Christian Influence and Slavery
Slavery is not consistent with the most exalted level of Christian doctrine. The teaching of Christ contained the moral seeds that eventually would abolish the institution in the hearts of those influenced by the true Master (cf. Mt. 7:12; Col. 4:1).
Hebrew law was not designed to violently disrupt the master-servant relationship of the ancient world in the abbreviated period of time that it was in force. However, the Mosaic regime did embrace certain restraining measures that gradually would bring the institution into disrepute — especially with the coming of Christianity.
As William Barclay once observed, “There are some things which cannot be suddenly achieved, and for which the world must wait, until the leaven works.”
In this connection, the New Testament book of Philemon ought to be carefully studied. It concerns the case of a runaway slave named Onesimus.
Onesimus had fled from his master, Philemon, who lived in the city of Colossae. The refugee had made his way to Rome where he came in contact with the apostle Paul.
Paul led him to the truth of the gospel of Christ. Onesimus became an asset to the apostle, who was a prisoner in chains, awaiting the disposition of his fate before Caesar. Paul had been falsely charged by the Jews in Palestine, and so appealed his case to Rome.
In view of the social and political circumstances of the day, Paul determined that the proper thing for Onesimus to do would be to return to his master. Onesimus obviously conceded to the plan and, in the company of Tychicus (cf. Col. 4:9), the two embarked upon the journey back to Asia.
They took with them a short letter written by Paul (Philemon — the briefest of all the apostle’s writings), which was a commendation of Onesimus, the slave. But it was also an appeal to Philemon to receive the fugitive back, viewing him “no longer as a slave, but more than a slave.”
The petition suggested that it would be ideal if Philemon would embrace him as a “beloved brother, especially to me, but now much more to you” (Phile. 16). Paul does not command, “free him,” but that implied action saturates the disposition of his request.
There probably has been no single document in the history of humanity that has done more to pave the way for the abolition of human enslavement that Paul’s letter to Philemon. D. Edmond Hiebert has summarized the matter beautifully.
“This epistle has exerted a profound impact upon the movement of the amelioration of social conditions. Dealing with a problem arising out of the institution of slavery, it has figured prominently in the controversy about slavery. The manner in which Paul treats the problem of Onesimus indicates the way in which Christianity grappled with the evils of human society. To have directly antagonized the institution of human slavery, inwrought as it was in the very warp and woof of the Roman Empire, would have stigmatized Christianity as being anti-social, and would have turned all the powers of the Empire against it in an effort to crush such teachings. In stead of making a frontal attack upon the institution of slavery, Christianity inculcated a spirit of love and consideration which ultimately meant the death-knell of that institution” (1977, pp. 248-249).
No one, who considers all the evidence, and puts the matter into a proper historical perspective, can legitimately fault the biblical record with reference to the issue of human bondage.