Not Your Own - The Bible and Slavery (Part II)

In I Corinthians 7, Paul writes a few verses regarding the notion of Christian identity. He exhorts his Corinthian brothers and sisters to live as they were called and not to interpret their new found faith as impetus to reject or overturn the current circumstances in which they live, but to remain faithful right where God has seen fit to place them. To that end, he writes in verses 20 and 21, “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.”)

So, the chief interest of the Christian faith was not the freedom of slaves. Similarly, it was not and is not the redistribution of wealth, voting rights, hiring quotas, Affirmative Action, or the achievement of absolute equality or equity in any way throughout society, either. Christianity’s chief purpose is not the perfection of the world. Christ did not come to save society. He came to save individuals (Luke 15). And, to that end, He calls His people to serve Him by honoring their earthly authorities in whatever circumstance they happen to find themselves, optimal or otherwise.

This is not to say that Christians are somehow forbidden from working for the betterment of society or the righting of wrongs or the establishment of governmental justice and social fairness or the expansion of liberty or higher standards of living for the poor. But these things are not meant to be our primary concern. Paul does say, after all, that slaves should avail themselves of the opportunity to gain freedom, should it ever arise. His purpose for saying so, however, is the same as he gives to those who consider themselves able to stay unmarried: “This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. … For the present form of this world is passing away. I want you to be free from anxieties.” (I Corinthians 7:29-32) Paul’s ultimate hope for the freedom of his enslaved brothers is that they might be free from the anxieties that worldly responsibilities place upon all of us “and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.” (vs. 35) Freedom from worldly entanglements enables deeper dedication to Christ. Thus, the highest purpose of freedom in this life is not a kind of self-sovereign liberty affording access to unrestrained self-interest (Philippians 2:3), but to create opportunities to intensify one’s faith and minister to others.

So, it was right both that Christian slaves in the time of the New Testament lived in honor and respect of their earthly masters and that Western civilization eventually saw the error of its ways and brought down its own system of racist chattel slavery. The Bible exhorts both slaves and masters to treat one another with love and forbids the forcible enslavement of free people. The Bible contains an encouragement to Corinthian slaves to seize their lawful opportunities for freedom so that they might have more resources available for the ministry and promotes Christian reconciliation between a master and his escaped slave.

These are the kind of dynamics of that the Bible presents regarding the issue of slavery. It is treated as a nuanced and serious issue, and it is an issue that requires more thought than many today seem willing to give it. The Bible does not seek to foment rebellion against a pagan, secular government through the installation of utopian societal ideals, but it does seek to revolutionize the way individuals within that society relate to one another, regardless of the immediate circumstances of their lives.

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There is a way, however, in which the Bible not only condones slavery, but absolutely requires it. As I hope was made clear in Part I, it is not in the way anti-Christian activists would have us believe, neither is it what pops into most of our minds when we hear the word.

Paul deploys the language of slavery in Romans 6 to illustrate the nature of the transformation from death to life that each Christian experiences. Notably, we are not given any third choice. All people everywhere are either slaves to sin, impurity and lawlessness or they are slaves to obedience, righteousness and God. There is no path of absolute freedom and liberty. To be free of God is to be enslaved to our selfish passions, while freedom from those sinful inclinations is only found through slavery to God. Humanity’s insistence on autonomy may be an unwitting shackling of one’s own soul into chains that ever and always lead into Hell (Romans 6:23), but true Christian freedom is to be found only in the deliberately bent knee, the obedient heart, the servant mind, and the unashamed tongue willing to confess its own ineptitude and declare absolute dependence and reliance upon the Almighty.

Paul even refers to himself several times as a slave, servant, or prisoner of Jesus. We are told, as well, to imitate him as he imitates Christ (I Corinthians 11:1). Christ, who declared that He had come not to do His own will, but the will of His Father (John 6:38) and who took the form of a servant to obediently do what was assigned to Him to do (Philippians 2:5-9).

So, we see that Christianity entails not only the formation of love and affection for Christ within the heart of a man or woman, but an absolute allegiance to Him, as well. Our sin is that which would tear us away from that which we were created to be – slaves of absolute goodness and truth, Himself.

Such a notion is anathema to most who hear it. The notion of slavery, servanthood, or any deliberate casting aside of self-sovereignty and liberty is the very last thing many people want to even consider, regardless of the circumstances. Nevermind that the One who calls for your allegiance is the very basis of reality itself, the perfect embodiment of love and wisdom, and the One who gave His own life to make eternal salvation and freedom from guilt possible for the likes of us, a rebellious and wicked humanity. The notion of slavery is so appalling, so galling, and so disgusting to our modern minds that not even within that particularly miraculous dynamic is it considered valid.

And so we are left holding onto our precious freedom at our peril. We insist on our own way even when that way leads only to pain and death (Proverbs 14:12). As some have said, it is better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven. An eternity of unending torment seems worth it to them so long as they aren’t forced to bend the knee to the essential goodness and beauty that made them, made the universe, and made the rules. Freedom from God is a suicidal choice.

And so we see how the Bible actually condones slavery – that is, to Jesus Christ as master and lord of all of existence and our only hope for eternal life. The human institutions of slavery are corrupted by sin and the blight of human nature – either wicked or, at an absolute best, unideal and temporary. To be enslaved to another person is to lose one’s freedom in order to serve an interest that is bound to die. To be enslaved to God is lay down your own slavish devotion to the idea that you know what’s best for your own life (which can only destroy you) in order to serve someone who is Love (with a capital ‘L’) and the very Truth Himself and can never die.

It is what you, me, and every other person were created for in the first place. Enslavement to God is our purpose – and our hope.

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I once saw a bumper sticker that read “Jesus Slaves,” with the ‘L’ designed to look as if it had been spray painted onto the rest of the text. It was meant to be subversive and derogatory, as if the sticker was pulling the curtain back on the true nature of Christianity that billions of converts across thousands of years had either failed to see or willingly blinded themselves to.

Instead, it was unknowingly declaring the very thing billions of Christian converts across thousands of years have been trying to convey and conform their lives to.

“True Christianity is not about adding Jesus to my life. Instead, it is about devoting myself completely to Him – submitting wholly to His will and seeking to please Him above all else. It demands dying to self and following the Master, no matter the cost. In other words, to be a Christian is to be Christ’s slave. – John MacArthur, ‘Slave’

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You are not your own. You were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. – I Corinthians 6:19-20

…and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who for their sake died and was raised. – II Corinthians 5:15

Know that the Lord is God.
    It is He who made us, and we are His;
    we are His people…
- Psalm 100:3