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Philippians and Philemon: Prison Epistles, Part 2

  1. Lesson One
    Overview of Philippians (Philippians 1–4)
    22 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  2. Lesson Two
    Philippians: Suffering and Community (Philippians Review)
    22 Activities
  3. Lesson Three
    Overview of Philemon
    22 Activities
  4. Lesson Four
    Paul and Slavery (Philemon, Romans 6 Review)
    17 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  5. Lesson Five
    Social Impact
    9 Activities
    |
    4 Assessments
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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Slavery is never condemned in the New Testament, and many passages seem to suggest it as an acceptable part of society. 

So why doesn’t the New Testament take a harder stance on slavery? 

The most obvious answer is simply that the church didn’t have the political power to change the system, and if they had encouraged a revolt on the part of the slaves, they would have been sending them to certain death. Slaves who revolted were executed.

Another answer is that freeing slaves was legally restricted. A law dating to 2 BC, the lex Fufia Caninia, promoted by Caesar Augustus, limited what percentage of slaves an owner could free, depending on how many they owned. Slavery was such an important part of Roman economy the government feared too much manumission would cause social and economic instability. If a slave owner had thirty slaves, for example, he could only free ten of them. If he had ten he could free five, and if he had three, he could free two. Any attempt to free a slave not permitted by law to be freed would have been legally void; the government would refuse to accept it. The slave’s status wouldn’t change. 

Without being able to change laws or to encourage freedom for slaves apart from putting the lives of slaves at risk, the most Christians could do was to abolish slavery within the church body. From what we know of the first centuries of Christianity, this is exactly what they did.  

Slaves and masters referred to each other as brothers and sisters in the church, and all Christians would have looked to Jesus as a common master or “Lord.” All believers were considered “free” in Christ, and in another sense “servants” of Christ their “master.” This equality of all believers that defined the early church body is evident, as we noted before: 

Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever—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 fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.  
Philemon 1:15-16 NIV

And from what we’ve seen in other letters, we know this message wasn’t specific to Philemon. We saw it in letters like Ephesians and Colossians as well:

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. Ephesians 6:9 (NIV)

Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.
Colossians 4:1 NIV

Through passages like this, we’re reminded that while early Christians were not able to change legislation or the culture of slavery in the Roman Empire, they did react to it in a distinctive way. They created a counter-culture that undermined the institution by refusing to acknowledge it as an acceptable way for people to relate to one another, and rejected its implications in church community. Early Christians may not have been able to abolish slavery in the ancient world, but they did abolish it in the church.

Reference: Adapted directly from a Peter Williams lecture with his permission. 

Dr. Peter J. Williams is the Principal of Tyndale House, a Cambridge-based research institute housing one of the world’s most advanced libraries for biblical scholarship. To learn more, visit: https://tyndalehouse.com.