My dad was “old school.”  A child of the depression, he believed firmly in the value of child labor – especially mine.  I had weekly chores for which I was paid if I did them in a way that passed his rigorous requirements.  But the pay was meager, especially when compared to the gratuitous, labor-free allowances received by most of my middle-class peers.  During the summer I mowed the grass for $2 per mowing and in Fall I raked 1.3 billion leaves working pro bono.   Now, as an adult with a healthy work ethic and the ability to appreciate the value of money, I am thankful my dad was “old-school.” 

But at the time, my thoughts were not so charitable.  As I mowed the grass with a rickety push mower, my friend was playing ball while his mother did the mowing.  “Now that was liberation I can get on board with,” I thought.  I recall thinking, “Daddy treats me like a slave.”  And I had to ‘slave away’ at yard work under a broiling Georgia summer sun, while my friend lived a carefree childhood of leisure and comfort.

Had I paid attention to the numerous passages in the Bible which speak about the work and attitude of slaves, both actual slaves and those who like me fancied themselves to be slaves, perhaps I would have gained a heart of wisdom.   But like many who hear the Bible’s teaching on slavery, slaves, and masters, I foolishly relegated it to a collection of things in the Bible which have nothing to do with me.   In the same way, Christians often view the Bible’s teaching on slavery as an antiquarian embarrassment in our present enlightened age.

But slavery is not an ancient problem.  And our attitudes toward work are often a daily struggle. Consequently, the Bible deals honestly with the issue of slavery.  And with all the subtle forms it takes.  While many today are impatient with the Bible’s apparent lack of forceful denunciation of slavery, this critique fails to recognize that the Bible is thoroughly opposed to slavery, as we know it, from beginning to end.   

Yet Scripture is imminently aware that many labor in difficult, oppressive, and evil circumstances. And so, the Bible also prescribes pastoral instruction and care for those who labor in service to others.  Many of these pastoral exhortations to slaves and masters, employees and employers instruct us how to do our work, no matter what the conditions, “as unto the Lord.”  

And above all, the Bible’s instruction to Christian slaves illustrates how we are to serve our Lord.  We delight in calling Jesus ‘Savior,’ and rightly so.  But if He is our Savior, then He is also our Lord.   Christ delivered us from the slavery of sin, but as Christians we are his bond-servants, transferred from one kingdom to another.  Paul points this out explicitly.

For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise, he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. 

1 Corinthians 7:23

God spoke the Ten Commandments directly to the people at Sinai. Then he called Moses to come up the mountain to receive the Book of the Covenant.  This Book, recorded in Exodus 21-24, included needful reminders, examples, and illustrations of how God’s covenant people are to apply the Ten Commandments to their daily lives.  And while some of these examples apply specifically to the circumstances of ancient life, how they are unpacked has application for us today.  

God’s first concern was purity of worship, but his second, pressing concern was the condition and care of slaves.   Speaking to a nation of recently emancipated slaves, God demonstrates his concern for those who are vulnerable and oppressed.  He calls his people to be a covenant community characterized by gracious and tender care toward those who are ‘at risk’ socially and relationally.  

Far from evidencing repressive institutionalized racism, classism, or any other -ism, the Bible’s teaching on the care of the oppressed is more progressive than the ‘wokest wokist’ can imagine.   It is care rooted in grace, forgiveness, and the gospel, not an egalitarian denial of depravity.   And what it means by ‘slavery’ extends far beyond the narrow confines of what that word conjures in our minds and experience. 

Far from a theological embarrassment, God places instruction about the care of slaves first in his application of the 10 commandments.  This is not an editorial blunder but a call for Christians to live out their faith in gracious ‘life together.’  This week we examine Exodus 21:1-11 and consider what the Bible teaches about slavery and what this has to do with us. 

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.