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Is the Bible in Favor of Slavery?

Eric V. Snow

Many skeptics and critics of the bible will seize upon texts in the bible that tolerate or allow slavery in order to cast doubt upon the inspiration of Scripture. So do these kinds of arguments hold any water?

Before going into the details of slavery as found in the Old Testament law, It's necessary here to back up and examine why God used Israel, which was a physical nation mostly descended from one man (Jacob, later renamed Israel).  The creation of the nation of Israel was a first major step before the revelation of Jesus Christ as God and Savior could be done later, as a second major step and fulfillment of physical Israel’s purposes.

Christians see the Old Testament as having an organizing central principle that points outside itself, that God’s work with Israel as a would-be model nation (Deut. 4:6; cf. I Kings 10:24) adumbrated God’s ultimate plan to save the whole world spiritually. Since God uses progressive, gradual revelation, it shouldn't be surprising that He would give one ethnic group or nation a fuller revelation of Himself temporarily. It makes sense He would start with one nation to serve as a witness and model to the rest (Deut. 4:5-8; 26:17-19; 28:1; cf. I Kings 10:24), as a beacon of light and hope shining into the deep spiritual darkness that held the surrounding pagan nations captive. But, on the basis of natural law theory alone (Rom. 2:14-15), it's implausible to claim God, who created all men and women, all Jews and gentiles, would permanently enshrine one ethnic group above all as spiritually closer and as obeying His law (His revealed will) better than all others. Likewise, the laws that they received were better than what the surrounding nations had discovered based their own limited use of reason and experience, but they weren't always meant to stand forever, such as those related to waging war.

Because God doesn't reveal all His laws and His overall will all at once, the Bible is a book that records God's progressive revelation to humanity. God doesn't tell us all His truth at once, or people would reject it as too overwhelming, i.e., be "blinded by the light." The famous German philosopher Immanuel Kant once said something like, "If the truth shall kill them, let them die." Fortunately, God normally doesn't operate that way, at least prior to the Second Coming (Rev. 1:5-7) or all of us would already be dead! 

The principle of progressive revelation most prominently appears in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, where Jesus repeatedly contrasts a teaching taken from the Old Testament and contrasts it with what He is teaching.  Although Christ makes a point of saying that He didn’t come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, which is a conservative element in His teaching, He actually made the strictures of the Old Testament harder to obey by extending them instead of abolishing them.  For example, he contrasts the literal letter of the law concerning adultery and then says that It’s also wrong to lust after a women in your heart (Matthew 5:27-28).  

Progressive revelation also shapes Jesus' debate with the Pharisees over the Old Testament's easy divorce law in Matt. 19:3, 6-9: "And Pharisees came up to him [to Jesus] and tested him by asking, 'Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?' . . . What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder.' They said to him [Jesus], 'Why then did Jesus command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?' [See Deut. 24:1-4 for the text the Pharisees were citing]. He said to them, "For the hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery." Now, a New Testament Christian shouldn’t cite this Old Testament passage in order to justify easy divorce procedures. That law has been superseded. It wasn't originally intended as a permanent revelation of God's will, but it served as temporary "training wheels," so to speak, until such time as a mass of people (i.e., the Church after Pentecost) would have the Holy Spirit, and thus be enabled to keep the law spiritually by God's help.  God found fault with the people for not obeying His law under the old covenant (Hebrews 8:8).  By contrast, ancient Israel as a whole didn't have the Holy Spirit, and so correspondingly they didn't get the full revelation of God. Therefore, the physical measures of removing the pagan people from their land was much more necessary than it is was for true Christians today, who have the Holy Spirit.  This is why Israel was allowed to wage war, but Christians shouldn't do this today, based upon what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount about loving our enemies and turning the cheek (Matthew 5:38-48).  Similarly, polygamy is not longer allowed, although it was tolerated in the Old Testament’s dispensation (cf. I Timothy 3:1; Titus 1:6)

For example, we see in the Old Testament ways in which slavery was permitted, but regulated to reduce its abuses. It functioned among Israelites as a type of bankruptcy system and system of (temporary) indentured servitude, instead of its being a life-long condition.  It was a system of temporary debt slavery.  They were to serve for no more than six years, and in the seventh to be freed, unless the slave himself volunteered to keep serving his master for the rest of his life because he was a good master (Exodus 21:2-6).  There were also restrictions on the sale or enslavement of Israelites by other Israelites (Leviticus 23:35-42).  That is, they did have some rights.  There were some limits to how harshly they could be punished (Exodus 21:20-21, 26-27), since permanent physical injuries may allow the slave to be freed or cause the owner to be punished if the slave died.  If an Israelite ended up the slave of a foreigner, he could be redeemed by another Israelite at a price prorated by the number of years until the year of the Jubilee (Leviticus 23:46-55).  Even slaves were supposed to receive some level of protection, such as not being returned to their masters after running away from them (Deuteronomy 23:15-16).  They also were entitled to some severance benefits when their time as slaves ended (Deuteronomy 15:12-14): “If your fellow Hebrew, a man or woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, you must set him free in the seventh year. When you set him free, do not send him away empty-handed. Give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You are to give him whatever Jehovah your God has blessed you with.” Exodus 21:7-11 deals with a type of arranged marriage for the daughters of a man, since a concubine was considered to be a secondary wife whose children would gain a lesser inheritance than the children of the first wife would receive.  The dowry that went with the woman imposed a restriction on selling her to just anyone for any purpose, such as ordinary labor.  If she were not treated well financially, she would have the freedom to leave her husband.

Although in many cases, the same law applied to both foreigners and to Israelites, this was not the case of the gentiles, since they became slaves for life after being bought (Exodus 25:44-46).  They were not considered part of the land reform reset that occurred under the Jubilee system, which was among Israelites only, under which their ancestral lands would be returned to them.  It is important to realize that their lives would have been forfeit had they lost in battle when God ordered Joshua and others to punish the Canaanites.  So to end up as slaves, as the Hivites did, was a lesser punishment than death (Joshua 10:22-25).  However, notice that people were not allowed to forcibly make others into slaves willy-nilly at their whims (Exodus 21:16): “Whoever kidnaps a person must be put to death, whether he sells him or the person is found in his possession.

The unspoken idea behind this system was that someone who badly mismanaged his financial affairs and ended up bankrupt would be shown by another person (i.e., his master) who knew how to manage farmland and household affairs better.  One could easily argue that Hebrew slavery was more compassionate than 19th century debtors’ prisons were by comparison.  So the system of slavery in the Old Testament shouldn’t be equated with the harshness of the system that prevailed in the American South before the Civil War (1861-1865).  Notice also that race wasn’t a factor in this system; much like the slavery of ancient Greece and Rome, whites owned whites banally and routinely.  However, such laws weren't meant to be permanent; instead, it was an accommodation to a prevailing, universal system of forced labor that eventually would be abolished based on the implications of other principles proclaimed in the bible, such as loving your neighbor as yourself and the Golden Rule.

The New Testament’s treatment of slavery presents a different challenge than the Old Testament’s treatment does.  Here slavery is simply a worldly institution that’s tolerated although it’s not seen as anything ideal.  Slaves simply have assigned social roles to play like everyone else.  The unpleasant reality here we have to face is that New Testament has very little to say about democracy, republicanism, voting, or individual rights, but it has lots to say about obedience, hierarchy, submission, and ruling. We must avoid reading the modern Western world's culture, especially that of us Americans, heirs of the revolution of 1776, into the New Testament. For example, the New Testament says we should obey the state: "Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed" (Titus 3:1). "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right" (I Pet 2:13-15). Paul tells children to obey their parents, a notion often especially unpopular with the 'Sixties crowd: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right" (Eph. 6:1). "Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord" (Col. 3:20). Similarly, slaves are ordered to obey their masters, not given permission to revolt against them: "Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do you work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men" (Col. 3:22-23). "Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart" (Eph. 6:5-6). "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a man bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly" (I Pet 2:18-19). 

Feminists today especially dislike the texts commanding wives to obey their husbands: "Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord" (Col. 3:18). "In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives. . . . For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands. Thus Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by fear" (I Pet. 3:1, 5-6). Even Christ has to obey God the Father: "For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, 'All things are put in subjection,' it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God be all in all" (I Cor. 15:27-28). Consider this hierarchical structure in Scripture: "But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ" (I Cor. 11:3). What was one reason for Jesus becoming flesh?: "Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered" (Heb. 5:8). Would this not imply we are to learn a similar lesson, since we are to follow in His footsteps? What are Christians destined to do in the world tomorrow?: "'And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father" (Rev. 2:26-27). "And Thou has made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth" (Rev. 5:10). Of course, all humans are supposed to obey God: "And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him" (Acts 5:32). (However, do I even need to cite any texts to prove this?) 

Since the spirit of hierarchy, ruling, obedience, and submission saturates the New Testament, trying to manipulate this or that text to establish democracy, a right to revolt, and individual rights in relationships between the laity and the ministry is totally unpersuasive. Our protection against unjust rulers (kings, presidents, ministers, husbands, parents, etc.) is to remind them of God's commands to them to be humble and loving towards the ruled (Matt. 20:24-28; John 13:12:17; Eph. 5:28-29; 6:4, 9; I Pet. 3:7; Col. 3:21). I don't write this conclusion with much pleasure or any glee: I stir uneasily politically, thinking that, when John Locke in his “First Treatise of Government” counterattacked Robert Filmer's “Patriarchia, or the Natural Power of Kings,” the weight of Scripture is (ahem) on the latter's side. The same goes for Thomas Hobbes when in “Leviathan” he props up his brand of totalitarianism by citing texts he surely didn't believe were literally inspired by God. We simply have to be wary of reading world's current political philosophies into the bible to support what our human reason thinks is just.  However, as already mentioned above, the guiding principles of the Golden Rule and the Second Great Commandment ultimately doomed slavery as an acceptable labor system in the Western world, although it took many centuries for their implications to ultimately accepted and implemented.

For a general explanation of which laws of the Old Testament are still in force and which ones aren't, such as the distinction between the moral law and the superseded parts of the ceremonial law, click here:
https://lionofjudah1.org/doctrinalhtml/Which%20OT%20Laws%20Apply%20to%20Christians.htm

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