This is a topic I have been chewing on for several months, and I believe it is now time to address it: slavery. Slavery is like sin, a topic that most of us would rather just avoid talking about it because we cannot contemplate a good image of it. Why would we? Slavery is forced labor under a master who has no right to your body, right? Mostly yes but not always. Hear me out before you dismiss the rest of this post and this series.
Whether we want to realize it or not, every one of us is a slave. Every one of us serves something. There is not a single person who is truly free. As I go through this series, I will explain precisely what I mean by that. For now, I am declaring as a premise that each of us are slaves, including myself.
A slave is either a good slave or a bad slave. A good slave is someone who does what he is told, is obedient, and never questions or challenges his master or his authority. A bad slave is someone who always seeks to break free from his bonds and those who have authority over him. Again, these are premises that require clarification and unpacking, which I will do throughout this series. I am just laying down these down on the table and will put them all together shortly.
A slave has a master. A master is either a good master or a bad master. A good master will take care of his slave, provide for all his needs, give him everything he needs to do his job, and reward him for his loyalty and dedicated service, while also administering proper judgment upon bad slaves. A bad master will domineer over his slave just to showcase his power and to make the slave feel weak compared to him. He will give only the minimal supports for his survival, does not care for his well-being, and often sees his slaves as expendable and easily replaceable. If one dies, he can always replace him with another one. Again, these are mere premises to be put on the table.
A person becomes a slave for various reasons. The primary reason is through debts. Someone owes another something, and so he becomes that person’s servant or slave until that debt is paid. This will be something I am going to focus on throughout the series. The debt could be paid for by another, thus “buying the slave.” For example, if you have student loans, you are a “slave” to the bank who lent you the money until you pay it off. Another bank can buy that loan, and thus you own that bank your money instead. This is one of the reasons why the Bible teaches to do everything you can to pay off your loans as quickly as possible and to never get in debt if at all possible. It is dangerous to be in debt to someone.
Other reasons why people get into slavery include conquest and kidnapping. A nation conquers another nation, and the people are made subject to the conquering nation. But the one we all tend to picture is kidnapping and slave trading via illegal acquisition. We try to lesson the sting of the issue with words like “trafficking,” but it’s the same issue. Some are kidnapped by force, while others are kidnapped through deception and luring. All types of slave trading and kidnapping are forbidden in Scripture. So, before you let a skeptic throw you off your game and say that the Bible endorses slavery, do note that they are likely thinking of the American Slave Trade, which is explicitly condemned in Scripture.
There are two major types of trafficking: labor and sex. Labor trafficking is the transportation of people to a “master” to do manual labor for them. Often these are women or girls for cleaning, cooking, and being a maid for the house. A much more sinister type of trafficking is sex trafficking, where the person is moved and sold to pimps who uses the victim for sexual favors, either for them or for anyone to whom they offer them. Many prostitutes are slaves in this regard where they are forced to use their bodies for money, and most of that money goes their masters. While young are often the focal point, there are a large number of boys who are held as sex slaves, too. There is no gender, age group, or nationality that is not represented as victims.
But there are other types of slavery as well. I already mentioned debts. Addictions are another major type of slavery. This is slavery to drugs, drinking, sex, pornography, gambling, work, social media, etc. We don’t like to say it’s slavery, but it actually is. You are controlled by it. You cannot get away from it. When you try to, it keeps nagging you. And the master, be it sentient or not, is always calling you to serve it. The craving for the drug can be just as compelling as checking your phone every 30 seconds to see what the latest trends are. Students have reported that if you miss the chat for about one hour, you are truly left behind in what is going on, and the pressure is that big to stay in the loop. It’s truly addicting.
We all tend to picture all these slavery issues as negative things, and each example I gave here probably should be considered as such. However, God’s wisdom turns everything that man thinks upside down and uses slavery as a good thing. When man is on his own, he is a slave to his desires, dreams, and addictions. But when God saves him from his sin, he becomes a slave to God instead. And unlike sin who is a cruel master, giving only death as its wages, God is a good master.
God’s timing is perfect because the very day I sat down to write this post, my church’s preaching elder preached about slavery and how we are unworthy slaves who only do what we are expected to do. It was a good sermon and quite convicting with how we handle work-life in particular. Man is made to serve someone or something. We always seek someone or something to serve. Those who work tirelessly to rule their own lives are still serving someone or something. Someone is telling them what to do. We as Christians have a Master – Jesus Christ. We call Him “Lord” and “King of Kings” and “Sovereign,” but we don’t like calling Him “Master” because that puts us into the “slave” position. In reality, we Christians are His slaves, but that is actually a good thing. I will flesh that out in greater detail as the series progresses.
Next week, I will compare and contrast the types of slavery history has known. It may surprise you that the slave trading that we tend to picture in US history was not part of normal human society until 1000 years ago. More on that next week.
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