You Asked: Does the Bible Condone Slavery?
We respond to a listener’s question and wrestle with the fact that the Old Testament did not abolish slavery, but actually endorsed the slavery of foreigners. While most of the slavery described in the Old Testament was debt-servanthood, and the Old Testament law provided protections and limitations around the practice that included the forgiveness of all debts and the six-year redemption of those in bond servanthood, the Old Testament also endorsed the chattel slavery of neighboring countries and foreigners living temporarily in the land of Israel. We discuss how the serious scholarship on this subject dispenses with many of the arguments advanced by Christian apologists, while discussing our honest confusion over the fact that the Bible does not contain an outright abolition of slavery. At the same time, we point out that it was the very teachings of Jesus and the New Testament writers, built on the legacy of the Old Testament law, that laid the foundation for our modern views related to human rights, anti-discrimination, equality, and dignity of all persons, and that ultimately to the abolition of slavery. Our goal in this episode is to demonstrate our willingness to study deeply, wrestle with troubling issues honestly, and still faithfully follow Jesus by trusting that – while our knowledge of God will always be incomplete – we are ultimately putting our trust in the person of Jesus, and not in having certainty about the answer to every question we may ever pose about the Bible.
Discussion Questions:
Have you known someone who has refused to consider the Christian faith because of a belief that the Bible condoned slavery? Are you someone who has struggled with this issue? If it was first brought up to you by someone else, how did they present the issue, and how did you respond? If it was an issue that you first struggled with, do you believe that this issue invalidates the truth of who Jesus claimed to be?
Does it surprise you that the hosts in this episode reach the conclusion that the Bible did endorse slavery? Did you previously have a different view, or do you still have a different view after listening to the dialogue?
What is your reaction to reading Leviticus 25, where the scripture allows the Israelites to purchase slaves from the nations around them, and how the passage states that those slaves would become property of the Israelites? Some apologists have claimed this was a blessing to those foreign slaves because they were introduced to the God of Israel. How would you evaluate that argument?
The Bible seems so clear on so many other moral and ethical issues. Is there a reason that clarity might not have been possible on the issue of the enslavement of foreigners? If God chose to reveal more of His will over a progression of time, why might he have done so?
What do you make of the argument that the kingdom of God, like a mustard seed, or like yeast in dough, has begun to spread around the globe in a way that became the underpinnings of ethical and moral movements leading to human rights, equality, dignity of individuals, and that laid the foundation for the abolition of slavery that would not have been possible without the legacy of the Christian faith?
Is it possible to follow Jesus without understanding everything that the scripture teaches? Is it a requirement that every objection we have be overcome in order to put our faith in God, or can we leave room for the things that we cannot explain or that we even disagree with?
