“Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that. For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. Brethren, each one is to remain with God in that condition in which he was called.”

What do we make of Paul’s writings about slavery? We cannot read this passage without asking that question, because it certainly looks on face value that he endorses it. Did he not write, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28)? Why would he not simply command Christians to overthrow the entire institution of slavery? Christians have wrestled with these questions at different time periods in history.

The most common answer to the above questions is that Paul was not so much a social revolutionary, but a propagator of the gospel of grace. And he carefully instructs how to live the life of grace in whatever life situations one finds oneself. He is more concerned with how grace works in difficult family situations, and how it works in different economic relationships. He teaches how to live Christ-like in ways that transform the experience of servitude, depravity, and discord. When Paul addresses a Christian slave owner (Philemon) about his runaway slave (Onesimus) who had come to faith, he does not command Philemon to set his former slave free, but to treat him the way he would treat Paul (see the book of Philemon)—which would revolutionize the relationship. In other words, change in institutions should come from within.

This is not to say there is never a place for social activism and peaceful non-violent resistance. However, again, we must not force on Paul a twentieth-century social mindset that simply did not exist in the first century. Slavery in the Roman world was composed largely of the conquered people that the Romans subjugated. The vanquished were often sold as slaves to Roman citizens, and it had nothing to do with race. Historians tell us there were more slaves living in Rome than free people. Slaves served in all kinds of roles, sometimes even in trusted managerial and consulting roles, as well as menial household servant roles. And many of the early Christians were in fact slaves in that sense.

So, if you could become free, according to Paul, then go ahead and gain your freedom. If you remain in slavery, live in your mind and heart as one who is free to serve the Lord within slavery. Again, you should not make it the priority of life to change your social standing in this regard. Rather, live for the Lord.

Lord, help me to serve You faithfully regardless of my life situation.