"Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ"-Ephesians 6:5 "Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward."-1 Peter 2:18 "Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye service, as men pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God"-Colossians 3:22 Philip, thanks for supplying these passages. But I must renew my point that these verses do not endorse slavery. Without context, yes these individual verses may seem to give the impression that Sts. Peter and Paul are demanding slaves to live lives of obedience....and to an extent they are. However, not because they are slaves, but because they are followers of the Lord Jesus. Nor are these calls to obedience limited just to slaves but to masters as well. In Ephesians, St. Paul writes, "And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him." "Do the same things to them," that is, slaves. This undoes whatever purported pro-slavery sentiments the previous verses may appear guilty of. Nor is this portion of the epistle limited to the relations of servants and masters. St. Paul makes similar demands on husbands and wives, parents and children. All of these relationships are discussed to flesh out the major point the Apostle makes in Chapter 5: As children of God, we--all of us--are called upon to walk in love and submit ourselves to one another. Everyone, no matter his station in life, has both the opportunity and the duty to practice Christ's ministry of love to the people God puts in our lives. In doing this, we must take those people as God sends them. Sometimes they may not be good people or even particularly nice people. They may be unruly children, a resentful spouse or an unruly child. They may come to us as our oppressors or as someone whom society tells us is less deserving of respect or dignity. St. Paul, and through him the Holy Spirit, tells us we are to love them anyway and give them no cause to find fault in us or in the Lord we follow. Colossians 3 echoes this same point. St. Paul tells us: "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." To illustrate how this principle is lived out, the Apostle again goes through the litany of relationships mentioned above, one of which was the slave. But it is not exclusively applicable to slaves, but to all Christians wherever they find themselves. St Peter makes the same point in the passage you cite above. Why does the slave obey his master? Not simply because he is a slave and in some way lower to his master, but because in living out our calling we give glory to Christ. In the following verse in 1 Peter 2, St Peter writes "For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully." I think that when one reads the verses that you've cited in their context, one will must come to the conclusion that these are not statements endorsing the practice of slavery but rather a call to Christians who find themselves in slavery to use it for a higher purpose. In the words of Joseph, himself former slave, in talking to those who sold him in to slavery "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." We can use man's injustice to effect God's good work, bringing salvation to those who were once our enemies. What a powerful gift that is.
Of course I take the point, Lowly, and you make mine for me. There is a level of criticism which we apply, if you do not like the question mark we hang, we do put the text into context, not simply the verses around it, but also the social context in which the text arises. I have no doubt that these verses, or other verses like them would have been used a couple of hundred years ago by God fearing slave owners to make argue their position. Yet for me, I look at the Story of Abraham, and of Moses, as the story of God who leads his people into promise, of God who leads his people out of slavery into freedom, and these stories foreshadow the story of Jesus who leads people into life and freedom and promise. By the way I am not sure what translation you are using, I normally use NRSV, which I am given to believe is reliable, and where the word is Slaves. I take that to mean that the greek is doulos rather that diakonos. In the context of the social milieu of the passages there are significant differences. We are not slaves of the Kingdom, we are servants of Christ, ambassadors for Christ. Sadly some understand this to be God's bouncers. So to be clear. I am opposed to slavery. (that sentence ended with a full stop) I am also less than happy with people who try to make scripture say it is OK today. Understanding the context in which it was written, and the context of the passages in which it sits leads me to conclude it is a question of using scripture as a drunk uses a lamp post, more for support than for illumination. I am especially fond of Paul's note (letter seems to grand a title) to Philemon, which I see as one of Paul's more 'human' letters (meaning I think we see more humanity and less theology in this letter - and having found it here it is then easier to spot it elsewhere as well). Paul does not criticise him for owning a slave, or his right to punish him, but rather argues that a brother in Christ is better than a slave. I am very grateful that the Council of Nicea saw fit to include this letter in the Canon because it could have easily been flicked. I will take that to be part of the Holy Spirit's work. I also understand that we see scripture through our own cultural filters. That is to say there is the context in which it was written and the context in which it is read. I know growing up I was taught that the mark of Cain was dark skin, and that the were good Biblical arguments for Apartheid in South Africa, and the original inhabitants of Australia not being counted in a census or have the right to vote. I rallied against these things and was told it was the way God wanted it. These were the cultural filters through which they were reading it. One of the big difficulties with cultural filters is we don't always know what they are unless we can have a look without them. It is estimated that there are something like 30 (estimates seem to vary between 20 and 36) million slaves in the world today. That means that despite the work of Gladstone and others that there are more slaves in the world today than at any time in history. Thankfully the perceived predominantly Christian countries are better than some of the others, yet most people I meet have simply moved on feeling like that war has been won. Sadly it hasn't. The Islamic Tradition does seem more ambivalent (perhaps even accepting) in relation to slavery, and we might wonder why that is so. I suspect that part of that is due to the way that they understand the Quran as the express words of Allah in ancient arabic to the Prophet Muhammad, and therefore incapable of being properly understood in translation, and absolutely immune from any possibility of any higher criticism. This is effectively, from a philosophical, standpoint is a claim for something which is epistemically primitive (by which I mean something beyond which you can not enquire or know save by the express revelation, you can not question it or get there by any other means, it becomes a given in the agenda). Please note that I am not an Islamic Scholar and I have no intention of causing offence, I simply share what I have been able to gleen. Sadly this was what I was taught about Christian scriptures as well, and which I now reject this outright in terms of my own faith position. I apologise, Lowly, for my slip in suggesting that Scripture supported slavery - however some verses could be (have been) used that way, erroneously in my humble (or not so humble) view. There is much more that unites us than divides us.
I use the KJV. A personal preference. I understand your position and think we are in agreement here Philip. I too grew up under the spectre and heritage of racism. I grew up in and now live in Georgia, the descendent of pro-slavery confederates and pro-Jim Crow southern democrats. I grew up hearing oldtimers snort and call people of color "uppity" and far worse. I had otherwise decent people recite to me what seemed almost Pavlovian scripts to justify their irrational hatred of their African American neighbors by saying it's all in the bible (and who can argue with the bible). Noah cursed Ham with a mark and told him he and his descendents would be servants to his brothers and theirs. It didn't take long for me to figure out that these folks weren't reading from the bible but from Thornton Stringfellow and Josiah Priest and their ilk. Over the years the situation here has gotten better. Not perfect. But better. If folks still hold those old opinions, they are certainly more quiet about them. My perspective is that if the bible has been misused to lend support to outrageous a terrible injustices, the fault lies with those do the misuse and abuse, not with the bible itself. It is our job to correct the record. To show how, absent the work of God in our hearts, we are all slaves to sin and death. Jesus Christ is our emancipator and his work of manumission, of setting the slaves and captives free, was the great work He came to do and still does through the office of His Spirit. But our liberty is not absolute. It was for freedom that he set us free but our liberator is also our Lord and master. St Paul sees this. He calls himself a slave to Jesus Christ. Jesus himself tells that we should put on his yoke. The burden is light but it is there. We are not, and never will be, our own. We were bought with a price. Please don't take my posts to mean I take offense Philip. They are merely opinions on a subject of interest. I certainly hope I didn't offend you in the process.
A Collect for Peace O God, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom: Defend us, thy humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
We need to understand there are 4 main types of slavery, Chattel, bonded, forced labor, forced Marriage. What most people identify as slavery is chattel, where people are considered commodities. Most Bible passages concern bonded labor, which is voluntary and limited in scope and time. The "Old Testament" has passages concerning both chattel and bonded. Mainly Ex. 21:2-11, Lev. 25:39-55 and Deut. 15:12-18. Basically rules on slavery. The main type discussed in bonded slavery. But all the passages give God's rules for what can and can not happen in slavery. It would appear God gave these rules due to the actions of the children of Israel. Can the Bible be used to promote slavery? Yes. But as my Maternal Grandmother of blessed memory was fond of telling me, "even the devil can quote scripture for his own purposes?" Another interesting note, it was not until the views of Darwin's theory of evolution that the view of sub-human races took off. My Cherokee and Creek ancestors were not thought of as sub-human, in the States one of the first acts of the US Congress was to fund missionaries to the Indians to civilize them. By the late 19th Century the Plains Indians were looked at as subhuman by many, not all, white and black Americans. I believe that could have happened in Australia and South Africa also as secularism began infecting Christianity. I grew up in Alabama. I have 54 ancestors who fought in the War Between the States, 4 died at Little Round Top against the 20th Maine and Joshua Chamberlin. Watch the movie Gettysburg to get an idea of the fighting. 46 ancestors did not return home. My family was always to0 poor to own land much less slaves. My Grandfather was the first to get out of sharecropping....a form of slavery in itself. Please remember, some Northern States were pro-slavery and too many northern cities had race riots during the War. The causes of the war are not as simple as people would have us believe. I never heard any of what ya'll have said regarding the mark of Cain or Ham. Never heard my family or circle of friends disparage blacks as a group. No good individuals.....yes. My background, my great-grandfather was murdered. My great-grandmother had to place some of her kids with friends. My grandfather was raised in the 1920's by a black family, in Alabama, until the day he got married. I grew up calling blacks aunt and uncle. The kids my grandfather grew up with, my father and I took care of until they died of old age, if there kids were to sorry to care for them. Were there problems in the States, not just the South, with race? Yes. Still is today. Look at Baltimore other northern areas and the midwest and the deep south. Also, understand....voting rights etc were not just about race, but for certain families in cities to maintain their power. If you do the research, behind every bigot was a family plotting to keep its power. I live in Pensacola, Florida. We do not have any industry except the Navy and our beach. A few years ago I spoke with my county commissioner and asked him why we were not getting industry here to help raise wages. He told me of a long list of families, the so called pillars of the community, who wield the actual power here. They were not letting anything in to compete against their business etc. As thing change, things remain the same. As I was told in seminary, "we all view scripture and events through the lens of our experiences."