty if we in turn are bound and imprisoned by our bodily desires? Too often, libertines seem oblivious to the fact that many of them are being led around by the nose, helpless in their efforts to resist the unrestrained temptations of life. Let's not waste and pittle away our physical freedoms by just becoming re-imprisoned by our vices.
Yeshua declared in His Sermon on the Mount, "Now no one can be slaving for two lords, for either he will be hating the one and loving the other, or will be upholding one and despising the other. You can not be slaving for God and mammon" (MATTHEW 6:24 Concordant Literal Version). The word rendered here as mammon does not represent merely money, but rather "that in which the men of the world falsely trust" (The Riddle of the New Testament, Sir Edwyn Hoskyns, page 28).
Albert Barnes in his Commentary on the Gospels, tells us on page 71;
- Mammon is a Syriac word, a name given to an idol worshipped as the god of riches. It has the same meaning as Plutus among the Greeks. It is not known that the Jews ever formally worshipped this idol, but they used the word to denote wealth. The meaning is, ye cannot serve the true God, and at the same time be supremely engaged in obtaining the riches of this world. One must interfere with the other.
Too often we make a god out of our wealth. We worship and adore it instead of it serving us. In his series, Things to Come, Volume 4 and page 20, E. W. Bullinger has the following comment on the word as used in this passage.
- Those who know not Got regard accumulation of treasure not only as their hope, but as a protection against want- the only protection they know of. . . . One function of a god is to deliver from evil- another is to give joy. The service of Mammon is thus shown by the structure [MATTHEW 6:19-34] to refer to both functions, and not as is commonly supposed only to accumulation of wealth.
Yeshua was denouncing their misguided trust in uncertain riches (1 TIMOTHY 6:17), as being either their deliverance from evil or the sole avenue for finding the enjoyments of life. Each of His listeners were going to have to decide for themselves if they were going to be driven by a lust for power and wealth, or if they were going to settle down into a lifetime quest for truth and righteousness.
Being guilty of serving mammon was not about faithfully and diligently performing one's job. Nor was it about committing oneself to a life of poverty, without a cent in their pocket. Rather, it was to whom were they going to devote themselves; who was going to be their source of strength and fortitude? Was it going to be Almighty GOD, their heavenly Father, or was it going to be another god, mammon?
According to Paul's assessment in his epistle to the Romans, slave-dom was profitable and desirous if it was a bondage to GOD, being enslaved to the gospel, thus learning to become righteous (1:16-17). Becoming slaves to the gospel and faithfully and consistently adhering ourselves to its teaching, we are then able to free ourselves from sin's grip.
- GALATIANS 5:13-14 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Here again Paul noted their freedom, but it was freedom from the works of the flesh, which he then itemized (verse 19-21). He cautioned them that being unbound from the Law they were still called upon to be slaves to the gospel.
Aside from using the image of slavery to illustrate the working within one's own heart, and because the institution of slavery was still quite prevalent in their day, Paul elsewhere instructed them on what was the proper attitude of an actual slave to his master. Was it then time for the slaves to rise up and throw off the chains of bondage? Did being a believer during this new Christian dispensation then mean that they could ignore or refuse to obey their earthly masters?
- 1 CORINTHIANS 7:21-22 NRSV Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. Even if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present condition now more than ever. For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free when called is a slave of Christ.
Paul explicitly instructed his readers here that if they happened to be slaves when they became Christians, then they should accept that reality. Don't allow yourself to be consumed with the passion to become free, or attempt to violently overthrow your masters. Paul taught this because if the believer was an actual slave, at least he could still be free in his mind, as the Lord's freeman. Howbeit, if physical freedom should happen to avail itself to him, then he should take advantage of that opportunity and thus gain his liberty. Paul's reasoning was that even though the slave might become freed from his earthly master, he was still expected to enslave himself to Christ.
We might remember that Paul and his readers were then living on the brink of a civilizational collapse, as he wrote, "now more than ever"; the very end of that age was fast approaching (see the Study, Whatever Happened to Timothy?). Christ was fully expected to soon return and gather all of the believers together into heaven, for eternity.
In that case, what could it really matter if in this present life they were held as a slave or in bonds for a comparatively short time. The critical decision for them to make was how to steward their time, their thoughts, within the framework in which they were placed. Regardless if they were slaves or masters, Jews or Gentiles, male or female, each and every one of them could fully apply themselves to learning to become righteous (GALATIANS 3:28).
As such, we find in the Christian communities of the first century a whole new order emerging in the slave-master relationship. Now the slave could learn to obey his master as a faithful and loyal servant, knowing that his real master was in heaven. And the master could in turn grow to respect and protect his trustworthy and obedient slaves, knowing that at the gathering together he also was to be held accountable for his actions toward those given to his care.
- EPHESIANS 6:5-8 Servants [Slaves], be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants [slaves] of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart . . . . Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. [see also TITUS 2:9 COLOSSIANS 3:22 & 1 TIMOTHY 6:1]
As Paul endeavored to explain, in whatever degree a slave was faithful or unfaithful to his earthly master, so will he probably be to his heavenly Master. He was in essence saying, don't be hypocrites and act like your'e working hard only when your master is watching, but rather always be faithful and diligent to carry out your duty. Thus, in this way, even a slave in bonds could practice and learn righteousness. As such, not only during this earthly life but also when he got to heaven, at the gathering together, the slave was to be aptly rewarded for how he lived his life on earth.
We also today can apply this same principle in our own lives. How faithful and trustworthy are we to our employers and customers? Do we treat them truthfully and honestly? Do we recognize that our Master in heaven is cognizant of all of our thoughts and actions? This is how we can also learn to become righteous (see the Study, Nurturing and Harvesting the Fruit ion the Spirit).
But even beyond this, the masters of the slaves should also be cognizant that they too have a Master in heaven who keeps exact and precise account of how they treat those under them. If they were cruel and uncaring, that was no doubt how they could expect to be treated at the great day of judgment (LUKE 12:45-46).
- EPHESIANS 6:9 And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him. [see also COLOSSIANS 4:1]
Paul's short letter to his fellow believer Philemon was also written with these very thoughts in mind. Philemon's slave Onesimus had escaped probably to some foreign land, but was then arrested and imprisoned. During his confinement he found himself a fellow inmate with the apostle Paul, who evidently then converted him to the faith. Later, when he was released, Paul sent him back to his former master with a brief note, suggesting to Philemon that he should now receive Onesimus back as a brother, and not seek to punish him as an escapee.
- PHILEMON 15-16 I know you have been deprived of Onesimus for a time, but it was only so that you could have him back for ever, not as a slave any more, but something much better than a slave, a dear brother; especially dear to me, but how much more to you, as a blood-brother as well as a brother in the Lord. [The Jerusalem Bible]
Paul had convinced Onesimus to return and place himself once again under the thumb of his master. Philemon might then decide to treat him very badly; or he might obey Paul's suggestion and welcome the slave back with open arms, as a brother. This was a huge risk which Onesimus was taking, and he was thus demonstrating to the fullest extent his trust in GOD, believing that GOD could and would work in the heart of Philemon to soften it towards his slave.
Understandably, this institution of slavery has even today a tremendously evil connotation, because under its dominion countless people over the ages have been horribly and cruelly treated. Even the mention of slavery arouses hostile sentiment and the idea of slavery having any merits at all is usually instinctively rejected. As such, we might be wise to take some time to examine slavery and its predominance throughout the ages.
One of the great evils of slavery was the problem of what was to be done with an individual who wouldn't obey his master's commands? One couldn't fire him or dock his pay. The master could only beat him, or perhaps sell the defiant slave off to a more cruel master. And often these overseers and drivers were themselves slaves, who were ruled over by other masters. If the slave on the bottom of the pile would not perform as was commanded, the overseer's usual option was to ruthlessly whip him, for if he could not get a satisfactory outcome for the owner's investment, then he himself was probably going to suffer the same consequence.
But in the Christian dispensation a slave could find himself well treated if his master was also a faithful believer. If both slave and master put themselves under the dictates of the gospel, if they both were pursuing righteousness in their lives, then slavery could have its least offensive outcome. Those persons not able to find employment could subject themselves to a caring master and those masters could then provide and shelter those entrusted to their care.
Nevertheless, when we today consider slavery, most of us probably think of slavery in the United States just prior to the Civil War. Howbeit, this evil institution of slavery permeated most all societies, no doubt nations across the globe throughout the ages. Indeed, it had been thriving in Europe and Africa even before the New World was ever discovered by Columbus.
As such, one does not have to go back to the Romans, Greeks and Babylonians to see the evils and abuses of this institution, for in pre-American days a lively slave trade was carried out in the Mediterranean, and that was mostly done by Muslims. They would either capture foreign vessels or raid costal villages, rounding up and then enslaving all of the terrified men, women and children which they could catch. Roman Catholics were mostly prized, because their peculiar religious belief that if they died in slavery without the Last Rites of a priest being performed, then they would be doomed to hell. Thus, enslaved Roman Catholics did all they could to persevere, even under the most brutal tortures.
The following is an account taken from Holy War and Human Bondage, by Robert C. Davis concerning life as a slave during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.
- Judging by Mouette's [a French noblemen himself enslaved for 11 years] account, one Black African driver was placed in charge of 10 or 15 Christian slaves at each work site. For the Europeans these overseers seemed the very incarnation of malevolence. Mouette wrote of his at Meknes, that "the very sight of that Devil made us quake;" and when it came to beatings, "he always took care to bestow [them] on those parts where he thought they would do the most hurt." Yet the overseers were just slaves themselves, the lowest in a chain of enforcers and inflictors of pain. Above them in this hierarchy of terror were those administrators known to the slaves with the Spanish term arcaides, or governors. These were Moors or sometimes renegade Christians, the men responsible for the progress of the works. As free with their beatings to the overseers as to the slaves, these "little Tyrants," as Busnot called them, still answered in their turn to Moulay Ismail and a favored few of his many sons. Like the overseers, the alcaides drove the slaves in good part because they were well aware of the price of failure, or even the slightest delay in carrying out their orders. As a result of this "extravagant Government," even those in power had no assurance that their turn would not be coming, for they, as much as any slave, might be suddenly and abruptly executed on orders of the sultan, who followed rules and whims that only he could know. [pages 211-212]
In this same book, Mr. Davis reported that around the Mediterranean Sea, just between the years 1500 and 1800, there were approximately 1 million enslaved Muslims and 2 million enslaved Christians. And then between 1500 and 1850 there were around 800,000 Black African slaves taken to Spanish America; 400,00 to what would later become the United States; 4 million to the Caribbean; and nearly 4.5 million to Brazil and Guiana. (pages 64-65)
Capturing defenseless citizens for slavery was commonly practiced by the Muslims all the way down from the coasts of Ireland and throughout the Mediterranean Sea. As such, it was not something which the southern plantation owners of Colonial America invented; howbeit many of them did adopt and use it to their fullest evil advantage.
Nevertheless, all true Christians realized the evils of slavery and worked towards its demise. Howbeit, they faced very stiff opposition, for the aristocracy of their day, including many of the religious and political leaders, fiercely defended and justified this cruel and unjust institution, even quoting, or we should say, mis-quoting scripture to excuse their despicable behavior.
We should consider and ponder the situation of those Southerners who were opposed to slavery. What could be done when someone who detested slavery inherited the slaves of his father, or took possession of the slaves of his new wife? He didn't purchase them at the slave market, but now found himself being responsible for this uneducated and mostly helpless people. What was the process or method at his disposal if he desired to free his slaves.
Unfortunately, in many areas of the South it was illegal to just set your slaves free, for the townspeople didn't want a hapless multitude rummaging around the community. And with no education or real trade, where would they go and what could they do if they were set free. And because of the Southerner's concern of the slaves' desire to escape, it was further unlawful to educate your slaves on how to read and write. (The Cotton Kingdom, by Frederick Law Olmsted, page 473)
Those oligarchs who held the reigns of power did their upmost to maintain an iron grip on perpetrating this evil institution. It required nothing less than a bloody and prolonged civil war, and then subsequent decades of struggle to finally bring an end to it.
The impossible situation with which those post-war patriots wrestled, was stated well by Thaddeus Stephens.
- "We have turned, or are about to turn, loose four million slaves without a hut to shelter them or a cent in their pockets. The infernal laws of slavery have prevented them from acquiring an education, understanding the commonest laws of contract, or of managing the ordinary business life. This Congress is bound to provide for them until they can take care of themselves. If we do not furnish them with homesteads, and hedge them about with protective laws; if we leave them to the legislation of their late masters, we had better have left them in bondage. (Quoted from Black Reconstruction in America, page 218)
Unfortunately, that Congress did not provide for them. Rather, greedy and selfish men, known as Carpet Baggers, descended upon the South and capitalized off of this miserable condition. Nothing went right and everything went wrong.
However, for the Biblical writer, his idea of slavery often dated back to the earliest days of their nation. For them, slavery wasn't as it was known to us, when it became a most wretched and despicable institution. The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament gives the following note on slavery as was instituted by Moses (page 639).
- While the most basic idea of 'ebed is that of a slave, in Israel slavery was not so irksome, since this status involved rights and often positions of trust. A fellow Israelite could not be held indefinitely against his will, but his period of bondage was limited to six years (Ex. 21:2). Even the much protested description of a slave as his master's money (Ex 21:20-21) was not an "unsentimental thought," but served to control physical abuse by the master. Whenever evil intent could be proved (Ex 21:14), or the slave died (21:20), the master was liable to punishment. If the master's intent was debatable, an injured slave at least won his freedom (Ex 21:26-27), and the master lost his loaned money (21:21). Note also the servant's position of honor in Gen 24:ff; 41:12 (cf. 15:2).
Sometimes, in destitute times a person might have offered himself or even his son and daughter to be a slave. It was recognized that it was better to serve and thus eat and be sheltered, rather than be free and starving. One only hoped that the master would turn out to be a decent and just person. Unfortunately that was not always the case.
Unprofitable-
- LUKE 17:10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.