Slavery – A Biblical Take
A lot of atheists accuse of the Bible of pro-slavery attitudes, as if this in some way negates the authority of God's Word. I thought I would have a look into this issue and see what the Bible really says. A point to bear in mind, this will not be reading the Bible entirely through the lens of a 21st century Western Christian, but seeking to understand the text on its own terms in the times in which it was written. This will not be an exhaustive coverage. If the reader wants that, go get a book.
First and foremost is the perspective of God on this whole issue. Abraham and Sarah owned at least one slave (Hagar, who was Egyptian) who they later treated abhorrently (Genesis 20 – 21). And yet, God still blessed the pair of them as well as the son of Hagar. God does not appear to have an issue with the institution of slavery in the Torah. In fact, the Israelites themselves have even suffered the same fate en mass (Exodus) in Egypt.
The Book of Leviticus is replete with rules about slavery. In Leviticus 25:42, 44, the Israelite nation is told they may purchase slaves from the nations around them, but not to sell other Israelites as slaves. It is clear from the Torah that Israelites enjoyed a special position with God that other nations did not. They had a unique relationship with Him as expressed through covenants that no other nation shared in. That relationship was the only thing that made slavery immoral from God's viewpoint, as far as I can tell. Other than that, God did not necessarily come down on slavery at all.
Moving forward to the Second Testament, it is true that there is a case of the believers freeing a slave from a spiritual oppression through which she was being exploited for money (Acts 16:16-21). The motive many not have been very pure on Paul's part, he was just fed up with her shouting at them day in and day out. For Paul's pique of angst, he and Silas got dragged before the magistrates, given a proper flogging and tossed into jail.
An attitude to slavery that seems to work within it as a reality of life is reflected in later books of the Second Testament. The seeking out of one's freedom is encouraged and Christians should not sell themselves into slavery (1 Corinthians 7:17-24). It is clear that there is no distinction in God's eyes between slave and free, but Christians are to work out their faith within the situation where they started their faith journey. If they can legally change that situation, then it is clear they should do so. This also fits in the injunction to obey the law in Romans 13 and Jesus' command to render what is Caesar's to him (that is, pay your taxes). Therefore, in a society where slavery was a legal institution, Christians are taught to work out their faith with it if they are part of that institution.
In Ephesians 6:5-9, Christian slaves are told they should obey their masters and perform their duties to the best of their abilities. Should a Christian own a slave, they are to treat them with respect and be aware the slave is also a child of God in Christ (if they are a believer). The Epistle to the Colossians reinforces this, as does 1 Timothy 6:1-2.
The Epistle to Philemon is a personal appeal to a Christian who owned slaves, Philemon. One of his slaves legged it and ended up with Paul, who was in prison at the time. It is clear the slave, Onesimus, had become a follower of Jesus at some point and had been helping Paul. However, Paul sent him back to his master with the letter. Again, there was no condemnation of the institution of slavery itself, but a concern that Philemon would act within his legal rights and punish Onesimus. Punishments could be a permanent collar with a warning tag on it, tattooing of the face (Wagner, B. Ancient Origins), branding on the face, or even death (Johnston, M., 1957, Roman Life cited in Wikipedia). Regardless of the punishments, it was clear Paul was concerned for Onesimus' safety and offered to satisfy any of the escaped slave's debts.
Unlike our society, in the time of Rome and earlier, slavery was a practical and legal reality for people. It was an institution that Christians could still practice their faith within while upholding the law of the land and the teachings of Jesus. According to the British Museum, people used self-enslavement as a way out of hard financial times, which was one way a person might end up as a slave. In Leviticus 25:39, some Israelites were making the same decision for the same reasons. It is clear that the Bible, and therefore God, does not share our modern distaste of the institution.
Modern Christian resistance to slavery as an institution has little Biblical grounding, from what I can see. However, from what little I understand based on my own reading (and I am no expert at all on the subject of modern slavery) of such books as “No God but Gain: The Untold Story of Cuban Slavery, the Monroe Doctrine and the Making of the United States” by Stephen M. Chambers, the drive for modern abolition from a Christian perspective was the brutality and murderous nature of the institution as it was practised against African slaves. It was cheaper for plantation owners to work slaves to death and buy new victims. Even those owners who claimed “Christian” faith clearly failed by degrees monumental and spectacular in even coming close to obeying the Bible on matters of treatment, being fair and just and looking after the welfare of their slaves. Those plantation owners of the USA and Europe deserve the severest condemnation as the murdering reprobates that they were.
In our society and our time, slavery is illegal under international law, despite the horror of human trafficking that still occurs these days. Would the Biblical writers still accept the existence of the institution in our time? Based on their attitudes to obedience to government authorities, it is highly likely Paul would have had a much different response to Philemon's ownership of Onesimus than he had in the first century A.D.
Arguing that early Christians working within the social, legal and economic reality of their day somehow invalidates the Gospel message is a mistake a newb in the first year of college should know better than to make.