Slavery? Really?

Slavery? Really?
Words of Faith 9-8-2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2023
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Titus 2
[9] Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, [10] and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

This is a tough one. Slavery? What do we do with this? Does the Bible really endorse slavery? Is it okay with God? What do we do about slavery in our world today? How do we deal with this?
Why would Paul instruct Titus to teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything? If Christ has set a person free, why should that person be subject to the ownership of another person?
Paul always has a different perspective on things. We must understand that he always had in mind the eternal things. For Paul, it was actually more important to win the slave owner to salvation in Christ than to be concerned with social reforms. In a world driven by a desire for social justice, this is difficult for us to understand.
For Paul, the circumstances of the day were fleeting in his mind. So even the witness of the believing slave was to be used to win an unbelieving slave owner. "Do not steal from them, but show that you can be fully trusted so that in every way the teaching about God our Savior will be attractive." The eternal things-- people and even slave owners-- were more important than the fleeting concerns of this day.
We know that Jesus was all about freedom. In Luke 4:18-19 Jesus declared: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Freedom is clearly the Kingdom treasure that Jesus came to announce and deliver. Yet neither Jesus nor Paul tried to politically overthrow the institution of slavery. Jesus probably did not confront slavery because it was seldom practiced in 1st-century Judaism. Jesus came primarily to the house of Israel and rarely engaged Gentiles. Jesus did not seek to overthrow any practice of the pagan and oppressive rule of Rome.
The truth is that Paul encountered many pagan institutions such as slavery, idolatry, and ritual prostitution. He confronted those pagan practices but did not forcefully seek to overthrow the institution of slavery. He was most concerned with proclaiming the Gospel of Grace and establishing churches that would live as communities of grace.
Here the Apostle actually advised that the faithful service of a slave to his master could be the difference in winning the slave owner to Christ. For Paul, the unbelieving master was actually the slave, and the believing "slave" was the one that was free and that was proclaiming freedom.
Paul proclaimed above all the liberation of the heart-- "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28). Paul's focus was on the change of heart that is rendered by the Gospel of Christ and the work of the Spirit. In the book of Philemon Paul pleaded the case of the Gospel on behalf of a runaway slave named Onesimus-- treat him as a brother.
How do we apply this?
The point here is not to defend the practice of slavery. But we know that slavery was the primary mode of labor and in a sense "employment" in the ancient world. In the Roman Empire, there were over 60 million slaves or about one-third of the population. Because of this, most Bible interpreters treat the application of these verses in terms of employment and labor rather than slavery.
We might listen this way. "Teach employees to be under the authority of their employers. Teach them as Christian employees to try to please their employers and not to talk back to them. Do not be a bad witness by stealing. Rather show that you can be fully trusted so that in every way the teaching of Christ will be attractive in you."

Father God, show me where I need to proclaim freedom and fight for freedom. Show me also how I can be a witness in the workplace. Teach me how I am to walk with integrity and bring a positive and attractive witness for Christ into the place I work. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2023 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.