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1 Timothy 6:1 "Let all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be defamed."

 

I blogged about this before in If You Want Justice, Work for Peace (and Trust God). I will add to that by saying verses like this are sometimes used to derogate the faith. Bill Maher, for example, frequently says the Bible must be wrong because it condones slavery. But that is so missing the point! The Bible is timeless. It speaks to us in our time, even if the practices with which it deals are not commonly accepted today (although slavery is still quite common). It is meant to help us become better people even as we suffer through the injustice of this fallen world.

 

Paul is not condoning slavery, he is accepting the reality of it and teaching slaves how to be good Christians. When he sends the run-away slave Onesimus back to Philemon, Paul teaches slave owners how to be Christ-like, asking Philemon to receive Onesimus "no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother". (Philemon 1:16)  Paul's aim, and the Bible's concern in general, is to bring us all to God, as revealed to us by Jesus Christ. If fallen human beings have, in their free will, established slavery, then Paul's job is to speak of Christ's love and how to live it to both slaves and slave masters, hoping they will all be saved.

 

We, too, must accept the realities of our situations in life, and still behave as good Christians. We may be being treated unjustly, but Christ showed us the way to truly defeat injustice. It cannot, ultimately, survive in the face of patient love.