Does God Endorse Slavery?

1 Peter 2:18-20

¹⁸Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. ¹⁹For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. ²⁰For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

One of the charges against Christianity is that God endorses slavery and verses like those we read here uphold that idea. Nothing could be further from the truth, but when you are seeking to make an ideology look bad, misusing the source and norm for their beliefs gives credence to your fight.

If read carefully, what we find here is that God is telling Christians, no matter their station, to live out the faith being mindful of God. Peter (and Paul in other Epistles) encourage slaves to stay with their masters and serve them well – but if they can gain their freedom through peaceful and lawful means, they should do so. Slavery was an inescapable reality for the Roman culture in which Peter lived. Unlike the racist slavery we found in the U.S. in the 1800’s (and subsequent racial tensions that remain 200 years later) the Romans were equal opportunity slavers. Ethnicity had nothing to do with it. It was more about economics than racism.

Roman slaves were often better educated than their masters, could acquire property, buy their freedom, marry whom they wished, and had certain legal protections. In some ways being a slave was economically preferable to being a free laborer, for Roman slaves were guaranteed clothes, food, and lodging. The great orator Cicero wrote that the average length of this involuntary servitude was only about seven years.

Jeske, M. A. ©2002. James, Peter, John, Jude (pp. 98–99). Milwaukee, WI: Northwestern Pub. House.

We need to also keep in mind that the word in verse 18 translated “slaves” might better be rendered house-servants, or as we would call them today, employees.

We do find Paul placing enslavers into a list of those who are ungodly sinners. So while slavery was acknowledged as being a part of the culture, it was in no way condoned.

1 Timothy 1:8-11

⁸Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, ⁹understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, ¹⁰the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, ¹¹in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

Of most importance to us today (who are most likely not slaves to another person) is the admonition to live your life, no matter the circumstance, to the Lord, serving Him by serving others with love. We do that as employees, parents, church-members, children, citizens. And if we want to take this topic to it’s logical conclusion, we are indeed slaves – slaves to Christ Jesus, who shed His blood to make us His Children and heirs.