Slavery in The Bible

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Week 11: Slavery in The Bible

Question Asked: Slavery and the Bible…it’s controversial but deserves discussion.

This question is an important one. Slavery is mentioned throughout the old and new testaments, and it brings up a lot of questions, grief and generational baggage for the ways in which many of these passages have been weaponized to cause harm. The Africana Bible, interprets the Hebrew Scriptures through the lens of the African Diaspora. There is wonderful commentary and context on the Torah, the prophets and the old testament writings. In the Preface, they discuss the complex relationship that many Africans, African Americans, and descendants of the diaspora have with scripture. It discusses the way in which scripture has brough comfort and liberation, and also the way it has been used to cause great harm. "The Christian Bible has been a source of disruption and instability in the lives of Africana peoples. It has been used as a tool of oppression. Certain Passages have been used to justify policies inimical to independence and self-governance in Africa and elsewhere. At times, the freedom to read and preach from it have been tightly regulated."

How did we move from a gospel that celebrates justice and salvation, to one of oppression and degradation? In the Commentary for Philemon in the Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, they blame this transition on the "domestication" of Christianity, "Many of the earliest slaveholders did not want their slaves to be exposed to Christianity for fear that they would be compelled to free them; the Christian message had to be domesticated …to make it neutral or supportive of slavery." In the video, How did Christian slave owners justify slavery?, Susan Wise Bauer discusses the selective literalism used by slaveholders.

Let's spend some time looking at two scriptures that discuss slavery: Ephesians 6:5-9, and Philemon. It is important to keep in mind the context of slavery during Paul's lifetime. The Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, has two informative essays on slavery during this time. These essays are titled Slaves and Slaveholders in Ephesians 6, and Ancient Slavery and the Background for Philemon. The following information comes from those essays. Slavery looked different in this time period than it has in more recent context, and the context of U.S. slavery, which many of us are the most familiar with. Slavery in the Roman Empire was not racially motivated. Many doctors in this time were Greek slaves, scribes were educated slaves, household slaves were given a lot of power over managing the household estate. Slaves were able to work towards their freedom, and some scholars estimate that one half of slaves in this time were able to achieve freedom. Household slaves, especially the female slaves and boys, where vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation at the hands of their masters. Slaves that did hard labor, or worked as gladiators had a short life expectancy due to conditions of their slavery. Slavery was taken for granted as a way of life, and very few people were against it. Early stoic philosophers were an exception, but over time, their stance softened, and many later stoics held slaves.

In Paul's letters, he appears to be against the principle of slavery (Eph. 6:9, and Philemon), which was a radical stance for the time. However, we do not have a complete picture of Paul's thoughts on the institution of slavery, and it would be unusual to find that outlined in the types of communications Paul is sending. It would have been highly unusual for someone to write a letter giving direct advice to slaves, which is what we find in Eph. 6:5-9. Household codes usually addressed how the head of the house should treat the household members. Typically this would give advice on how slave holders should treat their slaves, but the majority of this selection of scripture (Eph. 6:5-9) focusses on advice to the slaves, with verse 9 being on the slaveholder's treatment to the slaves. These are all important things to keep in mind as we look at Ephesians 6:5-9, and the context of Philemon.

Ephesians 6:5-9

"Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him."

The book of Philemon was one of Paul's prison epistles, and is one of the letters that most scholars agree was actually written by Paul and not a disciple of Paul. The letter is written to Philemon pleading that he forgive his runaway slave, Onesimus. At this time, Philemon would have had every right to torture or execute Philemon, and it was unique that Paul wrote a letter advocating for his runaway slave. It is believed that Onesimus ran away to Rome, where he met with Paul and was converted. This passage has been used as a call for abolition, but it has also been interpreted as a justification for slavery. According to the Women's Bible Commentary on Philemon, "Proslavery advocates interpreted and used Philemon as an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief supporting the slavocracy and the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act (Missouri Compromise)."

Slaveholders, missionaries and clergy used certain interpretations of the Bible to uphold slavery. In 1807, the Incorporated Society for the Conversion and Religious Instruction and Education of the Negro Slaves in the British West India Islands, published what is known today as the Slave Bible. Officially titled, The Select Parts of the Holy Bible for the use of the Negro Slaves in the British West-India Islands, this translation of the Bible only included passages that upheld slavery, and removed massive chunks of scripture alluding to liberation. In the video, The Bible that DID SUPPORT SLAVERY!, Jon McCray examines whether or not the Bible Supports slavery, and discusses the Slave Bible.

For centuries, mainstream, western Christian thought was pro-slavery. Abolition was rarely discussed, and those who were pro-abolition, were viewed as wildly radical. John Wesley, was an abolitionist, and the roots of methodism are deeply entangled in social justice. However, the Methodist Church sadly did not continue that stance, and in 1844, the Methodist Episcopal Church split over the issue of ending slavery in America. The Missouri Methodist Conference voted unanimously to be a part of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 1864 There was a confederate invasion planned to take place in Jefferson City around the same time as the Methodist annual conference was set to happen in Mexico, Missouri. The Sub-district provost Marshall was so worried about this group of preachers meeting that he tried to force all of the pastors to make an oath of allegiance to the Federal government and renouncing the confederacy, but they refused.  

Around the same time, there was a push from the federal government to remove southern sympathizing pastors from the pulpit and to replace them with loyal ministers. The Stephens claimed “this was a serious infraction of religious freedom for many of the local congregations of the south, including many of those in Missouri. It was eventually stopped due to local resistance of members of the church, and in the end, the whole scheme was crushed through decisions of state and federal courts.” Columbia Methodists were generally from the south, either “immediately or by decent” and too sympathetic with the southern movement for this scheme to succeed. Thus the government didn’t even attempt to remove southern sympathizing pasters from pulpits in Columbia. In 1968, the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church reunited to create the United Methodist Church. However, generations of harm were done when the church decided to side with slaveholders.

The abolition movement happened largely because of Black writers, speakers and theologians. In the Washington Post article, The Bible was used to justify slavery. Then Africans made it their path to freedom, Julie Zauzmer Weil discusses the way the Black community reclaimed and reinterpreted scripture, “As soon as enslaved people learned to read English, they immediately began to read the Bible, and they immediately began to protest this idea of a biblical justification for slavery…Literally as soon as black people took pen to paper, we are arguing for our own liberation.” The article continues stating, “They very quickly learned that the only way we can be heard is to speak the language of our slaveholders, to speak to them about the text that they love, that they believe in."

As a predominantly white, affluent church, with Ties to the Methodist Episcopal Church South, we have a responsibility to recognize the harm that exists in our history, to unlearn racist theologies, and to better love our siblings of color. A great way to do that, is by listening to and reading marginalized voices. I highly recommend James Cone, a prominent Black Liberation Theologian. It is important to recognize the harm that took place because people twisted the Bible to a message of submission and oppression.