efforts to manipulate such results through man-made
techniques and timetables, only reveal that religious man is
still attempting to set himself up as God to “play Holy
Spirit,” without reckoning on God’s grace-action in His due
time.
An historical example of God’s timely action apart
from religious orchestration might be the effect that
Christianity has had upon slavery. Human slavery had been
a social ill throughout human history, but
“neither Jesus nor the apostles thought they could solve the
problem of slavery as a social problem. They did not revolt against
the practice. They did not contend for the dignity of the human
person. They did not attempt institutional transformation. The first
Christians were content to adopt an individual relation to slaves
which changed the situation from within. This is what finally
brought about, after many centuries, the abolition of slavery.” 7Slaves were encouraged to obey their masters as “unto the
Lord”, and masters were encouraged to treat their slaves
with loving kindness, fairness and justice (Eph. 6:5-9; Col.
3:22-4:1). The tragic situation of human slavery was
gradually diminished as the character of Christ was
expressed in the midst of the problem. Such is the
revolutionary permeation of “salt” and “light” into the
world (cf. Matt. 5:13-16).