Slides: Christianity and Slavery

Christianity and Slavery

By David Feddes

From Slaves to Brothers

• Slaves were more than half of Roman Empire

• “You have only one Master and you are all brothers.” (Jesus in Matthew 23:8).

• Jesus didn’t start a slave revolt or change society overnight. But as his influence spread, the institution of slavery was weakened.

• Millions might still be slaves if not for Jesus’ influence. Europe, Asia, Africa, natives of North and South America all had slavery.

Seeing slaves differently

• When Jesus was seen as Master, and all others as brothers and sisters, things were bound to change. Christian slaves no longer saw themselves as nobodies. Christian slave owners no longer saw slaves as mere property.

• Paul asked Philemon to accept runaway slave Onesimus "no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord." (Philemon 16)

Did Paul support slavery?

• "Slaves, obey your earthly masters" (Eph 6:5; Col 3:22). Rebellion would produce a bloodbath.

• Paul spoke of "slave traders" as "ungodly and sinful" (1 Tim 1:9-10).

• "If you can gain your freedom, do so" (1 Cor 7:21).

• Work "like slaves of Christ… because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free" (Ephesians 6:5).

• "Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you have a Master in heaven" (Col 4:1). Don’t threaten slaves (Eph 6:9).

Not slaves of men

• As a Christian slave, pity non-Christian master, not yourself. Eternal hell is worse than years as slave.

• Slaves should “show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive" (Titus 2:9-10).

• "Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you--although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men." (1 Cor 7:21-24).

Not slaves of men

• "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither ... slave nor free ... for you are all one in Christ Jesus..." (Gal 3:28).

• "For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether ... slave or free" (1 Cor 12:13).

• All Christians are sons of God destined to reign with Christ.

• Didn’t overthrow slavery by violence, but transformed society by truth and love.

Tools or equals?

• Aristotle said slavery was good because “"the master gained a worker, and the slave came under the guidance of a superior, reasonable being… a slave is a living tool, just as a tool is an inanimate slave. Therefore there can be no friendship with a slave as a slave.”

• Christians: love slaves as brothers, worship together, same baptism, same Supper

• Slaves could lead churches; former slave Callistus became bishop of Rome.

Setting Slaves Free

• Didache and Epistle of Barnabas warned, “Do not command slaves in bitterness.”

• Polycarp said not to be haughty toward slaves.

• If converted slave owners learned the Golden Rule and saw slaves as brothers, how could they keep them in bondage against their will?

• In second and third century: Christian-led households usually freed slaves. Official liberation usually occurred in a church meeting with a bishop looking on.

Chrysostom (mid-300s)

• Chrysostom preached that churchgoing slave owners were too proud for honest work and too proud to see all as equals before God.

• Chrysostom said God did not make a slave for Adam. Slavery came from the fall. “But when Christ came, He put an end also to this.”

• Slaves should not be chained or whipped.

• Chrysostom said there was one Christian way to own slaves: "Buy a slave, train him in a skill to earn his own living, and then set him free.”

Former slave (400s)

• Maewyn Succat (Patricius) was kidnapped from England by Irish pirates and sold as a slave to pagan chief.

• Escaped after six years of slavery

• Later he became a missionary, returned to Ireland, and led thousands to Christ.

• He became known to history as St. Patrick.

• As a former slave, Patrick condemned all forms of slavery and taught new Irish Christians to set slaves free.

Redeeming slaves

• Not all Christians freed slaves, but the gospel of freedom kept sounding.

• "For several centuries bishops and councils recommended the redemption of captive slaves, and for five centuries the Trinitarian monks redeemed Christian slaves from Moorish servitude. By the twelfth century slaves in Europe were rare, and by the fourteenth century slavery was almost unknown on the Continent.” (Alvin Schmidt, Under the Influence)

Christian resistance

• George Fox: “Christ died for all, for the blacks as much as for you that are called whites."

• George Whitefield: "Think your children are in any way better by nature than poor Negroes? No! In no way!”

• In 1774 John Wesley thundered against the slave traders, "Do you never feel another person's pain? Have you no sympathy?"

Abolishing slavery

• William Wilberforce led a campaign against British involvement in African slave trade.

• Lord  Melbourne: “Things have come to a pretty pass, when religion is allowed to invade public life.”

• In America a pro-slavery congressman griped about mixing religion and politics.

• Christian Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Gospel-powered slaves

• Many slaves took gospel to heart: freedom, dignity, loosing chains, God’s children.

• Sojourner Truth: "I have borne thirteen children and seem 'em mos' all sold off into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother's grief, none but Jesus heard."

• Many believed God’s truth, not masters’ lies.

• Church life gave slaves a setting to use their talents and lead. They applied these leadership skills to other areas.

Bottom-up slave mission

• Lamin Sanneh tells of late 1800s when some former American slaves took Christianity back to Africa.

• Many earlier mission efforts were top-down efforts to convert chiefs first.

• Former slaves worked from bottom up, winning slaves and former slaves. Taught gospel, plus family structure, education, and big possibilities for freed slaves.

Stigma dissolved

• Slavery was ingrained in African societies. Nothing could change it--except the "moral crisis" which arose as former slaves taught others the dignity of each person before God.

• "African captives themselves took to this kind of religion with gusto. They embraced it. You can see why: in their own societies, once a slave always a slave. You always carried with you this stigma. This doctrine said that the stigma is dissolved in the blood of Christ.” (Lamin Sanneh)

Keep rejecting slavery

• Nazi death camps: “Arbeit macht frei.”

• Communist camps enslaved millions.

• Muslim powers in Sudan still enslave many

• Christians are among the leaders in fighting slavery and sex slavery.

• If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36).

• There is neither slave nor free, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

• You have only one Master and you are all brothers. (Jesus in Matthew 23:8).