Christianity and the End of Slavery

Slavery is evil. It is wrong for one person to own another person. While people argue in favor of various moral issues, no one is arguing in favor of slavery. The issue is clear-cut. Slavery is wrong.

That brings up a problem for readers of the New Testament. Why is slavery mentioned in several places and not once condemned or even questioned? Why is this moral problem for us not a moral problem for biblical authors?

Roman Slavery vs. New World Slavery

Many begin their response by highlighting the differences between Roman slavery and New World slavery. Unlike New World slavery, Roman slavery included the following features:

• slaves were often captives of war
• slavery was not based on race
• some voluntarily became slaves for the sake of education or social status
• slaves had certain legal rights
• manumission was common (for more details on the two forms of slavery see this post)

For some these differences are vital to alleviating this challenge. However, as with all forms of slavery, mistreatment and loss of dignity still occurred in Roman slavery so we must press on.

Slavery was Ubiquitous

Slavery in the Roman Empire permeated every part of society. In Rome, as much as one-third of the population was enslaved (James Walvin, A Short History of Slavery). If you lived during that time, you wouldn’t have been able to step outside your home without seeing a slave. Some ancient slaves had facial brandings and in later centuries others wore metal neck collars. Moreover, if you were wealthy you probably had slaves working inside your house. Slaves were everywhere.

Imagine growing up as a free person in this environment. From a young age you would have heard certain people giving commands and watched as others obeyed. When commands were disobeyed, you heard and maybe even saw slaves being physically beaten. Over time, it would be clear that some people seemed to belong to other people. And if you had the capacity to consider the entire system of slavery, you would have understood that the roots of slavery ran deep throughout the Empire—economically, socially, and politically.

So here’s the question: As a free person growing up in a slave society, how would you begin to question the institution of slavery—a ubiquitous institution that you benefited from? And how would you get to the point where you called that institution evil? Sadly, most ancient people never reached that point. For the vast majority, slavery was a moral blind spot.

Moral Blind Spots

Before we judge the ancient world as morally inferior because of their acceptance of slavery, we must ask ourselves, “What blind spots do we have?” Two thousand years from now, what current practices will be considered evil? We can only guess based on the voices of the minority because the majority are blind to these issues. Here are a few things that voices on the fringe are speaking against:

• Westerners buying inexpensive items made by poor Asian children
• mass incarceration and for-profit prisons
• the high cost of university
• pollution
• negative effects of social media
• the U.S. military-industrial complex, always pushing for war
• the pharmaceutical industry, always pushing for the use of medicinal drugs

It’s difficult to step back from a system we are living in and criticize it. Criticism requires a willingness to see the problem and the courage to speak against it.

Questions

So who saw the entire ancient system of slavery as evil and denounced it? The answer is alarming: no one—Christian or non-Christian—at least, no one during the first three centuries after Christ based on the extant written records. Although certain writers noted the immorality of abusing slaves, no one condemned the entire system of slavery. For example, Paul claimed that “slave traders” were “lawbreakers and rebels” (1 Timothy 1:9-10) so he would have certainly had a problem with that key aspect of New World slavery, but he did not denounce slaveholding itself. Later in the same letter, he commanded slaves to “consider their masters worthy of full respect” (6:1).

Why did centuries pass without anyone speaking out against the institution of slavery? Most likely they couldn’t see the evil of slaveholding because it was simply a part of life. If they felt misgivings about it, perhaps they justified it in various ways. First, slaves were captives of war and slavery was a result of one country defeating another country. Second, slavery was better than having hundreds of thousands of homeless people. Third, slaves benefited socially and intellectually by living with their masters. Fourth, some people chose to become slaves so how could that be evil?

An Ancient Abolitionist

We don’t know for certain why the first Christians did not immediately condemn the slave system, but we know that in the fourth century Gregory of Nyssa (AD 335-395), a bishop in Cappadocia, vehemently attacked the entire institution. In his Fourth Homily on Ecclesiastes, Gregory says:

So, when someone turns the property of God into his own property and arrogates dominion to his own kind, so as to think himself the owner of men and women, what is he doing but overstepping his own nature through pride, regarding himself as something different from his subordinates . . . You condemn man to slavery, when his nature is free and possesses free will, and you legislate in competition with God, overturning his law for the human species. The one made on the specific terms that he should be the owner of the earth, and appointed to government by the Creator—him you bring under the yoke of slavery, as though defying and fighting against the divine decree.

In a world where slavery was a normal part of life these statements are a glaring anomaly. Some even go so far as to call Gregory of Nyssa the first ancient abolitionist. If he was not the first abolitionist, he was probably the most vociferous. In her study of slavery, Jennifer Glancy concludes, “Gregory of Nyssa composed what is probably the most scathing critique of slaveholding in all antiquity” (Slavery as Moral Problem, ch. 4).

Modern Abolitionists

Let’s fast forward to the modern abolition movement. Who initiated the antislavery movement in recent centuries? The first antislavery statement was signed by four Quakers in Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1688. The Quakers or The Religious Society of Friends is a Christian denomination founded by George Fox (1624-1691).

As time passed, this small movement gained support from Baptists and Methodists in both England and the colonies. In 1783 six Quakers presented an antislavery petition to British Parliament signed by 300 Quakers. Four years later they formed a non-denominational committee to advance their cause. This committee, called The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, began with nine Quakers and three Anglicans, one of whom was Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846).

After becoming a Christian in 1785, William Wilberforce (1759-1833) was influenced by the antislavery movement and especially Thomas Clarkson. In 1791 Wilberforce joined The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. In that same year he presented an antislavery bill to Parliament in a four-hour speech. The bill was defeated. But Wilberforce and others continued to fight for abolition. In 1807 the Slave Trade Act passed, followed by the Slavery Prohibition Act 1833.

In 1823 Clarkson and Wilberforce founded the Anti-Slavery Society, focusing on ending slavery in the British Empire. That society was succeeded by Anti-Slavery International in 1839, “the oldest international human rights organisation in the world,” which continues to fight against slavery.

Obviously I have highlighted the importance of the Christian faith to the abolition movement, but it was not difficult to do because it stands out like a bright headlight on a dark road. Just think of the biblical foundation upon which Gregory of Nyssa’s argument is built and the faith that propelled Clarkson and Wilberforce to take action.

Now let me take a personal turn. If I grew up in the American South before the Civil War, would I have spoken out against slavery? Would I have used the Bible to defend the institution of slavery? What if my dad and grandpa owned slaves? The answer is deeply disturbing: I don’t know. I can only hope that I would have had the courage of an abolitionist. But where would I have found such courage?

Christianity and Abolition

Gregory of Nyssa, the Quakers, some Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, and evangelicals like Clarkson and Wilberforce found the resources to recognize slavery as evil and the courage to fight against it within the Christian faith. Wilberforce said, “God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the Slave Trade and the Reformation of Manners.”

Is it too much to say that we owe some of our present-day condemnation of slavery to their work? After all, with all of our moral disagreements, how did we get to the point where we universally condemn slavery, especially when it was once universally approved or at least universally accepted?

But didn’t some Christian leaders prior to the Civil War defend the institution of slavery and even base their arguments on Scripture? Yes, they did. (See this book by Mark Noll for this tragic theological history and the Civil War that ensued.) But here’s the key question: Would there have been an antislavery movement without the Christian faith?

Think of the facts again. The most vehement opposition to ancient slavery came from a Christian bishop and the modern abolition movement was initiated and carried out by Christians. The Christian faith must contain something that, at least for some, undeniably points toward abolition. After all, these people stood bravely against entire slave-supporting societies.

What did these abolitionists see in Scripture? Here are five points among many.

1. All people have the same Creator who made them in his image so we all have the same inherent dignity.
2. All people are sinners so masters are not fundamentally better than slaves.
3. Christ died for all people so slaves and masters are loved the same.
4. All will be judged by the same Lord. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). And all will be judged without favoritism: “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).
5. All people, including slaves, are our neighbors. According to Jesus, the greatest command is to love God and “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). Would you want to be owned by another person? How then can slavery be in line with the preeminent command to love our neighbor as ourselves?

Conclusion

The Bible does not contain a wholesale condemnation of slavery and from our vantage point that is a problem. I wish a New Testament author called for the end of slavery. Perhaps that would have curtailed centuries of slavery justified in part by NT statements.

On the one hand, though, it’s understandable, that Paul, for example, didn’t call for the end of slavery in the Roman Empire. He was focused on small Christian communities within the Empire. As he says to the Corinthian believers, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside” (1 Corinthians 5:12-13). While the Christian message has implications for society, reforming society at large was not the primary concern of the first Christians. They didn’t live in a time and place that encouraged or even allowed such thinking.

On the other hand, why didn’t Paul call for the end of slavery within the Christian community? Yes, he did tell slaves: “if you can gain your freedom, do so” (1 Corinthians 7:21). But why did his instructions to Christian slave owners not include “Free your slaves”? Could he not see the basic problem with slavery or was he thinking that slavery was a necessary evil?

From our perspective it doesn’t seem like any biblical author could see this problem—at least they didn’t see it as a problem that should be abolished as soon as possible. Again, in fairness to these ancient writers we must remember that they were not thinking of race-based New World slavery.

Although they didn’t explicitly condemn the system of slavery, New Testament authors expressed ideas that led to slavery’s ultimate demise. This doesn’t mean biblical writers intentionally introduced slavery-destroying elements into society. It doesn’t even mean they were aware that their faith contained such elements. Nonetheless, the Christians faith conveyed ideas that served as a vacuum sucking the power out of the concept of slavery. While only a small percentage of Christians turned on the vacuum, when they did, the force was so strong that the moral acceptance of slavery was sucked out of society. And in a world permeated with slavery—not only the Roman Empire or early America but in every country throughout human history—this was no small feat.

It’s true, the first Christians did not call for the end of slavery, but the first people who called for the end of slavery were Christians.