Does Christ Advocate Slavery?
Dear Mike, How are you? May the Lord be with you. I just want to ask you something that intrigued me when I heard it. This has bothered me for about two weeks now, and I even asked somebody about this when the “Messenger of God” delivered this in the pulpit.
1Pe 2:18 “Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to those good and forbearing, but also to the perverse ones.”
I googled the word “slave” on the bible and found a lot; one of them being…
Col 3:22 “Slaves, obey your masters according to the flesh in all things; not with eye- service, as man- pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.”
The question is: Does God advocate slavery? Don’t you think its far better to encourage “you should not enslave your fellowmen” rather than asking “Slaves, obey / be subject to your masters”? After all, no one would wish himself to be a slave, but that’s the word of God, and God is God…
M____
Hi M____,
Thank you for your question.
Telling people to submit to their masters even if they are perverse, is very good advise. It in no way “advocates slavery.” What we should learn from verses like this and from the fact that the apostle Paul sent Onesimus back to his believing master, is that God does not want His people getting involved in trying to change a world which is doomed.
This world and every nation in it is in total opposition to God’s Words. Words like “love thine enemies” are utterly despised by the government of every nation on earth. We are Christ’s ambassadors. As such we are not to get involved with the affairs of this age. So Paul is simply advising us all to do just that when he made the statements you quote. We are not to try to change or save a doomed system. If we can remain aloof of the affairs of this age, then in God’s own time, we will be in a position to really make a change in this world:
Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
Mike>
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