Does the Bible promote slavery?
Exodus celebrates liberation from slavery. Leviticus regulates slavery. Paul sends a slave back to his master. Jesus never explicitly condemns slavery. Critics point to these passages and declare the Bible morally bankrupt. Why doesn't the Bible just say 'Slavery is wrong'? Three words that could have prevented centuries of human suffering. Three words that could have saved millions of lives. Three words that God chose not to write. Today, we're discovering why this apparent moral silence actually reveals something profound about how God works to transform human society – and how the Bible contains the revolutionary seeds of slavery's destruction.
Welcome back to Word for Word, I'm Austin Duncan.
Look, I'm not going to sugarcoat this – this is one of the hardest topics we're going to tackle in this entire series. And honestly? It should be. We're talking about an institution that has caused immeasurable human suffering. We're talking about the Atlantic slave trade, the horrors of chattel slavery, families torn apart, lives destroyed. We're talking about a wound in human history that still bleeds today.
And when people open their Bibles and see passages about slavery – regulations for how to treat slaves, instructions for slaves to obey their masters – many feel a justified sense of moral outrage. How could a good God allow this to be in His Word? How could the Bible, which we claim is our moral compass, seem to endorse something so evil?
Here's why this question matters: It strikes at the very heart of whether we can trust the Bible's moral authority. If Scripture really did promote slavery as a permanent, God-approved institution, then we'd have a serious problem. Not just with one or two verses, but with our entire understanding of God's character. Because a God who endorses the ownership and exploitation of human beings isn't a God worth worshiping.
But here's what I want you to hold onto as we walk through this together: What looks like moral silence from 30,000 feet reveals itself as moral genius when we get closer. The Bible's approach to slavery isn't what most people think it is – and understanding it actually reveals something beautiful about how God works in human history.
We're continuing our series on difficult Old Testament issues, and this might be the most serious moral challenge to biblical authority that we'll address. But I promise you – by the end of this episode, you're going to see that the Bible doesn't promote slavery. Instead, it systematically dismantles it from the inside out, planting seeds that would eventually grow into the abolition movements that changed the world.
So let's dive in. And I'm asking you to approach this with an open mind, because we're going to challenge some assumptions you might have – whether you're a skeptic looking for ammunition or a believer struggling with difficult passages.
Part 1: Understanding the Ancient World
Before we can understand what the Bible says about slavery, we need to understand what slavery actually was in the ancient world. Because here's the first thing that's going to surprise you: Ancient slavery and modern slavery were about as similar as a bicycle and a fighter jet – technically they both move you forward, but that's where the comparison ends.
When most of us hear the word "slavery," our minds immediately go to one place: the horrific, race-based chattel slavery of the Americas. And we should go there – it was one of humanity's darkest chapters. But that system – where Black Africans were kidnapped, branded, sold as property, and treated as less than human based solely on the color of their skin – that wasn't what slavery looked like in the ancient Near East or the Greco-Roman world.
Now, before anyone misunderstands me: I'm not saying ancient slavery was good. All slavery is a result of human fallenness. All slavery involves injustice. But if we're going to understand what the Bible is saying, we have to understand what the Bible was addressing.
The Ancient Reality
In the ancient world, slavery wasn't about race. It wasn't about one group of people being inherently superior to another. The idea of "race" as we think of it today simply didn't exist. So how did people become slaves?
First, through debt. Picture this: You're living in ancient Israel. There are no credit cards, no bankruptcy laws, no welfare system. Your crops fail, and suddenly you can't feed your family. You have two choices: watch your children starve, or sell yourself into servitude to work off what you owe. It's a desperate choice, but at least it's a choice that provides survival. This was voluntary servitude – more like indentured labor than what we think of as slavery.
Second, through war. When nations conquered other nations, they had to decide what to do with the defeated people. The common options were: kill everyone, or take them as slaves. By the brutal standards of ancient warfare, slavery was sometimes seen as the merciful option. This doesn't make it right – it just shows how different the ancient world was.
Third, through birth. Some people were born into slave families. But even here, the biblical system was different. In Israel, if Hebrew parents were debt-servants, their children weren't automatically slaves for life. When the parents' term of service ended, the children went free too.
Fourth, voluntarily. Some people actually chose servitude for security or employment. The Hebrew word "eved" that gets translated as "slave" has a wide range of meanings. It could mean anything from an indentured laborer to a household servant to a government official. Context matters enormously.
Here's what's crucial to understand: In the Greco-Roman world of the New Testament, slaves weren't necessarily uneducated or brutalized. Some slaves were doctors, teachers, accountants, and skilled professionals. Some earned wages and saved enough to buy their freedom. A person's status as a slave said nothing about their inherent worth or capabilities – it was purely a social and economic status, often temporary.
The Key Difference
The Bible was written into a world where slavery was the water everyone swam in – and it began to drain the pool.
Think about it this way: In ancient times, there were no banks, no bankruptcy courts, no unemployment benefits, no social safety nets. Suddenly abolishing slavery without any alternative economic structures would have been catastrophic. People would starve. Chaos would reign. It would be like trying to demolish a building while people are still living in it.
So what did God do? He didn't drop a modern economic system fully-formed onto ancient Israel. Instead, He entered their reality and began transforming it from within. He took an existing institution and started reforming it, restricting it, and injecting principles that would ultimately make it unsustainable.
One scholar put it this way: Removing servitude from ancient society "would have created economic collapse, starvation, and widespread vulnerability." God's strategy was wiser – work within the system to transform hearts and minds, planting seeds that would eventually blossom into complete liberation.
Part 2: The Old Testament Revolution
Now, when we turn to the Old Testament, you might expect – or wish – to find a verse that simply says, "Thou shalt not own slaves." It's not there. And that bothers people. It bothered me when I first seriously studied this topic.
But here's what IS there: A set of laws so radical, so protective of human dignity, that they were unlike anything else in the ancient world. These weren't laws endorsing slavery – these were laws restricting, reforming, and systematically undermining it.
Let me show you what I mean.
1. The Liberation Clock: Mandatory Freedom
In surrounding nations, if you became a slave, you stayed a slave. Your children were slaves. Your grandchildren were slaves. Slavery was generational and permanent.
Not in Israel.
Exodus 21:2 says if a Hebrew becomes a servant, "he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything." Six years maximum. Then freedom. No strings attached.
But it gets better. Every fiftieth year was the Year of Jubilee – a complete economic reset. All debts cancelled. All servants freed. Everyone returns to their family property. It was literally a mass emancipation built into the law code itself.
God didn't just open the cage door, He built an automatic timer to open it every seven years.
No other ancient culture had anything like this. This wasn't about regulating permanent slavery. This was about preventing it from ever becoming permanent.
2. The Anti-Kidnapping Law: Capital Crime
Here's where it gets really interesting. The Bible explicitly forbids the kind of slave trade that fueled the Atlantic slave trade and American slavery.
Exodus 21:16 is crystal clear: "Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper's possession."
Let that sink in. Kidnapping people to enslave them or sell them was a CAPITAL OFFENSE in God's law. The death penalty. This single verse, if obeyed, would have completely obliterated the entire transatlantic slave trade.
And in case you think that's just an Old Testament thing, 1 Timothy 1:10 in the New Testament lists "slave traders" right alongside murderers and the sexually immoral as people whose behavior is "contrary to sound doctrine."
The Bible didn't just regulate slavery, it outlawed the slave trade entirely.
Think about what this means. The horrific kidnapping of millions of Africans, the middle passage, the auction blocks – all of it explicitly condemned by Scripture. The very foundation of modern slavery was something the Bible called worthy of death.
3. Physical Protection: Revolutionary Rights
In the Code of Hammurabi from Babylon – the famous ancient law code – if a slave owner knocked out a slave's tooth, he'd pay a fine to the owner. Why? Because the slave was property, and damaging property requires compensation to the owner.
The Bible flips this completely upside down.
Exodus 21:26-27 says if a master strikes a servant and knocks out their tooth – even something as "minor" as that – the servant goes free. Not a fine. Not a payment. Freedom. Immediate emancipation as compensation for the injury.
In Babylon, damaging a slave meant paying the owner; in Israel, it meant losing the slave entirely.
Do you see the radical difference? In biblical law, the slave was the owner of their own person. Their bodily integrity mattered. They had rights. If a master killed a servant outright, that master could be punished (Exodus 21:20). These protections were unheard of in the ancient world.
One scholar noted: "No other ancient law code has provisions like releasing a slave due to injury – these protections reveal a fundamentally different system, one shaped by a theological commitment to the dignity of persons made in the image of God."
4. Sanctuary for Runaways: No Return Policy
Here's another one that will blow your mind: Deuteronomy 23:15-16 says, "If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand them over to their master. Let them live among you wherever they like... Do not oppress them."
In Israel, runaway slaves from other nations found sanctuary. They weren't sent back. They could start fresh, live free.
America had Fugitive Slave Laws; ancient Israel had fugitive slave sanctuary.
This is the opposite of what most ancient societies did. It's the opposite of what America did before the Civil War. And it's one more sign that biblical law wasn't trying to preserve slavery – it was trying to eliminate it.
5. Community Integration: Part of the Family
In most slave societies, slaves were segregated, excluded, treated as less than human. Not in Israel.
Biblical law required that servants rest on the Sabbath just like everyone else (Exodus 20:10). They participated in religious festivals (Deuteronomy 16:11). If a male slave wanted to participate in Passover, he could be circumcised and become part of the covenant community (Exodus 12:44).
Slaves weren't separate or inferior in the religious life of Israel. They were members of the extended household, fellow humans under the same God.
6. The Foreign Slave Question
Now, I need to address something because it's usually the first objection raised: "But what about Leviticus 25:44-46? Doesn't that allow permanent slavery of foreigners?"
It's true – that passage does allow Israelites to acquire slaves from other nations and treat them as permanent property. This is difficult. Let me be clear: I don't think permanent slavery of anyone, regardless of nationality, aligns with the full revelation of God's character.
But here's what we need to understand:
First, even foreign slaves in Israel benefited from all the protective laws I just mentioned. The law about releasing a slave for knocking out a tooth didn't say "only if they're Hebrew." It applied to all slaves. The prohibition against killing a slave protected all servants.
Second, in a world where war captives were usually massacred or sold into brutal slavery in other nations, living in an Israelite household under Israel's humane regulations was often the best possible outcome of a terrible situation.
Third – and this is crucial – these laws weren't God's ideal. They were God meeting an ancient culture where it was and beginning the long process of transformation. Just as Jesus said Moses allowed divorce "because your hearts were hard" (Matthew 19:8), God allowed certain practices while working to change the hearts that perpetuated them.
One-liner: God wasn't giving a blueprint for the ideal society – He was giving a roadmap from where they were to where He wanted them to go.
The Pattern We're Seeing
Look at what we've discovered so far:
Automatic freedom after six years
Complete liberation every fifty years
Death penalty for kidnapping/slave trading
Freedom for injured slaves
Sanctuary for runaways
Integration into community life
Protection from abuse
This isn't a system designed to maintain slavery. This is a system designed to restrict it, humanize it, and ultimately phase it out. As one theologian put it, God "incrementally humanized" the institution, diminishing its harshness and elevating the status of servants while planting seeds that would eventually blossom into complete abolition.
Part 3: The Principle Behind the Practice
Now, some of you are thinking: "Okay, I see that biblical slavery was different. But why not just ban it outright? Why all these regulations instead of a simple 'No slavery, period'?"
This is where we need to understand something called progressive revelation. And honestly, this is one of the most important principles for reading the entire Bible correctly.
Progressive Revelation: God's Wise Teaching Method
One-liner: God doesn't dump the whole textbook on kindergarteners – He teaches grade by grade, building understanding over time.
Think about how you teach a child. You don't explain quantum physics to a five-year-old. Not because quantum physics isn't true, but because the child isn't ready to understand it yet. You start with basic concepts and build from there.
God did the same thing with humanity. In the Old Testament era, He was laying foundational principles – planting seeds that would later grow to full flower in the New Testament. Demanding the immediate abolition of slavery in 1500 BC would be like asking ancient Israel to institute democracy, universal healthcare, and the internet. It was culturally unthinkable and practically impossible at that stage of history.
Instead, God planted revolutionary ideas:
Every human bears God's image
Remember that YOU were slaves in Egypt
Love your neighbor as yourself
Justice for all, especially the vulnerable
Regular liberation and debt forgiveness
These weren't just nice thoughts. They were time bombs planted in the cultural soil. Over centuries, they would explode the very foundations of slavery.
Examples of Progressive Revelation
We see this pattern throughout the Bible:
Polygamy: God allowed it in the Old Testament (Abraham, Jacob, David had multiple wives), but the problems it caused are clearly shown. By the New Testament, monogamy is the clear standard (1 Timothy 3:2). The trajectory moves from permission to prohibition.
Divorce: Allowed in the Old Testament, but Jesus explains this was a concession to hard hearts. "From the beginning it was not so" (Matthew 19:8). God's true desire was lifelong marriage, but He made temporary allowances.
Vengeance: The Old Testament says "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" – limiting retaliation. The New Testament says "turn the other cheek" – eliminating it. The trajectory moves from limitation to transformation.
Slavery: The Old Testament restricts, regulates, and humanizes it. The New Testament plants principles that make it unsustainable. The trajectory moves from reform to abolition.
Why This Approach?
Dr. Paul Copan explains it well: "God didn't banish all fallen, flawed, ingrained social structures when Israel wasn't ready to handle the ideals. Taking into account the actual culture, God encoded more feasible laws, though He directed His people toward moral improvement. He condescended by giving Israel a jumping-off place, pointing them to a better path."
God meets people where they are, but He never leaves them there.
If God had simply declared "No slavery" in ancient Israel without transforming hearts first, what would have happened? Either the command would have been ignored (like so many other commands they broke), or it would have caused economic chaos that hurt the very people it was meant to help.
Instead, God chose the harder path: Transform the culture from within. Change hearts before changing laws. Plant seeds that would take centuries to bear full fruit, but when they did, would create lasting change.
And you know what? It worked. Let's look at how those seeds grew.
Part 4: The New Testament Revolution
Fast forward to the time of Jesus. The Roman Empire rules the Mediterranean world. Slavery is everywhere – possibly a third of the population in major cities like Rome were slaves. The early church spreads largely among the lower classes, including many slaves, but also some wealthier believers who owned slaves.
Now here's the fascinating thing: The New Testament writers don't call for a violent slave revolt. They don't launch a political campaign to abolish slavery empire-wide. Why not?
Because they were a tiny, persecuted minority with zero political power. Any attempt at armed rebellion would have been crushed instantly and discredited the gospel message they were trying to spread.
But what they did do was far more revolutionary: They planted spiritual truths that would ultimately make slavery impossible to maintain among God's people.
1. Spiritual Equality: The Foundation Cracks
Galatians 3:28 drops this bomb: "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Let that sink in. In Christ, the slave and the master are equals. Brothers. Family.
Colossians 3:11 echoes this: "Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all."
When slaves and masters became brothers in Christ, the hierarchy started crumbling from within.
Think about what this looked like in practice. The early church met in homes. They shared communion together. A wealthy merchant and his slave would both come to the Lord's Table as equals, both partaking of the same bread and cup. The slave might serve the meal, but then sit down as a beloved brother to eat with everyone else.
This was UNHEARD OF in the ancient world. No other religion did this. No other social system treated slaves as fully human members of the community. Christianity was creating a counter-culture where the old hierarchies didn't apply.
2. Masters and Slaves: The Power Flip
The household codes in Ephesians 6 and Colossians 3-4 are often criticized because they tell slaves to obey their masters. But wait – look at what they tell the MASTERS:
Ephesians 6:9 – "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."
The Bible reminded masters that they too were slaves – slaves of Christ – and they'd answer to Him for how they treated others.
Colossians 4:1 – "Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven."
1 Timothy 6:2 – Believing masters should not look down on their believing slaves, but should serve them even better, "because those who benefit from their service are believers, and dear to them."
Do you see what's happening? The normal power dynamic is being turned upside down. Masters are commanded to be just and fair. They're reminded they have no superiority before God. They're told to serve their slaves better because they're brothers in Christ.
How long could the master-slave relationship survive in a community genuinely living this out? Not long.
3. Freedom is Better: Take It When You Can
1 Corinthians 7:21 – "Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so."
Paul explicitly tells Christian slaves: If you can become free, do it. Freedom is better than slavery. Pursue it when you can.
This isn't the advice of someone who thinks slavery is God's ideal plan. This is someone who knows freedom is valuable and should be sought when possible.
4. The Philemon Principle: A Test Case
The book of Philemon is fascinating. It's a short personal letter where Paul sends a runaway slave named Onesimus back to his owner Philemon – but with a revolutionary request.
Paul doesn't command Philemon to free Onesimus (he had no legal authority to do so). Instead, he appeals on the basis of love and brotherhood:
"Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever—no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother... So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me." (Philemon 1:15-17)
Paul turned a master-slave relationship into a brotherhood, not by force but by the transforming power of the gospel.
Paul even hints that Philemon should do "even more" than he's asking (verse 21) – likely implying manumission (granting freedom). He equalizes himself, Philemon, and Onesimus, calling Onesimus "my son" and "my very heart."
This letter is the gospel applied to a slave-master relationship. And early tradition suggests Onesimus may have been freed and later became a bishop in the church. The gospel transformed not just hearts, but social structures.
5. No Slave Traders Allowed
Remember that capital crime against kidnapping in the Old Testament? The New Testament repeats it.
1 Timothy 1:9-10 lists sins that are "contrary to sound doctrine" – and right there alongside murderers and sexually immoral people are "slave traders" or "enslavers."
The New Testament condemned the engine that powered slavery – the buying and selling of human beings.
The Pattern We're Seeing (Again)
Look at what the New Testament is doing:
Declaring spiritual equality of all people in Christ
Commanding masters to treat slaves justly
Encouraging slaves to seek freedom when possible
Condemning slave trading
Creating communities where social hierarchies don't apply
Treating slaves as beloved brothers and sisters
These aren't the teachings of a pro-slavery religion. These are time bombs planted in the foundations of the institution itself.
Over the following centuries, these principles bore fruit. By the 4th century AD, we have church fathers like St. Gregory of Nyssa preaching that slavery is a sin and an assault on humanity. Churches started taking up collections to free slaves. Christian emperors began passing laws improving slaves' rights.
The seeds planted by Jesus and the apostles were growing into a tree that would eventually shelter movements for abolition around the world.
Part 5: The Biblical Principles That Destroyed Slavery
Let me pull back and show you the big picture. Throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, there are core principles that flow like threads through the tapestry. These principles, when taken seriously, make slavery impossible to maintain.
1. The Image of God: You Can't Own an Image-Bearer
Genesis 1:27 – "God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them."
If every human is an image-bearer of God, then enslaving them is cosmic treason.
This was revolutionary. In the ancient Near East, only kings were seen as God's image. But the Bible says EVERYONE – regardless of status, gender, or ethnicity – bears God's image. That slave picking crops? Image of God. That maid cleaning your house? Image of God.
To treat an image-bearer as property is to attack God Himself. This is why murder is forbidden in Genesis 9:6 – "whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind."
The image of God doctrine is the foundation of human dignity. And it's incompatible with slavery.
2. The Exodus: God is a Liberator
The defining event of the Old Testament is God freeing slaves from Egypt. God hears their cries. God acts to deliver them. God breaks their chains.
The God of the Bible doesn't endorse slavery, He breaks people out of it.
This liberation theme runs through all of Scripture:
The Exodus from Egypt
The Year of Jubilee (freedom every 50 years)
The prophets condemning oppression
Isaiah 61:1 – The Messiah will "proclaim liberty to the captives"
Jesus applying this verse to Himself (Luke 4:18)
Christ freeing us from slavery to sin (John 8:34-36)
The ultimate liberation in Revelation
The entire biblical story arc is one of freedom – from physical slavery, from spiritual slavery, from death itself. Slavery is not God's will; liberation is.
3. The Law of Love: How Can You Love and Enslave?
Leviticus 19:18 – "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Jesus affirmed this as the second greatest commandment (Matthew 22:39). Paul said "love is the fulfillment of the law" (Romans 13:10).
If you genuinely loved someone as yourself, could you own them? The question answers itself.
The Golden Rule – "Do to others what you would have them do to you" (Matthew 7:12) – obliterates slavery. Would I want to be enslaved? No? Then I can't enslave others.
Many slaveholders throughout history had to convince themselves that their slaves were somehow less than fully human – "like children" or "inferior races" – precisely because if they admitted slaves were equal humans, the law of love would condemn their actions.
The Bible never allowed such dehumanization. From start to finish, it insisted on treating everyone – including servants – with love and justice.
4. The Brotherhood: We're All Family Now
The early church called each other "brother" and "sister." Masters and slaves worshiped together, prayed together, ate together.
1 Corinthians 12:13 – "For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free."
It's hard to own your brother, and the church made slaves and masters siblings.
This spiritual family identity corroded the master-slave hierarchy. If your slave is your brother in Christ, how do you continue treating them as property? The cognitive dissonance becomes unbearable.
5. Redemption: Christ Bought Our Freedom
The New Testament uses slavery metaphors to describe salvation. Jesus is our "Redeemer" – the One who paid to buy us out of slavery.
1 Corinthians 7:23 – "You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings."
Galatians 5:1 – "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free."
When you've been freed by Christ, you become a freedom fighter for others.
The constant message is: God values your freedom so much He paid the highest price for it – the blood of His Son. How then can Christians treat freedom as cheap and enslave others?
Many abolitionists used exactly this argument: Enslaving someone for whom Christ died is a blasphemy against the Redeemer's work.
The Verdict of History
Here's something crucial: Christianity is the only movement in human history that has consistently fought against slavery across centuries and cultures.
No secular or atheist movement in antiquity argued for abolition. Only Christianity carried within it the seeds of slavery's destruction. And when those seeds bloomed, they produced:
Medieval church laws prohibiting enslaving fellow Christians
18th-19th century abolitionists like William Wilberforce (devout Christian who led the fight against the British slave trade)
The Clapham Sect (Christian politicians and activists)
Frederick Douglass (who quoted Scripture in his anti-slavery speeches)
Harriet Tubman (who called her work on the Underground Railroad her "calling from God")
The same Bible that critics claim promotes slavery actually provided the moral ammunition to destroy it. Those biblical principles we've been discussing? They're the ones abolitionists quoted to shame slave owners and change laws.
The Bible didn't preserve slavery, it provided the dynamite that eventually blew it apart.
Part 6: But What About Today?
Now, some of you might be thinking: "Okay, that's all interesting history. But slavery is illegal now. Why does this matter?"
Because slavery isn't actually over.
The Harsh Reality
Despite legal abolition in every country, slavery still exists. And it's massive.
According to the International Labour Organization and Walk Free Foundation, there are an estimated 50 million people in modern slavery right now. Let that number hit you. Fifty million. That's more than the entire population of Spain.
Modern slavery includes:
Human trafficking (forced labor and sex trafficking)
Debt bondage (people trapped working to pay off debts they'll never escape)
Forced labor (in factories, farms, fishing boats, construction, mines)
Domestic servitude (people held against their will as household workers)
Forced marriage (yes, this is considered a form of slavery)
Child soldiers
This isn't just happening "over there." It's happening in your city. Your country. Maybe on your street. From nail salons to farms to private homes – modern slavery hides in plain sight.
While we're debating what the ancient world did about slavery, 50 million people are living it right now.
The Christian Response
If we understand the biblical trajectory from slavery to freedom, if we grasp God's heart for liberation, then we have a clear mandate: Fight modern slavery with everything we've got.
Here's what that looks like:
1. Support Anti-Trafficking Organizations Groups like International Justice Mission, Love146, A21, Not For Sale, and local anti-trafficking ministries are on the front lines rescuing victims and prosecuting traffickers. They need resources and volunteers.
2. Examine Your Supply Chains That cheap chocolate? Coffee? Clothing? Electronics? Much of it involves exploited or forced labor somewhere in the supply chain. Research ethical brands. Vote with your wallet.
3. Speak Up Modern slavery thrives in silence and ignorance. Talk about it. Educate others. Create awareness. "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves" (Proverbs 31:8).
4. Support Policy Change Advocate for laws that protect vulnerable populations, prosecute traffickers, and support survivors. Contact your representatives.
5. Look Local Learn the warning signs of trafficking. Train to spot it. Support local safe houses and recovery programs for survivors.
6. Address Root Causes Poverty, lack of education, gender inequality, corruption – these create conditions where trafficking thrives. Support international development, education initiatives, and economic justice.
7. Foster Care and Adoption Children in unstable situations are prime targets for traffickers. Providing stable homes breaks that cycle.
8. Pray and Fast This is spiritual warfare as much as it's practical action. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Corinthians 3:17). Pray for victims. Pray for rescue. Pray for transformation of perpetrators' hearts.
The Gospel Changes Everything
Here's the thing: Laws alone won't end slavery. They haven't yet. The ultimate solution is the same one the Bible has always pointed to – transformed hearts through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Think about John Newton – former slave ship captain who was converted, became an abolitionist, and wrote "Amazing Grace." The gospel didn't just change his theology; it changed his entire life trajectory.
Or William Wilberforce – whose Christian faith compelled him to spend his entire political career fighting the slave trade, eventually succeeding in abolishing it throughout the British Empire.
One-liner: The same gospel that toppled ancient slavery can topple modern slavery, if we'll carry it to the places where chains still bind.
Part 7: How This Changes How We Read the Bible
Let me tie this all together with some practical principles for understanding Scripture:
1. Read Scripture Progressively, Not Statically
The Bible is not a flat text where every verse has equal weight for all time. It's a story of progressive revelation – God meeting people where they are and gradually leading them higher.
When you see Old Testament laws about slavery, don't ask "Is this God's perfect ideal?" Ask "Where was God leading them from this point?"
Just like you don't teach calculus to kindergarteners, God didn't drop 21st-century ethics onto Bronze Age cultures. He planted seeds and let them grow over centuries.
2. Distinguish Description from Prescription
The Bible describes many things it doesn't prescribe. It records polygamy, war, and slavery – but recording something isn't the same as endorsing it.
Jesus clarified this: Moses allowed certain things "because your hearts were hard" (Matthew 19:8). Some biblical laws were concessions to human fallenness, not divine ideals.
3. Look for the Trajectory, Not Just the Text
Don't isolate verses; trace the trajectory across the whole Bible.
The trajectory on slavery is crystal clear:
Old Testament: Restrict it, humanize it, create paths to freedom
New Testament: Undermine its foundations, declare equality in Christ, condemn slave trading
Church history: Abolish it entirely as the gospel transforms cultures
God's direction of travel is always toward liberation, dignity, and freedom.
4. Trust God's Character
When you encounter difficult passages, remember what you know about God's character from the whole of Scripture.
God is just, merciful, and loves freedom. God is not a divine slaveholder. When passages seem to conflict with this, dig deeper. Study context. Understand culture. The problem is usually with our reading, not with God's character.
5. Recognize Your Own Blind Spots
Just as ancient cultures had blind spots (like slavery), we have ours too.
Two hundred years from now, Christians might look back at us and say "How could they tolerate [X]?" (Maybe it'll be abortion, economic inequality, environmental destruction, or something we haven't even recognized as a moral issue yet.)
God is patient with human moral development. That should make us humble about judging ancient peoples, and vigilant about examining our own times.
Conclusion: The Freedom Fighter God
So, does the Bible promote slavery?
Absolutely not.
What the Bible does is something far more complex and ultimately more beautiful: It enters a fallen world where slavery exists, begins to transform it from within, plants revolutionary principles of human dignity and freedom, and sets in motion a moral trajectory that has led to the abolition of slavery wherever biblical values take root.
God didn't write "Slavery is wrong" in three words. Instead, He wrote it across the entire arc of Scripture in a thousand different ways:
Every human is made in My image
Remember you were slaves and I freed you
Love your neighbor as yourself
In Christ there is neither slave nor free
Proclaim liberty to the captives
For freedom Christ has set us free
The abolition of slavery wasn't a secular achievement – it was the fruit of biblical principles finally taking root in culture after culture. From Wilberforce to Tubman to the Civil Rights movement to today's anti-trafficking advocates, the fight for freedom has always been led by people who took the Bible seriously.
And that fight isn't over.
Fifty million people are still in chains. They need us to follow in the footsteps of those who came before – to be freedom fighters in our generation, driven by the same gospel that has been breaking chains for two thousand years.
The God of the Bible is not a God who endorses slavery. He is the God who hears the cries of the oppressed and breaks their chains. He is the God who says "Let my people go." He is the God who sent His own Son to "proclaim freedom for the prisoners" (Luke 4:18).
And He's calling us to join Him in that work.
Because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Thanks for wrestling through this difficult topic with me. I know it wasn't easy. But understanding how the Bible addresses slavery doesn't just answer a historical question – it equips us to fight modern slavery with biblical clarity and conviction.
If this episode challenged you or changed your perspective, I'd love to hear about it in the comments below. And if you found it helpful, share it with someone else who's wrestling with these questions.
Next week, we're tackling another challenging Old Testament topic: "Was Jonah Really Swallowed by a Whale?" You won't want to miss it.
Until then, I'm Austin Duncan, and this is Word for Word – where we're discovering that the Bible's answers to hard questions are often deeper and more beautiful than we imagined.
See you next week.
