Q.
32
Doesn’t the Bible condone slavery?
Becky Garrison
A.
The vast majority of us cannot comprehend growing up in a culture
like fi rst-century Judea where women are treated like property and
accorded the same status as the family donkey. How threatening it
must have been for patriarchal culture to be faced with such potential fi nancial
losses should their female property be set free.
No wonder Jesus was viewed as such a threat when he turned the entire
social order upside down by blessing the very people vilifi ed in fi rst-century
Judea and even invited them to have a seat at the feast in the kingdom of God.
All were equal in the eyes of Christ.
Paul concurs with this assessment, encouraging Philemon to welcome
back his runaway slave Onesimus as an equal, stating, “Perhaps this is the
reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him
back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother—
especially to me but how much more to you, both in the fl esh and in the Lord”
(Philem. 15).Craig Detweiler
A.
While the Bible contains timeless truths about the human condi-
tion, it also refl ects its era. It was written during a time when slav-
ery was an accepted part of the social landscape. Some people were
enslaved due to political shifts, as when an army defeats a foe. They may have
captured and enslaved the local people. Others may have been sold as part of
the established economic order. Slavery was one way to pay off debts.
Into this unjust but established social context, the apostle Paul proposes
a higher ethical standard. He challenges “owners” to treat their “slaves” with
dignity. Paul even suggests that, within the Christian community, such strati-
fying categories should be ignored. While ancient cultures may have divided
people into Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free people, in the Christian com-
munity all were to be considered and treated as equals (Gal. 3:28). That was a
radical challenge to the status quo.
Unfortunately, over the centuries, many used Paul’s discussion of how to
be a “better owner” to justify slavery. Tragically, many Christians in the South
held up select Bible verses to resist the abolitionist movement. White pastors
(and slave owners) who refused to extend freedom and equality for all orga-
nized as the Southern Baptist Church. Perhaps the American Civil War could
have been avoided if those biblical verses hadn’t existed. But historically, the
Bible has been (mis)used to justify many atrocities. Such historical mistakes