Slavery?

All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered. Those who have believing masters are not to show less respect for them because they are brothers. Instead, they are to serve them even better, because those who benefit from their service are believers, and dear to them. These are the things you are to teach and urge on them. (I Timothy 6:1-2) 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)

 

Wait…slavery? Slavery is evil. How can the Bible or God condone slavery, especially in the New Testament? Isn’t the New Testament all about love? Yes, slavery, in the New Testament; just like the statement in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount that we are to love our enemies.  The Bible doesn’t say that slavery is good any more than it says that having enemies is good, but it deals with the human reality that slavery and enemies exist. Jesus didn’t come here to revolutionize our society and make it perfect. He came to revolutionize us and make us perfect.  In a lot of ways, the New Testament is as much about our love as it is His.

Slavery is now illegal in much of the world, though it is still practiced even in America. I happen to believe it is practiced in a soft form whenever someone says, “I have a right…”         
 "I have a right to my safe places… therefore you are not allowed to say something of which I disapprove.”

"I have a right to do whatever I want, whenever I want, with whomever I want, however I want as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone…and you must agree and join in or I will destroy you.”

“I have a right to my religion…therefore you must tolerate it.” (Uh, oh…)

“I have a right to a living wage…to health care…to feel comfortable with my body or my circumstances or my relationships…and therefore you must make that a reality.”

I’m not saying that none of these rights exists, but when it is followed by “…and therefore you must…” that’s a form of slavery.

So Paul’s instructions to Timothy are as timely today as they were when he wrote them. They are also just as difficult. We are to show respect to our masters, even if they don’t deserve to be our masters and even if they don’t have a right to be our masters. If those masters are Christians, we must be carefully extravagant (going beyond) in that respect.

There is a careful order to be observed. The examples set in both the Old and New Testament are that we are to love and obey God first and foremost. Within our obedience to God, we are to love and obey those who exercise authority over us. In other words, if my master demands that I make a cake celebrating homosexuality, or murder, or incest, or pedophilia, or racism, or the worship of science, etc., I must respectfully explain and refuse. and I must be prepared to be thrown into a fiery furnace or lions’ den.  I may appeal to a higher authority for relief from that penalty, as Paul appealed to Caesar, but I must be prepared to suffer. That is civil disobedience. That is what Martin Luther King, Jr. advocated while trying to raise awareness of the evils of segregation and racism. Are you prepared? Am I?