One of my earliest “awakenings” as a child took place in the kitchen with my mother, bugging her, no doubt, with silly questions. Along the way, I asked her why the American Civil War was fought. As a six-year-old I had just enough awareness that war was a terrible thing and that people actually died, and so I naturally wanted to understand why people risked death in the Civil War. Not sure how to talk to a first-grader about the War, my mother at first tried to pawn off the question—“arguments about the flag (huh?)… different ways of approaching life (ahh…)… talk to your dad!” Eventually, however, she told me about slavery—I’m positive she didn’t elaborate or go into detail, but I was floored. I couldn’t believe such a thing was possible; the innate “wrongness” of it all simply overwhelmed me. I do remember thinking, “so glad those days are over!”
Well. Sadly, those days are not over. Not as much as we would like to believe. One hundred and fifty years after the abolition of slavery in the USA, and in a world where forced servitude is formally outlawed in every land, the practice is still widespread. A rather conservative estimate holds that around 40 million people are held in bondage across the world. (To put that number in perspective, remember there are only about 330 million people in the USA, so about one-in-every-eight people). Those numbers include those forcibly married against their will; the rest, about 25 million, are in forced labor or sex trafficking. One in four are children; three-quarters are female. One organization claims that there are more people in slavery today than at any other time in history (can’t verify this).
Slavery, in every sense, perverts God’s created intention for humanity, mocks the salvation of the cross, and rejects the ultimate vision of heavenly redemption. By creation, every human being is made equally in God’s image; by means of the cross, the Gospel has torn down every racial, social, and religious division; in our final state before the throne we are joined as one people from every nation, tribe, and language. The very idea of slavery undercuts the core of the Gospel message.
And, yet… some would argue that the Bible itself is “pro-slavery,” and we certainly know throughout history that the Church has not uniformly stood against the practice. Indeed, in American history, the churchmen in the south were staunch advocates for “this peculiar institution.” So, how can we understand the incompatibility of the Gospel and slavery, and yet the Bible’s own words regarding the practice?
Our text this week in 1 Timothy deals directly with the issue of slavery as Paul addresses slaves and their service to their masters (6:1-2). It would be simple to hide behind the belief that slavery is no longer an issue for us today, but that simply is not true. It would be tempting to ignore this text believing that it says nothing to us since we are not slaves, but again, not true. It would be easy to condemn the Bible for its apparent “pro-slavery” bias, but not true again! To our great benefit, this text addresses us today, it challenges us today, and it reinforces our faith in our God. Join us on Sunday and see if God does not use this text to deepen our relationship as we worship Him!
In preparation for worship this week, read 1 Timothy 6:1-2.
1. Why does Paul use the term, “bondservant” here? What other ideas besides “slavery” might be included here?
2. How would a slave regard a master as “worthy of all
honor?” What might that look like?
3. Given we are not slaves, how might this text be built
upon characteristics that should nevertheless be demonstrated in our lives?
4. What reasons does Paul give in verse 1 for this command
to slaves? How might God’s name be reviled? Or the teaching of the Gospel?
5. Note the assumption that there is a real brotherhood
between slave and master. Realizing that brotherhood might lead the slave to
act a certain way, why should they not act upon that common brotherhood?
6. What other texts in the Bible deal with slavery? If you have
time, look up: Ephesians 6:5-8; Col 3:22-24; Titus 2:9-10; 1 Peter 2:16-18;
Deuteronomy 24:7; Galatians 3:28.
7. Read the end of Romans 6. We are slaves to sin or slaves
to righteousness. Why is the “slavery” label instructive here?
