Slavery is an evil institution; I want to establish that up front. It degrades everyone involved in it, masters as well as slaves, and I thank God that slavery is now illegal nearly everywhere in the world. I am an American, born in the 20th century, and now living in the 21st. As an anthropologist, however, I recognize that slavery has taken many forms over the centuries, and that my own visceral reaction to it is strongly colored by the particular form slavery took in the United States during the 18th and 19th centuries, a period that ended less than one hundred years before I was born. People living in other cultures and in other times will probably not see slavery exactly the same way I do.
Given where and when I grew up, it’s perhaps not surprising that I find it difficult to accept passages of Scripture like this one:
Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive (Titus 2:9-10).
I suspect that I’m not alone in this. It’s very likely that many followers of Christ in the modern world have an immediate negative reaction when they read this passage. But unless I’m willing to reject outright the idea that the Bible is the word of God, which I’m not, I need to look deeper and try to understand what the Holy Spirit is saying here.
The first thing to be aware of is that context matters, and in particular here, the historical and cultural context. Not just in the cultural experience of slavery, as I mentioned above, but also in the actual words used.
One of the challenges faced by Bible translators is that many words have more than a single meaning. This, among other reasons, is why translation is an art, not a science. The most common word used for “slave” in the New Testament, including in this passage, is doulos. Doulos has a much broader range of meaning than the English word “slave” does. It can mean the same kind of slavery that was practice in the Americas, but it can also refer to other forms of servitude as well, including, in some contexts, situations that are more like long term employment agreements than what we would call slavery. For example, we would not call a Victorian era household servant, who spends their entire adult life working for the same family a slave.” But in Biblical Greek they would still be a doulos. Several of the apostles, in fact, refer to themselves as a doulos of Christ Jesus (Romans 1:1, Philippians 1:1, Titus 1:1, James 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1, Jude 1). It’s only be closely examining the text that we can get a clue about what doulos means in any given passage.
Look, for example, at what Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus:
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free (Ephesians 6:5-8).
And then at what immediately follows:
And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him (Ephesians 6:9).
Obviously, if masters treat their “slaves” the same way they are supposed to be treated, serving them with their whole heart and recognizing that they both serve the same heavenly master, then this is not slavery as we understand the word. Paul does use the word doulos here, though.
In the same vein, Paul wrote to Timothy:
All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered. Those who have believing masters should not show them disrespect just because they are fellow believers. Instead, they should serve them even better because their masters are dear to them as fellow believers and are devoted to the welfare of their slaves. (1 Timothy 6:1-2).
So the believing masters Paul talks about are “devoted to the welfare of their slaves.” It’s clear, then, that what he has in mind in this particular passage is a type of service far removed from what we today call slavery. And I am also reminded that Paul had earlier written:
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others (Philippians 2:3-4).
So his command to slaves is just one instance of a broader command to every believer.
Regardless of this, however, slavery in its worst forms did exist in New Testament times, and the word “doulos” applied to those slaves as well. This is slavery as we understand the term, and there is no question that it is an evil institution, part of a fallen world.
And, a bit disturbingly, I have to recognize that the fact that Paul does not explain what kind of doulos he’s talking about in several passages implies that it doesn’t matter. The command remains the same regardless, because he’s only telling slaves to do what God elsewhere commands to every believer; return good for evil. This, in fact, is how good overcomes evil; by not being corrupted into hating. By loving our enemies, in other words (Luke 6:27-28), meaning not just people we have a hard time getting along with, but actual enemies in the fullest sense of the word.
Paul is saying that a slave’s relation to his or her master should be characterized by love, even when the master doesn’t deserve it. Love is not transactional; it doesn’t say, “if you give me what I want, I’ll give you what you want.” Love means giving other people my best even when, and maybe especially when, it’s not what they deserve. (And if I ever start feeling resentful about doing that, I need to ask myself when was the last time God treated me the way I deserve.)
Nothing here says that slavery is a good thing; it’s not. In writing to the church at Corinth, Paul encouraged slaves to obtain their freedom if they could, and he further told those who were free not to become slaves of other human beings (1 Corinthians 7:21-24). As an institution, slavery is evil. But God has always used evil situations as the means through which he does good. In the Old Testament, we see this very clearly in the story of Joseph, himself a slave (Genesis 50:20), but it’s a theme that is woven all through the Scriptures. And God himself shows us the ultimate expression of this theme when we, the human race, crucified the only truly innocent person who has ever lived. And through that act, arguably the most evil thing that has ever been done, God brought about the greatest good that has ever been done.
So that’s what Paul is saying to slaves here; not to think of slavery as good, but to let God use you to bring good out of the evil of slavery. To use it as an opportunity to demonstrate the love that Jesus has for us. In God’s kingdom slaves are, first of all, to live in such a way that Christ’s name is honored. And second, to serve their master’s interests ahead of their own.
This sounds bizarre and offensive to modern ears, but it’s nothing more than restating the two greatest commandments; wholly loving God and loving my neighbor as myself (Mark 12:28-34). God clearly meant these commands to apply universally.
Freedom from human slavery is certainly a good thing, and believers should obtain their freedom if they can, but that is not the highest priority. The highest priority is to faithfully serve God, whatever my situation. The second highest priority is to love my neighbor, meaning all the people God has placed close to me. That includes even people who can fairly be called enemies (Matthew 5:43-45, Romans 12:14, 18-21).
It is undeniable that this is a hard teaching, and it’s one that the world is not going to understand, because it requires seeing things from the perspective of God’s kingdom. From an earthly point of view, doing good to my enemies is never going to make sense. And, I think, the very fact that it doesn’t make sense is often powerful enough to wake people up to a reality beyond what they have previously known.
All this may be interesting, but by now you’re probably wondering why I felt the need to write an article about it. Slavery is illegal almost everywhere, after all. Part of the answer is that questions about slavery in the Bible occasionally arise in the context of sharing the gospel. But more importantly, slavery is only one example, although a fairly extreme one, of the basic principle that we, as followers of Jesus, are to return good for evil, just as Jesus himself did.
That’s why Peter can write:
Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. (1 Peter 2:18-20).
The word translated “slave” this time is not doulos, but oiketēs, which actually means something like a domestic servant (which doulos can also sometimes mean). But even with a different word, the command remains the same; do not retaliate. Do good to those who mistreat you.
Live as a child of God, in other words. The message of all these passages is that, despite our own cultural experience, slavery is no different in this regard than any other form of oppression. Like any other form of oppression, it’s only a symptom. The root cause is sin, a human race that is rebelling against God, who is the only source of good. Because this is the case, good can not overcome evil by directly changing the system, but only by changing hearts. Not by being stronger, as the world calculates strength, but by being better. This is how God’s kingdom advances. As the Scripture says:
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:17-21).