Letters To The Editor
What the Bible Says About Slavery
In William Grigg’s otherwise excellent article “The Great Emancipation” (August 24 issue), he quotes the chief justice of the King’s Bench as saying, “Slavery was sanctioned by the Bible.” On the contrary, biblically, men stealing (involuntary servitude through kidnapping) was punishable by death (Ex. 21:16; Deut. 24:7, cf. I Tim. 1:10). Slaves were freed every seven years (Ex. 21:2; Deut. 15:12f). Jesus was the fulfillment of the year of Jubilee, which had as a major goal the freeing of the slaves (Luke 4:1f).
We are all slaves to sin, and Jesus frees us from that condition. A warning of the Bible that desperately needs to be heeded today is the reminder that the borrower is a slave to the lender (Proverbs 22:7). Slavery is not a desirable circumstance, but many things are less than ideal in a fallen creation.\God does not endorse or encourage slavery.
The apostle Paul is often criticized for urging slaves to obey their masters and serve them as they would the Lord. Yet, this does not imply approval of slavery. The slave rebellion of Spartacus approximately a century earlier was very fresh in the minds of the Romans. A new religion that already garnered much hostility from Jews and Romans alike would have faced much greater persecution and opposition if associated with a slave rebellion.
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