The Bible's Solution to Slavery

One of the controversies of modern society has to do with the subject of slavery. As we know, here in this country, there's still a lot of controversy over the matter. For centuries, it was a reality, not only here, but around the world. Many people don't realize that slavery was all through. Also, Latin America. But, basically, they enslaved the Indian population who didn't survive. They just weren't physically adept at it. So, it's a worldwide problem. Some people attack the Bible because they think the subject of slavery is accepted. Some people get affected by that and can undermine their faith over it. Especially young people going to universities, and they get all this dumped on them about all the terrible things and how the Bible had to do with it too. And pretty soon, they start losing faith. And we are to be kings and priests in God's kingdom. So, how would we explain this? Is God unfair? Why was slavery allowed in Bible times? I want to thank Charles Millier, who gave me some information. It was very helpful to prepare this message. But, we want to cover this subject and show the Bible's solution to slavery. So, how would you explain it to someone? They come up and they just start talking to you about how the Bible is wrong about this and how can you believe in a book like this? How can we teach the right approach and focus about the subject of slavery? And how it can apply to us on how we treat others as well? Why was slavery allowed in the Bible? We need to go to the principle that explains why this was allowed. Let's go to Matthew 19, verses 3-8. Matthew 19, 3-8. We see the guiding principle here given by Jesus Christ. Matthew 19, verses 3-8. The Pharisees also came to him, testing him. So, this was a question that was controversial in his days. They wanted to catch him, so he would say the wrong thing. Today, we call that a gotcha question, right? The way the press comes up and they try to trip somebody up. So, they tried to trip him up, testing him and saying to him, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason? That was a big controversy in those days. They basically had the two biggest parties among the Pharisees. One was more of the conservative side of the Pharisees. Those considered that you could only divorce, if anything, like adultery or something, that grave would happen. The other side, which was guided by a rabbi called Hillel, they considered that you could basically divorce your wife if she burnt the toast in the morning. They actually had that as one of the rulings. So, that was a big controversy between the Jews of their day. They wanted to catch Jesus Christ, because it seemed like if he went along with more of the liberal Pharisees crowd, well, then the other ones were going to be against him. If he was going along with the more conservative crowd, then the others were going to attack him. So, this is what Jesus answered. He said, This is the guiding principle behind marriage.

He was just quoting the scripture and the principle behind marriage.

So, Jesus Christ said that in that society, God allowed it because people were immersed in that society. That was their mindset. So, he would regulate it. So, there wouldn't be the abuses that were found otherwise. But it was because of the hardness, or you can say the carnal nature of society, they were going to do it anyways.

And why is that the case? Why were they going to do this? What caused the hardness of their heart if it wasn't in the beginning that way? So, we have to go back to where Jesus mentioned about joining the two into one flesh, which was the Garden of Eden. See, God did not give Adam and Eve any instructions about divorce or about slavery. Only afterwards, after they sinned, it was a result of disobedience and broken relationships. When they were expelled from Eden, they entered another world system, another way of administering things. They would be influenced by Satan and be encouraged to be self-centered, selfish, and egoistical. Mankind would exploit others and have broken relationships based on power and money and influence. But all along, God was not passively standing by. He had the ultimate solution. He knew. Man, once expelled from Eden, was going to have a hard heart. He was going to break the relationships. But he had a plan of salvation set up. He set that up even before man sinned. Notice in 1 Peter 1, verse 17. It says, And if you call on the Father, talking about God, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear. Other translations have a pilgrimage because our lives are like a pilgrimage. Knowing that you were not redeemed or bought and saved with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your parents. And that was our life. Aimless conduct. Just drifting along, following the current of today's societies and their values. We didn't know any better. But we, as he says, were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained or prepared, destined before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. Who through him believed in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God. So we see God had a plan to rescue mankind from the hardness of his heart, from the influence of Satan, all the damage that would be done. God would pay a very dear price to redeem mankind.

Then God would provide the ultimate solution when Jesus Christ returns. He's going to abolish slavery forever. This is a temporary evil that we are living through in society as many other temporary evils that we suffer through.

God is going to bring back those initial conditions that were existing at the time of the Garden of Eden. Notice in Acts chapter 3 verse 19, Jesus describes such a coming time. In Acts chapter 3 and verse 19, he tells the crowd, Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before. Notice what the end time is called, the times of refreshing. It's going to be a tough time, but it's the end of all of this suffering. It's the very end period of all of these evils. And so when God begins to intervene, then God Himself will say, this will be the end of all of this evil, and there will be a time of refreshing when He sends Jesus Christ. He goes on to say, Who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. Talk about that coming kingdom. And so when we're dealing with something like slavery, it's one of man's evils, just like murders and wars and many other things that happen because of the hardness of the heart of human beings. Notice what God's kingdom is going to be like. It's going to be like the Garden of Eden, but it's going to be spread all over the earth. Notice in Isaiah 11, this is a good summary describing the coming kingdom of God. Isaiah 11, verse 1, it says, Now Jesse was David's father, and remember the Messiah was going to come from the Davidic line. And so it's talking about Jesus Christ.

So Christ is coming. He's going to tolerate man's exploitation of others. He's not going to allow what today is being allowed on this earth. And it goes on to say the conditions like they were in the time of Eden. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb. The leopard shall lie down with the young goat. The calf and the young lion and the fatling together. And a little child shall lead them. Can't do that today. Little child will be eaten by the young lion. He wouldn't last five minutes. We've seen that sometimes. Terrible accidents that happen in zoos where little children fall, where the lions are. And usually they're just mauled to death before anybody can even reach them because that is a different nature. That is a fallen nature that animals have today. But again, it's a temporary evil. That's not the way God originally designed the animals or the plants. And everything is going to be restored back to that Edenic paradise.

And of course we won't have man's ills anymore. It goes on to say, the cow and the bear shall graze, their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. Animals will be vegetarians. All of them. So the whole constitution of the digestive system, the teeth, they're going to have more teeth like ox do or cows do. We're not going to have anybody, any animals tearing other animals to pieces.

And it goes on to say, the nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole. So all of these animals, these cobras which are venomous today, they're going to be like earthworms. They just play around with them. They're not going to be any danger at all. They're not going to have fangs. They're not going to have that aggressive attacking mode. And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. It won't get bit. It says, they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain. Why? For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. God's laws, His teachings, His way of life will cover the entire earth. And so that's what we're looking forward to. And we know slavery is that temporary evil that we have to put up with today. And you think slavery has been totally eradicated upon the earth? Not at all. You've still got places in Africa that tribes invade other tribes. They still sell. There's the white slave trade and other types. So people are still being kidnapped and ransomed. But it will be completely abolished in the kingdom of God.

By the way, I can say that I lived under a type of slavery for a little over a year when Fidel Castro took over in Cuba and established his communist system upon that nation. Our homes that no longer belong to us, they belong to the state.

What we saw in TV or radio, it was all controlled by the state. The school system was controlled by the state. There was this enslavement of the mind and the body of the people. I lived through that. I'll never forget when I first went to first grade. We had a Catholic school that I went to. All of a sudden, when Fidel Castro took over, he removed all of the teachers. The state took over that Catholic school. I remember going there innocently. Instead of having one of these monks, because they were always dressed up in this brown-type robes, there was this young lady. She was the new teacher. She was a communist teacher. I was only seven at the time, but I'll never forget. She said, we want you to learn two things today. First, God does not exist. Secondly, you've got to tell us what your parents are doing in their home. They wanted me to be an atheist and a spy against my parents. In that day, that was one of the most shocking things I ever heard in my life. They were imposing a slavery upon the people. Guess what? Sixty years later, the people are still in a type of slavery. They can't leave the country unless they flee. They were still having boats trying to flee there. They get food rationing. According to how you obey the government, they tell you where to live, what to study, where to work, and if they see that there's any resistance, they will put you in jail. They will throw the book at you. That's pretty close to a type of slavery that we see around the world. Back in history, it's called communist slavery. Millions of people died resisting it.

How did God begin in his plan of salvation, working things out, saving and redeeming mankind from that hardness of the heart and all of these cruel and evil things that were happening? He started working with one man. That was Abraham and his descendants. He would start redeeming mankind through them. Notice in Genesis chapter 26, Genesis chapter 26 verses 4 and 5, here's the key that made Abraham different. Genesis 26, starting in verse 3, it says, It says, And I will be with you and bless you, for to you and your descendants, I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham, your father.

And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven. I will give to you descendants all these lands, and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Because, see, there was a condition. God just wasn't handing it over to Abraham by just grace alone, because, oh, God just sort of chose him. There were conditions, and there are conditions, to receive God's grace. Because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

He told that to Isaac about his father and the faith that Abraham had.

Abraham applied these commandments, these laws, as best as he could within the society that he knew around him. And he was faithful to what God commanded him, even willing to sacrifice his only begotten son.

And then, with Israel as a nation, Israel would be the descendants of Abraham. God regulated the abuse of slavery and made it much more humane than it used to be. So he said, I know you've still got the hardness of your heart. I can't take that heart of stone from you now, but I'm going to give you good laws to guide you. Kind of like a child, God began giving them the right instructions. They weren't mature enough to understand and apply all the principles at once.

So these laws would help regulate the hardness of the hearts of the Israelites. The New Bible dictionary mentions about slavery. It says, generally, a more humane spirit breathes through the Old Testament laws and customs on slavery, as illustrated by the repeated injunctions in God's name, not to rule over a brother Israelite harshly. God said, you're not going to be like the rest of the nations. And there would be two overriding principles that God would give the Israelites.

The first one, He always reminded them, remember, you were slaves in Egypt. You were treated harshly. You saw the hardness of the Egyptian hearts, and you will not do the same in the land which I give you.

You were exploited in Egypt and became just property to them with basically no rights.

The Egyptians even applied a type of genocide by killing the first-born sons. And as slaves, they had no rights. They couldn't protest. Notice in Leviticus 19, God reminds the Israelites, you're not supposed to treat people that way. Leviticus 19, verse 33, What about if an Egyptian comes or some other stranger from another land? Are you just to take them and deal with him as the Egyptians did to you? He says, And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself. For you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. So he said, remember this. You're not to have the hardness of the heart that other nations around you did have. That's the first principle, but they had to go through in Egypt, so that they would learn not to treat others that way. The second principle is found in Genesis 9.6. Genesis 9.6.

God tells Noah, Whoever sheds man's blood by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God he made man. Yes, that's the second great principle. All human beings are made in the image of God. They deserve dignity. They deserve freedom. They don't deserve being exploited and enslaved, as mankind has done in the past. Now, it's important to take this into account. There are three main types of slavery mentioned in the Bible, and they're quite different. So when people talk about slavery as a general term, they don't realize there are different types. First of all, we have the biblical type of slavery. This would be among God's people. It was mostly debt-based and temporary. You were self-sold for six years, and in the seventh year you gained your freedom, or in the jubilee year if it fell earlier. The family land was returned to you, and you got a chance to start again. Notice in Deuteronomy chapter 15 verse 12. It says, If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. So it wasn't like the Egyptians. Egyptians bought you or captured you, and you were a slave for life. Not only that, but your children were slaves. You had no voice in the matter. Here there's a much more compassionate and a temporary measure in place. It says in verse 13, When you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed. So okay, he works for six years, and then just say goodbye, and the person doesn't have anything to stand on his own two feet. God says you will not do this. You shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. So you give him animals, you give him seeds to plant, and from your winepress as well, from what the Lord has blessed you with, you shall give to him. And it says liberally, which means in abundance. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you. He bought you out. Therefore I command you this thing today. And then there's a further law. What happens if the person feels comfortable working for you? Not everybody is this entrepreneur that can just start a business and fail and raise it up again and be on his own. Some people rather work for someone else. That is the entrepreneur that takes the risks.

And so what if this person says, I don't want to leave. I'm happy with what you've provided me. It says in verse 16, And if it happens that he says to you, I will not go away from you, because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you. Then you shall take an all and thrust it through his ear against the door. And he shall be your servant forever, also to your female servant you shall do likewise. It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away free from you. If he has been worth a double-hired servant in serving you six years, then the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do. See, that's a fair way of working with a person. And that is the main type of slavery that you had in Israel, which today is called being an indentured servant, which in a lot of trades you started off like that. You didn't get paid. Maybe you had a place to live, but you worked with the person and depended on him for food and all the other needs. And you provided the labor for them.

There are other types that God mentions. For instance, if they were captured in a war and they were brought in. It was different. They would not be Hebrews. They were not part of Abraham's descendants, but they were still to be treated with dignity. So you know what would happen to some of these captured people? First, the male had to be circumcised. So he was part of the covenant people because you could not have in Israel people. So in a sense, they became this prospect of the faith. They had to adopt your way of life and they kept the Sabbath along with you and the Holy Days as well. And you were to treat him with respect. They would take the Passover with you. Well, many of these eventually became part of Israel as well. So they were treated very differently. And they were protected from harshness. Some of these were treated and the master disciplined them too much with a rod or something. And maybe hit them in the face and one of the teeth would pop out. There's a law there in Exodus 22 that if a tooth pops out, you break a tooth, that slave goes free. He is freed. So of course, the owners are going to take a lot more better care of them. So there were these laws to protect them. So that's the first type. The second type is the Egyptian type of slavery. Of course, that was the worst of all.

That was forced slavery, often harsh, and you basically had no rights. This, unfortunately, is similar to the slavery in North America from the 1600s all the way to the end of the Civil War in 1865. And so we're still suffering the consequences from all of that backdrop and all of these things that have happened in the past.

And then you have the third type, which is the Roman type of slavery, which was found in New Testament times. Remember, Israel was a captive nation. It was the Romans who came and basically captured them. They never really had battles because at that time, basically, the people of Israel surrendered to the Roman general Pompeii around the year 65 BC and the Romans came. But from that time on, they put King Herod as the king later on, and of course he had to answer to Rome.

But they had a local government and people tolerated it, but it was still Roman rule. And the Romans had a slavery system. And basically, the Greeks had the slavery system, which the Romans then adopted, which was that they didn't want to do the hard work. And where did they get all of these slaves? Capturing nations. And so during that period of time, especially from the time of 150 BC on, when they defeated the Greek Empire, took over, they started bringing all of these captives to do the work for them.

Because they felt they were going to work the land, but they also had a system where the slaves were motivated to eventually prosper and pay for their freedom as they could. And it wasn't something that had to last a whole lifetime. They could eventually be liberated. So it was a different system than the Egyptians. If you study that time, you see that a lot of the slaves became educated. They became teachers, doctors, administrators. You remember some of the parables of Jesus Christ about the steward and how he would do the negotiating and how much to pay here or there.

And they would have certain wealth. Eventually, they could pay for their freedom and become a Roman citizen. During the time of Augustus Caesar, there were so many slaves that were being freed by their owners, either because of payment or because of the time of their tenure as a slave. Basically, after the 30, they could start getting freed up to 40, 50 years old. Caesar Augustus had to sign some decrees saying, please slow down the process.

We're having too many slaves being freed. And we don't have enough workers anymore. So, what is called manumission was applied, which is the buying of a person's freedom, or that the owner eventually freed the person. That was the background for the New Testament times. So, we go now to the first century, the time of Jesus Christ and the apostles. And Christ added more spiritual dimensions to God's laws. It was part of God's plan of salvation to do that at that time.

And it would apply also to slavery. So, as people became Christians, there were new values. You didn't look at slaves anymore like property and basically another type of a tool that you had to work with. It was very different. Notice in Galatians chapter 3, here's the statement that made all the difference. In Galatians chapter 3, in verse 27 through 29, it says, For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, and many of the churches were comprised of slaves.

As many of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. It doesn't matter where you come from, what is your status, if you are physically Abraham's descendant or not, or some Greeks who also thought they were a superior race back then.

He says there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. Boy, that was a revolutionary statement. Five are heard one. But he's saying in the church, it doesn't matter whether you're a slave or free. You receive God's Spirit, you are baptized, you're preparing for the kingdom of God to be one of those kings and priests in God's kingdom. There is neither male nor female. Boy, that was another revolutionary statement.

Here, women were elevated in status. Spiritually, they would be man's equal. They are co-heirs of salvation. Now, the women were not second-class citizens. They didn't have all of the attributes that men would have, for instance, to be ministers and preachers, but we have deaconesses. We have many roles that women fulfill in this time, and it goes on to say, For you are all one in Christ Jesus, you're all brethren.

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. You become part of the commonwealth of Israel. That's the statement that started undermining and demolishing slavery in the world. It took a long time, but it happened, and it started in the Christian world through these principles, what happened at that time. Notice in 1 Corinthians 7, verse 17, what if you were a slave at that time? We think of slaves as being almost like the Egyptian slaves. They weren't. They had a lot of freedom. See, the system was so huge. Basically, historians calculate there was one-third of the Roman Empire, which were slaves.

And so, of course, you couldn't treat them like that. There would be huge revolts. The revolts, by the way, ended around 100 years before the time of Christ. And reforms were made and everything, and they didn't have any more that way. And remember, it was a nice, cushy thing to be inside the Roman Empire in comparison to how the barbarians lived. So here in 1 Corinthians 7, verse 17, it says, Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Because there were some Jews that actually wanted to become Greeks, and so they tried to uncircumcise themselves.

Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Many of the Gentiles said, Let him not be circumcised. It wasn't necessary to circumcise them inside the Church. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing. That's part of the ritual law. What is the part that is to be kept? But keeping the commandments of God is what matters. So yes, that ritual law with the sacrifices, circumcision, and all that was no longer necessary as a point of salvation.

He goes on to say, Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it. Don't get all nervous and just want to rebel and escape your destiny. He said, But if you can be made free, rather use it. For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freedman. Likewise, he who is called while free is Christ's slave. So we still have to obey the same boss, no matter in what status we find ourselves. Notice in 1 Corinthians 6, just a little over here in verse 19.

1 Corinthians 6, 19, it says, It should say, So here we see that we became bond slaves. We voluntarily sold ourselves to God upon payment of sins and of receiving His grace. That's part of the deal. Yes, we're going to have our sins forgiven, but we're going to serve God. We're not going to be a rebellious group that receives all of these blessings and then turns around and starts breaking all of God's laws.

Notice in Romans 1 what Paul calls himself. He does this in many of his epistles. Romans 1, Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ. It's one of his titles. Remember, bond has to do with these that got themselves in trouble, being indebted, and so they had to kind of post a bond. They were sold because of the debts that they had, and so he was a bond slave. The term here is doulas, which was symbolically used for voluntary service to God as holy devoted to Him. God did not force us. He didn't conquer us. Just like a conquering warrior, we become this defeated victim. No, this is something he offered. He invited us, and we accepted. We became a bondservant. He redeemed us. He bought us with a price, a very dear price, his son's death.

In Colossians chapter 3, Paul tells the brethren there, Colossians chapter 3 verse 23, He said, And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. The term serve here is a Greek verb for doulas, which is dolio.

So we remember that in God's kingdom slavery is not going to exist at all. Everybody will know God, and will eventually, those who repent and overcome, will become part of God's family. Remember, slavery is a type of violence, and violence is a type of slavery. That's all going to be removed. Notice in Micah chapter 4, Micah chapter 4, one of the minor prophets.

It says in verse 1, Now it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills. And people shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His way. So there won't be that hardness and stubbornness of heart anymore. And we shall walk in His paths. Notice there's no resistance, there's no rebellion, there's no satanic influence to go against God. For out of Zion, the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Just think of the enormous waste of war today. All of those tanks that can be used for agricultural implements. All the billions and billions of dollars being thrown down the drain, because this is a violent world. And so everybody's afraid of the other nation. It says, Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. That'll be a thing of the past. But everyone shall sit under his vine, and under his fig tree, And no one shall make them afraid. For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken, God has promised. And everybody's going to be in their own place. There's not going to be any slavery. Everybody will be at peace, and will be able to learn God's ways, with love and joy, and all the fruits of God's spirit. So we should not be defensive about the subject of slavery in the Bible. But we should know that there are three different types of slavery, and they're not all the same. We should not let somebody just think that everything was like the slavery in Egypt at that time, because that wasn't what God applied in his people. We can explain that it is a necessary evil in the present world, because of man's hardness of his heart. But it is temporary, and will be abolished when Jesus Christ returns.

We should also not forget that thanks to the biblical principles, slavery was abolished in a great part of the world. It was men like John Newton back in the late 1700s. He was a British slave trader who eventually repented. He asked God when he thought he was going to perish, along with the slaves in his ship. He was protected, and he became one of the advocates for abolishing slavery. He saw the misery that was going on at that time, and he wrote the song, Amazing Grace, John Newton. He influenced another great statement, statesman of the British Empire, as William Wilberforce, who advocated the abolishing of slavery in the British Empire. They eventually succeeded back in 1833. Then, 30 years later, after a terrible civil war, Abraham Lincoln, in his Emanciation Proclamation, in 1863, 30 years later, that was abolished in this country. We have one practical application of this lesson in the Bible, and that is presently not to treat anyone as a slave. For instance, a husband should not treat his wife as a slave. Treat her like a second-class citizen. She's there just to do all his beckoning. Also, for the wife not to treat the husband as a slave, because there are such situations where the woman is the one that dominates and treats the husband as a slave. Also, a parent should not treat his children as slaves. Unfortunately, there are cases where children treat parents as slaves. They think that they deserve everything and are entitled to everything and treat them that way. Examples can be found of all of these situations. And finally, toward an employee, he shouldn't be treated as a slave as well. So we have learned slavery is one more evil to be removed in the future.

And we are so looking forward to that time in God's kingdom when we as priests and as kings under Jesus Christ will have a part in abolishing slavery forever.