Why Didn't Jesus Condemn Slavery?

In this regular feature, Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call.Here’s this week’s question:Dear Dave and Tom, Why, when Jesus came did he not correct the issue of slavery?I’ve heard that Christians in the South used the Bible to support their ownership of slaves.

Tom:

Dave, this is not unlike the issue that we’ve been dealing with the Emerging church.You have this person concerned about Jesus correcting the culture and certainly on the other hand we have the Emerging church trying to accommodate Christianity to the culture.So it’s a cultural issue.Did Jesus—why didn’t He correct the issue of slavery and how did the Christians in the South here in the United States support their ownership of slaves from the Bible?I mean is there any basis for that?

Dave:

There is no basis for that.Jesus did not condone slavery, but he didn’t start a crusade against slavery.There were many other evils.Slavery was an evil, but the moral evil in the Roman Empire was beyond description.I mean we’re bad today, but that was even worse.The Great Commission, Matthew 28, Jesus did not say to his disciples go out there in all the world and correct society.Now that’s the abomination that is presented in Eugene Petersen’s The Message.You take John:3:17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
See All... where the Bible says He sent the Son to be the Savior of the world and Eugene Petersen twists that around (puts his own idea in there) and he says (he has The Message say) He came to help us make the world right.No, the Christian is not to make the world right, we are to call people out of this world, we are to transform their lives by faith in Christ and give them the hope of heaven.

Dave:

Dave, the Emerging church for example and many other movements within evangelical Christianity or related to it—they’re very “kingdom” oriented—they’re temporally oriented—they want to change the world, they want to affect the world in a way that God’s will will be done, His kingdom will come and so on.That’s not biblical.

Dave:

When we believe the gospel—if the world would believe the gospel—all these errors, evils would be corrected.But that is the only way to do it.The Bible never suggests we get on a crusade and we have protest marches and so forth.That gets no where.Whether it’s against homosexuality, against abortion, and so forth.Now if people want to preach against it—and we should— we should point out the evil of all this.That’s one thing.

Tom:

Yes, well we are dual citizens.So there are some responsibilities within our citizenship in this country.

Dave:

Right.Now, Jesus, the reason He didn’t correct—how is He going to correct slavery?He corrects slavery by His teachings, by pointing them back to the Word of God.Jesus was asked what is the first and great commandment.He said this is the first and great commandment: Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, with all thy might and the second—now first of all if you love God that way you are not going to mistreat your fellows, you are not going to lord it over anyone.

Tom:

You are not going to treat another human as chattel property.

Dave:

Absolutely.And then He says you will love your neighbor as yourself.Now when you read what the Bible says about neighbor that would include a slave if you had a slave.That was part of that society.If you set all the slaves free just suddenly—Jesus says well I’m Spartacus, let’s set all the slaves free—man, that would be such a disruption.How would they earn a living?What would they do for work?Well, they would become brigands and revolutionaries, taking from others; they would become in a worse situation than there was.So on the one hand, Jesus is not condoning slavery, but He’s not sending His people on a crusade to somehow change a wicked world.They must come to faith in Him; they must give their hearts to God.That was what set slaves free.Wilberforce—the-the-well go ahead, why don’t you talk—

Tom:

Well, Wilberforce was certainly influential in his lifetime.This was something that I believe that God put on his heart and the British people were having nothing to do with it, until very later, I think it may have even been after Wilberforce died that legislation in England to address the issue of slavery.

Dave:

Right, so the heart has to be changed.The teachings of Christ and the salvation that He offers changes hearts.That changed slavery.It was the Christians who led the freeing of the slaves so—

Tom:

But on the other hand, you had those in the South trying to use the Bible to try and support their view.

Dave:

Right and that was just as dishonest, because the Bible does not support it, but it does not say go out there and start a revolution—we’re going to free them with a sword.So it’s a little more complicated and I’m not excusing any slave owners/slave drivers, but you had wars, you’ve got prisoners that were taken: male, female, and children.Now what are we going to do with them?How are we going to incorporate them into our society?Are you going to kill them?How do we make them part of society?Will we set them up in a business?I am just trying to talk about the practical matter here.No you can’t set them up in a business—you couldn’t even do that today.So you treat them humanely.You give them a job.Some people would say well I’ve got a slave driver at work, or you are in the Army—well, I’ve got to always obey.But there are certain things that are of a practical nature, but treat them humanely, set them free if you can, but you’re not going to change society, you are not going change the wicked world.That’s one of the problems I would have with Rick Warren.He’s got a global peace plan—P.E.A.C.E.He’s going to do away with poverty and going to do away with disease….I can sympathize with that desire, but he won’t preach the gospel to these people, he may say that he does.He will work with Muslims; he will work with Catholics—it’s an ecumenical movement.So poverty, disease, slavery—it’s a problem.It still exists in the Islamic world today.They are still buy slaves, still have slaves and that ought to be known as well, but you would not support this from the Bible.