Except for a small Jewish sect, the Essenes (which arose in Israel in the 2nd century BC. They lived a celibate, communal life near the Dead Sea and harshly criticized the priesthood in Jerusalem for laxness in religious observances), all religions of antiquity (ancient world) took slavery for granted. Even Jesus took it for granted. (Examples: Matthew 8:5-13 “Jesus healing the Centurion’s servant”; Matthew 18:23-35 “The Parable of the King taking account of his servants”; Matthew 25:14-30 “The Parable of the 10 Talents”; Luke 12:41-48 “The Parable of the Wise Stewart”; John 8:31-36 “Jesus speaking about the servant in the house of God”.)
The Early Christians and Jesus:
Jesus was not an abolitionist. He thought, as did all the ancients, that a slave’s duty was to give good service to his master. Early Christians accepted Roman rule, together with all its conditions and concepts of social status. Roman laws meant little to the early Christians because once a person was baptized as a Christian, he was equal to all other believers. So accordingly, if the day of Judgement was not far off, what did any distinctions between freedom and slavery matter? Thus Christians who could afford slaves had them, the same way pagans (Romans) did. Slavery was part of the Divine Plan, they felt. God had established these distinctions in society to serve His own ends, so they did not try to change “God’s Plan” by criticizing slavery.
The New Testament:
Slavery was often visible in the pages of the New Testament, and there was no criticism of the system that sanctioned it. Ancient society was based on slave labor, so Jesus and his Apostles and the Church took it for granted. They did not try to justify it or explain it. Nor did they object to Christians owning fellow Christians. It was the SPIRITUAL, not the material, condition of the man that mattered.
Christians gave full assent to the system of slavery, as evidenced in second century AD Christian advice in the treatment of slaves. (Examples: 1Timothy 6:1-2; Ephesians 6:5-9; Titus 2-9-10; 1Peter 2:18-20; Colossians 4:1-2 and Colossians 3:22)
Slaves were welcomed to baptism and to join the early congregations, but no effort was made to liberate them. Slaves took comfort in the promise of salvation and freedom in the world to come. Saint Augustine (354-430AD), the great African Theologian who taught free will and predestination in the early Church, said, “slavery has been imposed by the just sentence of God upon the sinner.” Slavery was not only a penalty, Augustine believed, but a remedy for sin. When asked the question, “Do not wicked men sometimes conquer in battle and make innocent victims their slaves?” Augustine answered, “No men are innocent; all slaves deserve to be slaves…the outcome is divine Judgement…. The only true slave is the slave to sin.” As for emancipation, Augustine declared it was a Hebrew custom not observed by Christians.
When the Millenium (the prospect of Holiness triumphant, with Christ reigning on earth for 1000 years) came to seem less imminent, the Church gave more attention to accommodating the world around it. It did all it could to protect the slaveowners’ interest in keeping his slave property. Saint Peter (1Peter 2:18) says, “Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward (perverse).”
362AD- The Church Council pronounced as accursed “anyone who under the pretence of Godliness should teach a slave to despise his master, or to withdraw himself from his service.”
630AD- The Church said that a slave fleeing from his master was to be denied communion until he returned to his master.
Despite the Church acceptance of the system, Christians viewed slavery with regard for the humanity of its victims. The doctrine of the brotherhood of man and the command to “love thy neighbor as thyself” no doubt lightened the burden of some slaves. By the time of the Middle Ages, the Church had developed the idea of a universal community of Christians who, as fellow countrymen, were bound not to war against one another for the purpose of slaves. Why should they? They had feudalism to replace slavery in Europe.
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