Slaves Obey Your Masters: Colossians 3:22-4:1

As a Bible teacher, the topic of slavery is so vast that I find it difficult to pin down and make comments on. What does the Bible reveal and what is the history and modern activity and thinking of slavery in our day. Most of all, the Bible makes moral judgments against slavery and, at the same time, does not make strong moral condemnations against slavery. Let me list out  a number of random observations to demonstrate what I mean.

• In The Law of Moses, there are instructions about buying and selling slaves and how to treat slaves. They include rules about what to do if you sell your kids as slaves, lesser punishments for slaves than non-slaves, etc.
• Joseph was sold as a slave into Egypt and it was God’s path to bring him to a highly exalted position in Egypt.
• The Jews were slaves of the Egyptians for a long period of time. God heard the Jews cry and delivered them. He punished the Egyptians for their harshness against the Jewish people.
• In the New Testament, Roman law regarding slavery was never addressed head on as immoral. While the apostles may not have approved of slavery, it was not their aim to abolish it. In fact, the Apostles’ writings do not have an agenda that attempts to right the wrongs of social inequalities. I think it could be argued that this was not their main goal, but it is also a worthy goal.
• Then there is the history of slavery and the trafficking of humanity as property and commodities. This could include purchasing of migrant workers in the fishing industry in Asia, the negotiated settlements of tribal warfare, the Arab treatment of Africans, the Western treatment of Africans. Up to the present day slave labor and sex trafficking is rampant globally. Many politicians and judges are probably silent on the topic because they participate in human trafficking to staff their homes and to satisfy their sexual appetites.
• Then there is the modern history of slave abolition, beginning from the famous William Wilberforce to the present day. As much as some Christians try to abolish slavery, the industry flourishes like never before.
• There are some of recent, in American political movements, that ask for reparations and believe that American history has still not corrected its past.
• Then there are soulless politicians, who love to take pictures of themselves bowing knees and making symbolic gestures. They believe nothing. But, they do enjoyed being photographed. After bowing a knee, they return to their extravagant, tax funded lifestyle that few people will ever live.
• Then there is the differentiation between what is a true slave, what is a household servant, what is an employee.

How can this biblical text address all these issues? Well,  guess it cannot.