Full Transcript

Welcome to Share the Word. In Colossians chapter 4, the primary focus is on instructions to Christian masters and slaves, emphasizing just and fair treatment within the existing social structure. Now that’s a simple explanation, but today’s podcast is anything but simple and goes a lot deeper than that. Here we go. Colossians chapter 4. Was the gospel good news for slaves?

Howard Thurman was one of the leading lights of the American Civil Rights Movement. He was a philosopher, theologian, and author whose ideas, especially what he called radical nonviolence, helped shape the thinking of the next generation of leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., for example. His book, Jesus and the Disinherited, in particular, significantly set the course for the civil rights movement in the United States. He was born in 1899 and died in 1981. Think about the amount of change he saw over that long lifetime. The reason I bring this man up is that he told the story of reading to his grandma when he was a boy.

She had been a slave during much of her life and was never taught to read. So one of his chores was, when he was young, was to read to her, especially from the Bible. She had favorite passages she liked to hear, but he said she specifically told him, Never read me anything from the epistles of the apostle Paul. And so he didn’t. But as he got older, out of curiosity, he asked her one day why she didn’t want to hear that part of the Bible. She answered hesitantly at first, recalling a memory from her slave days.

She said the master of their plantation in North Florida would have a preacher come on Sundays and lead all the slaves in a service. What she remembered was how often his text would be from places like Paul instructing slaves to be obedient and work hard for their masters. She was referring to Colossians 3 and 4 and a couple other similar passages. How it was preached to her then was not something she ever wanted to hear again. So, what’s the gospel good news for slaves? As I’ve mentioned before, I think upwards of a third of all the people in the Roman Empire in Jesus and Paul’s day were in some kind of slavery, including many in the Christian churches.

And when Paul is giving instructions for how the Christian faith should be practiced, how it should play out in an individual believer’s life at home or in their workplace and so on, he addresses slaves and slaveholders directly because he knew both slaves and slaveholders would be reading and hearing his letter in cities like Colossae. Starting near the end of chapter 3 and on to the beginning of chapter 4, Paul wrote this: Slaves, obey those who are your human masters in everything, not with eye service as people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord and not for people, knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive a reward in your inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. For the one who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.

So, masters, grant your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you also have a master in heaven. So, the instruction sent to these early Christians, many of whom were slaves, was, Obey your masters, not just when they’re watching you either, but sincerely out of reverence for Christ. Whatever your jobs are, work at them with your whole heart as if you’re working for Christ, not just for your earthly master, knowing that it will be Christ one day who will give you a reward in your inheritance if you’re faithful. But also remember, God sees and repays those who do wrong, and this goes for you who are masters as well, because God is no respecter of persons. So masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, remembering you too have a master in heaven, meaning Christ. Maybe you’re thinking, this must be some kind of mistake.

Should Colossians even be in the canon of the New Testament with those kind of instructions? That might be our initial reaction. But in Ephesians 6, verses 5 through 8, there’s an almost identical set of instructions. Then again, similar instructions are found in 1 Peter 2 and in 1 Timothy 6. In that last passage, Paul tells Timothy, who he’d put in charge of churches around Ephesus, all who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against. Remember that line.

And those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brothers or sisters, meaning because they are fellow Christians in your church family, but serve them all the more, Paul said, because those who benefit from your service are believers and are beloved. So if you were a slave of someone who was also a Christian, he’s saying, don’t imagine that means you can treat them any differently or treat them disrespectfully. No. Serve them even more willingly and be glad that your work is benefiting a brother or sister in Christ. Wow. I mean, from a 21st century perspective, if this is your first time through the New Testament, I bet this is very surprising to you.

The truth is, contrary to our modern scruples, slavery in one form or another was practiced throughout the world for as far back as history goes, right up till the middle of the 19th century, and still persists in pockets around the world today. Although throughout history and from place to place it has been practiced differently. In Old Testament times, for example, among the Jews, slavery and indentured servitude were practiced, but very regulated by the law of Moses. People sometimes unfortunately became enslaved because of inescapable debt or extreme poverty. But in their system, Jews who had become slaves could not be held against their will past six years. When a person in servitude had paid their debts or when six years was up, whichever came first, they were freed if they chose to be, and more than that, were given what they needed to start a productive life on their own.

You can read about this in Deuteronomy chapter 15 and again in Leviticus chapter 25. Importantly, according to these Old Testament laws, masters were not allowed to abuse their slaves either. If they did, the slaves would be freed. And also, the buying and selling of slaves as if people were property, that was forbidden in Israel. The law of Moses reminded the Jews they had all at one time been slaves in Egypt, so people forced into a situation of temporary servitude were to be treated humanely. In New Testament times, in the dominant Greco-Roman culture, things were much different.

Slaves were usually people captured from nations subdued during wars, and so slaves could be highly educated, accomplished people like doctors or skilled tradesmen or artists. Trusted slaves could be given great responsibilities like managers of a large estate with authority over other slaves, even over their master’s children. Sometimes slaves were able to buy their freedom or were awarded their freedom for especially good service or some meritorious act of the government. Yet slaves in the first century world were bought and sold like property. They had no legal standing under the Roman law. Masters could pretty much treat their slaves however they wished, including using harsh punishments or even putting one to death for a serious enough offense.

It’s in this context that Paul gave the instructions we read a moment ago. In that environment, Paul essentially was telling Christian slaves to keep their heads down and do their best at whatever work or task were assigned to them. They were to be respectful to their masters even if their master was a fellow Christian. Interestingly, in 1 Corinthians 7, Paul makes some more to us anyway surprising comments about this. Listen starting at verse 21. He asks there, Were you a slave when you were called, when you heard the call of the gospel and became a Christian, he meant.

Don’t let it trouble you, he says, although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For the one who was a slave when called to faith in Christ is the Lord’s freed person. Similarly, the one who is free when called is Christ’s slave. And then at verse 24 he says, Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them. His advice there is that slavery is not preferable, and if you have a legitimate opportunity to get out from under it, take it. But whether you are a slave or a free person, when you became a Christian, you should be content in your life situation, especially if it was unchangeable.

He’s doing the opposite of urging them to be rebellious or to challenge the system. He’s saying, if that is your assignment in life, do your best to be content in it, and do your best at whatever work or responsibilities you are given, keeping in mind that every Christian, in reality, should see themselves as a servant of Christ and others. I know all this sounds like a foreign language to most of us who will listen to this podcast, but the apostles were realists. Trying to escape slavery on your own terms in that day was like a death sentence. Paul was not about to recommend that. He was not about trying to stir up a slave rebellion either, nor was Jesus or any of the other early Christian leaders living in that world.

Why? Well, for one thing, it would have been doomed. Lots of people would have been slaughtered. The Roman government would have come down immediately and extremely harshly if that was perceived to be part of the Christian message. But on a different level, it’s important to understand that social revolution is not what Christianity is about. I know so-called liberal Christianity today has shifted their primary focus away from sharing the gospel and planting churches and so on to advocating for social and political causes.

In fact, they’ve even redefined the word gospel as though gospel means improving people’s social and economic station in life. But of course, they’re wrong. The gospel is the message about how people can be set free from the wages of sin and given the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ. So, for real Christians, our principal cause is a spiritual and eternal one, not a social and economic one. And that’s a fact Christians need to keep in mind. A couple moments ago, I said, Remember this, or Mark this, however I said it, when I read from Paul’s instructions to Timothy about slaves, saying, All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and our doctrine will be not spoken against.

So that what? So that God’s reputation will not be harmed and Christian teaching will not be seen as undermining the social order. So again, Christianity’s response to the institution of slavery at that time, when slavery was central to how that whole society functioned, was not to challenge the system, certainly not to encourage slaves to revolt. Paul’s instructions to Christian slaves, if I could summarize, were, Treat your masters with respect. Do your work well and as unto the Lord, and your Father in heaven, who is watching everything, will reward you one day. But if you get an opportunity to gain your freedom, take advantage of that.

But always keep in mind that how you behave reflects both upon God and upon our faith, and it’s the advancement of the gospel that is of foremost importance. That’s exactly in line with what the apostles wrote to all the early Christians, actually: Be good citizens, be good neighbors, keep your behavior excellent among your unbelieving neighbors, so that no one will have a legitimate reason to say, Those Christians are troublemakers. Those Christians are a threat to the good order of our society. They are a disruption. Again, I understand all this seems foreign to Americans, in particular, when our country was birthed with the slogan. Don’t tread on me, and when personal rights are of first and foremost importance to most people, but that is not the spirit of the New Testament writers.

Frankly, it was not the spirit of Jesus either. They were not revolutionaries trying to overturn governments or longstanding institutions. Christianity at its heart was about eternal things first and foremost: sharing the good news of the gospel, seeing people reconciled to God, changing people’s lives from the inside out by the power of the Holy Spirit. We should always remember that Scripture was written in a specific historical and social context. For example, slavery in America prior to the Civil War was a very different thing than slavery in Old Testament times, even in some ways different than slavery as practiced in Paul’s day, where he was writing these instructions. For one big thing, slavery in America was based on the evil fallacy that the white race is superior to others, and even the theory that Africans were subhumans and so only fit for slavery.

From a biblical perspective, that couldn’t be more wrong, because the New Testament is very clear that God is not a respecter of persons, that we are all created in His image and so all have innate dignity, that the gospel is for everybody in the world, and that in Christ there are to be no distinctions based on race, economics, or social status. Also, the buying and selling of human beings like commodities, which both Old Testament and New Testament Scripture condemn, was very different than the regulated and humane treatment people who were in servitude in Old Testament times experienced. The slave trade in 18th and 19th century America was based on pride, on selfishness, on greed, on cruelty, and on human exploitation. It was based on breaking people by terrorizing them.

Slaveholders didn’t have their puppet preachers read the instructions we just read in Colossians and similar ones in Ephesians about masters treating their slaves fairly and justly. They didn’t read the passages in both the Old and New Testaments about the immorality of buying and selling human beings. They used the Bible dishonestly to manipulate and control people. Slavery was tolerated in America for as long as it was because of greed. Let’s be honest, and the false doctrine of white supremacy. Although it is true, as I’ve explained, that Christianity’s primary objective is not to overturn social institutions or political institutions, when biblical Christianity grows and gains influence in more and more people’s lives, then things do change over time.

Christianity’s ethical teaching on the God-given dignity of all people, the obligation to love our neighbors as ourselves, our equality in Christ, and so on, these kinds of principles, when they start permeating a society, it’s like dripping colored ink into a bucket of water. It keeps coloring it more and more, drip, drip, more and more, affecting it more and more and more and more. So as Christianity grows, society is affected. Situations start changing for the better, even for the oppressed. It took too long. But the reality is, the abolitionist movement in England and America were driven by Bible-believing Christians.

People like John Wesley, Granville Sharp, and especially William Wilberforce in England. These were people who were playing a leading role in the anti-slavery movement because they were Christians. And the Great Awakening in America in the 18th and 19th century, those religious revivals. They fueled a shift in thinking about slavery in the United States, as more and more people began to be influenced by biblical Christianity. As one writer has put it, Christianity laid the charge and lit the fuse that in time blew up the institution of chattel slavery in England and America. Thankfully, unlike the world Jesus and Paul lived in, today in republics and democracies anyway, people have the power to influence government policies and support movements that combat social evils.

We should vote for people with biblical values when possible, leaders who will encourage policies that support freedom and liberty for everyone. But at the same time, Christians should never, ever lose sight of the fact that the calling of the Church of Jesus Christ is first and foremost to advance the gospel and stay primarily focused on things of eternal consequence. That’s definitely the emphasis in the New Testament. As every preacher and teacher who’s ever addressed a passage like this one in Colossians is quick to mention, although most of us will never have to deal with slavery, that doesn’t mean these instructions have no bearing. The principles in them apply just as directly to our relationship to our employer, if we have one, or to our employees, if we are a boss or an overseer in the work world.

By that I mean, our calling in the world as Christians is to be the best employee in the company, to do our work as if we are working for the Lord, regardless of how ideal or not ideal our situation at work is. As long as we are choosing to be in that setting, we are to submit ourselves to those in authority there, do excellent work, do it with a good attitude. Not only does that honor the Lord, but it’s also probably the best path for you advancing in your field. Your good work and good attitude get noticed. They get noticed at your job, but they also get noticed by our Heavenly Father. So when we read Colossians 3:22 up to 4:1 and similar passages, we can substitute employees where it says slaves and bosses where it says masters, and that’s how these passages will apply to most of us.

And realize how we perform and how we treat people in our daily work situation is just as important to God as how we worship and serve Him on Sundays. That’s what Paul is emphasizing when he wrote, Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord and not for people, knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive the reward of your inheritance. So, in conclusion, what can we say to the original question, was the gospel good news for slaves? It certainly was, because as we’ve seen, the gospel’s power to change hearts and minds affects the societies where Christianity takes roots and grows. In fact, it helped eventually end slavery in much of the world. The Christian ethic of loving your neighbor and placing value on every person as someone created in God’s image shone a light on the evil of racism and the immorality of owning and exploiting other human beings.

But even more importantly, according to the promises in God’s Word, the lowest person on the totem pole in society’s estimation who hears the gospel and responds to Christ in faith becomes as much a child of God as anybody else. And when this short life is past and the inheritance believers are promised in heaven turns from hope to reality, they’ll experience what Jesus said about the first being last and the last being first in His kingdom. That’s when living out our Christian faith, regardless of our status in this world now, will be rewarded in ways only God could imagine. One closing thought. I once heard a wise, mature Christian who was an African American remark that he was thankful that his ancestors were brought to America, even under such unjust conditions as the slave trade. That made my ears perk up.

He said, Because those people’s lives opened up so many more opportunities for their descendants like me, like me, my children and my grandchildren. Besides temporal blessings and opportunities we now enjoy, my ancestors became Christians in America and passed on a heritage of genuine faith because in the harshness of their day-to-day lives, God’s promises of an eternal inheritance in heaven became very, very real to them. I thought that was an amazing perspective of trust in God’s providence. By the way, did you know that’s how the Negro spirituals came about? They were songs slaves sang together as they worked in the fields, many expressing hope in God’s promises, faith that there had to be better things ahead for them in heaven. Songs like There’s a Balm in Gilead, Poor Wayfaring Stranger, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, A City Called Heaven, and many others.

So yes, absolutely, the gospel was good news for slaves, and it is for the rest of us who believe it too. We’ll only understand just how good when what we’ve hoped for in this life is realized in heaven and our faith finally becomes sight. This is Paul. Thanks for listening. Thanks, Paul. The topic of slavery has been an age-old debate, and the Bible has been used by both sides in varying degrees.

Verses like, been set free from sin and have become slaves of God. The benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. And how about, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave. Have you taken into account your perspective of the terminology slave? If I said, what does it mean being a slave to Christ? Where does your mind go?

Here’s a challenge: dig deep, dig deep, and get a better understanding of what it means to be a slave to Christ. I think you’ll be surprised. Do you look at it as Christian’s complete submission and devotion to Jesus, or do you take it as being a literal slave? What a great topic. Let us know. Info at sharetheword.org.