What St. Paul Really Said about Slavery

[OldSchool2]

"What we often want Paul to be saying in Philemon, namely set the man free and emancipate him and make a statement about the church and slavery for all the ages, is not enough to cover what Paul was doing. Sarah Ruden, in Paul among the People, looks at slavery and at the same time takes a shot at those who want co-opt Paul for their own liberation agendas ..."

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2014/04/03/what-saint-paul-really-said-about-slavery/

[Guest]

[Tristen]

For those interested in a very well researched thesis on slavery in the Bible, I recommend the following;

 

http://christianthinktank.com/qnoslave.html

(For slavery in the Old Testament)

 

and

 

http://christianthinktank.com/qnoslavent.html

(for slavery in the New Testament)

 

 

I like these resources because they demonstrate the difference between the generally face-value analyses of Biblical critics, and the propensity for a sincere believer to consider any allegations against the Bible beyond the face-value.

[Willa]

One of my ancestors came as an endentured servent to the Puritans. They also patterned their slavery after that of the Old Testament endentured slaves.

There are other verses beside Philemon which instruct how to treat slaves or to respond as Christian slaves. Eph. 6:5-9, Col. 3:22-4:1 Doulos, meaning in bondage or bondservent. Some also translate it as simply servant, but they have masters that seem to own them. 1 Peter 2:18-21 household servant--oiketes.

Paul meant to abolish the mistreatment of slaves, a pattern that was built into the Jewish system. The Roman system did not afford slaves to be treated with dignity. I think Paul suggested to Philemon that Omsimus be freed so as to return to him as a bond slave in the Lord, that is a slave by choice.

Now we are slaves to jobs by choice and necessity. Workers are still abused by unrighteous bosses. Sometimes unions and laws protect them but often neither do. Some bosses are kind and treat their employees with respect. Some treat them as expendable as when slaves were mistreated. They may not beat or kill them but they can be verbally abusive and subject them to painful or even dangerous working conditions that can kill, without informing them or trying to protect them.

[OldSchool2]

One of my ancestors came as an endentured servent to the Puritans. They also patterned their slavery after that of the Old Testament endentured slaves ...

The Puritans of the Plymouth Colony were themselves indentured servants under contract to the Dutch East India Company!

[kwikphilly]

Blessings Everyone,,,

     So little is said about Onesimus by Paul,except that he departed Philemon for a while,apparently a slave who was considered less than human................Paul asks that Philemon receive Onesimus with love,as a Brother in Christ who is now a precious child of God,no longer merely a creation but a child............................Glory to God,a loving intercession......................

                                                                                                                                                          With love-in Christ,kwik

[a-seeker]

One of my ancestors came as an endentured servent to the Puritans. They also patterned their slavery after that of the Old Testament endentured slaves.

There are other verses beside Philemon which instruct how to treat slaves or to respond as Christian slaves. Eph. 6:5-9, Col. 3:22-4:1 Doulos, meaning in bondage or bondservent. Some also translate it as simply servant, but they have masters that seem to own them. 1 Peter 2:18-21 household servant--oiketes.

Paul meant to abolish the mistreatment of slaves, a pattern that was built into the Jewish system. The Roman system did not afford slaves to be treated with dignity. I think Paul suggested to Philemon that Omsimus be freed so as to return to him as a bond slave in the Lord, that is a slave by choice.

Now we are slaves to jobs by choice and necessity. Workers are still abused by unrighteous bosses. Sometimes unions and laws protect them but often neither do. Some bosses are kind and treat their employees with respect. Some treat them as expendable as when slaves were mistreated. They may not beat or kill them but they can be verbally abusive and subject them to painful or even dangerous working conditions that can kill, without informing them or trying to protect them.

As I read the text, Paul was urging Onesimus' real freedom--he wanted Philemon to recognize him not only as a free man in Christ (as all christian slaves were) but in the flesh as well, a term which is often used by Paul to refer to the world.  He is urging Onesimus' civil freedom.

 

clb

[OldSchool2]

 

One of my ancestors came as an endentured servent to the Puritans. They also patterned their slavery after that of the Old Testament endentured slaves.

There are other verses beside Philemon which instruct how to treat slaves or to respond as Christian slaves. Eph. 6:5-9, Col. 3:22-4:1 Doulos, meaning in bondage or bondservent. Some also translate it as simply servant, but they have masters that seem to own them. 1 Peter 2:18-21 household servant--oiketes.

Paul meant to abolish the mistreatment of slaves, a pattern that was built into the Jewish system. The Roman system did not afford slaves to be treated with dignity. I think Paul suggested to Philemon that Omsimus be freed so as to return to him as a bond slave in the Lord, that is a slave by choice.

Now we are slaves to jobs by choice and necessity. Workers are still abused by unrighteous bosses. Sometimes unions and laws protect them but often neither do. Some bosses are kind and treat their employees with respect. Some treat them as expendable as when slaves were mistreated. They may not beat or kill them but they can be verbally abusive and subject them to painful or even dangerous working conditions that can kill, without informing them or trying to protect them.

As I read the text, Paul was urging Onesimus' real freedom--he wanted Philemon to recognize him not only as a free man in Christ (as all christian slaves were) but in the flesh as well, a term which is often used by Paul to refer to the world.  He is urging Onesimus' civil freedom.

 

clb

 

Much more than that.

"Paul wants to do more than emancipate Onesimus because emancipating him may well have jeopardized the man. Slaves, she observes, were like pets even when they were loved and trusted and part of the family. They were not on the same level. And a runaway was a lost cause altogether. Paul forgives but manumission wouldn’t have made the man a citizen. Freedom meant to choose permanent slavery (a dependent) or to go into exile ...

"So the co-opting of Onesimus for modern day liberation theme misses what Paul was doing. I quote Ruden:

"Paul had a much more ambitious plan than making Onesimus legally free. He wanted to make him into a human being, and he had a paradigm. As God chose and loved and guided the Israelites, he had now chosen and loved and could guide everyone. The grace of God could make what was subhuman into what was more than human. It was just a question of knowing it and letting it happen.

"The way Paul makes the point in his letter to Philemon is beyond ingenious. He equates Onesimus with a son and a brother. He turns what Greco-Roman society saw as the fundamental, insurmountable differences between a slave and his master into an immense joke ..."

With his short letter, Paul again proves that "Brevity is the soul of wit".

[a-seeker]

 

 

One of my ancestors came as an endentured servent to the Puritans. They also patterned their slavery after that of the Old Testament endentured slaves.

There are other verses beside Philemon which instruct how to treat slaves or to respond as Christian slaves. Eph. 6:5-9, Col. 3:22-4:1 Doulos, meaning in bondage or bondservent. Some also translate it as simply servant, but they have masters that seem to own them. 1 Peter 2:18-21 household servant--oiketes.

Paul meant to abolish the mistreatment of slaves, a pattern that was built into the Jewish system. The Roman system did not afford slaves to be treated with dignity. I think Paul suggested to Philemon that Omsimus be freed so as to return to him as a bond slave in the Lord, that is a slave by choice.

Now we are slaves to jobs by choice and necessity. Workers are still abused by unrighteous bosses. Sometimes unions and laws protect them but often neither do. Some bosses are kind and treat their employees with respect. Some treat them as expendable as when slaves were mistreated. They may not beat or kill them but they can be verbally abusive and subject them to painful or even dangerous working conditions that can kill, without informing them or trying to protect them.

As I read the text, Paul was urging Onesimus' real freedom--he wanted Philemon to recognize him not only as a free man in Christ (as all christian slaves were) but in the flesh as well, a term which is often used by Paul to refer to the world.  He is urging Onesimus' civil freedom.

 

clb

 

Much more than that.

"Paul wants to do more than emancipate Onesimus because emancipating him may well have jeopardized the man. Slaves, she observes, were like pets even when they were loved and trusted and part of the family. They were not on the same level. And a runaway was a lost cause altogether. Paul forgives but manumission wouldn’t have made the man a citizen. Freedom meant to choose permanent slavery (a dependent) or to go into exile ...

"So the co-opting of Onesimus for modern day liberation theme misses what Paul was doing. I quote Ruden:

"Paul had a much more ambitious plan than making Onesimus legally free. He wanted to make him into a human being, and he had a paradigm. As God chose and loved and guided the Israelites, he had now chosen and loved and could guide everyone. The grace of God could make what was subhuman into what was more than human. It was just a question of knowing it and letting it happen.

"The way Paul makes the point in his letter to Philemon is beyond ingenious. He equates Onesimus with a son and a brother. He turns what Greco-Roman society saw as the fundamental, insurmountable differences between a slave and his master into an immense joke ..."

With his short letter, Paul again proves that "Brevity is the soul of wit".

 

I am not sure whether this agrees with me--or you saying that Philemon was or was not encouraged to release Philemon from slavery?

 

clb

[Willa]

I definitely agree that Paul wished Philemon to receive Onesimus as if he were Paul himself, with respect and honor, forgiveness and love. v. 15 leads me to think that receive him forever means not only that he be returned as a brother but that he was willing to return as a bond slave out of love should he be freed, just as we are bond slaves of the Lord. To do so would offer him protection by Philomon, since it seems that by just being a freed man would mean he had no rights in the Roman system.

While I don't advocate slavery, I have often thought that God's plan of slavery might offer people more dignity than a hand out by the government and socialism. Christians appreciate charity as an expression of love but the unsaved loathe being the object of pity. They don't understand that God's love is a pitying love, in that when we were helpless God came to rescue us from sin. Humility is prized by God but is scorned in our society where instead pride is promoted. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

We are often told in the Bible to be content with our present state. Soldiers were told to be stay soldiers and slaves were told to works as though serving God. So the Bible does not seem in all cases to advocate abolition. It does counter the atrocities done to slaves and promote treating them as brothers, not as objects.

Slavery in SE USA was often horrible. But many were treated as part of the family. Even George Washington had a slave whom he considered a close friend. But for the sake of the abused, I am very thankful slavery was abolished here.