BeachCast.TV: Bible Exploration, Apologetics and Church History with Dr. Chase A. Thompson:

Part 2 of our series on The Perseverance of the Saints. Hebrews has several sobering "warning passages," that could indicate that it is possible for Christians to lose their salvation. Could such a thing be possible - can Christians really fall away and lose eternal life in Jesus? Featuring a great exhortation by Charles Spurgeon.

Hello friends, and happy Thursday to you. A bit of a heavy topic today - depression - but there us much hope in the Word when we go beyond the surface. This will be a continuing series for us also, and like our discussion of the Perseverance of the Saints, it will be spread out, rather than consecutive. Today's Scripture readings include Numbers 7 (the longest chapter we've read thus far, and the fourth longest chapter overall in the entire English Bible.), Psalms 42-43, Song of Solomon 5 and Hebrews 5.

Can a Christian be depressed is our big question of the day. Medical doctor and Christian author John Lockley writes: "Being depressed is bad enough in itself, but being a depressed Christian is worse. And being a depressed Christian in a church full of people who do not understand depression is like a little taste of hell."

Psalms 42 is our focus passage, and it is a wonderful Psalm full of soaring emotion that goes up and down. I am finding a greater and greater appreciation of the Psalms as we are reading them through during quarantine. I generally do the podcast late at night, once the kids and my wife are in bed. I finish quite late, take a walk, wind down, and go to bed. I find that the Psalms have been occupying my thoughts in the morning, and that it has been very fruitful to reread the Psalms from the previous night's reading first thing as I am waking up. The Psalms are such a wonderful expression of thoughts, prayers and praises to God - I find they are teaching me to pray and worship utilizing the Words of Scripture more and more. Consider the powerful emotions found in the words of Psalms 42:

My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long people say to me, "Where is your God?" 4 I remember this as I pour out my heart: how I walked with many, leading the festive procession to the house of God, with joyful and thankful shouts.5 Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God. 6 I am deeply depressed;

Psalms 42:3-6

You can see where we get our focus question for the day - right here in the Holy-Spirit inspired words of Scripture, the Psalmist notes that he is depressed, and that tears have been his food. I note here, as I've noted many times, that reading the Bible dispels one of any notions that the Word of God is full of the kind of sunshine pumping, pollyannish, your best life now kind of faith that is so often proclaimed by televangelists on various 'Christian' tv channels. The Word of God is genuine, authentic, deep and often reflects the real anguish and pain of being an actual living and breathing human.

This is one of the most honest and genuine passages in the Bible, and there are dozens. Most of us are unfamiliar with the depth and genuineness of the Bible. I honestly blame preachers for that. They/we tend to avoid passages like Psalms 42, and negative things. NOTE the switch between vs 8 and 9 - the flip flop. That is so characteristic of us - especially when in the throes of depression.

The Lord will send his faithful love by day; his song will be with me in the night— a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I will say to God, my rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about in sorrow because of the enemy's oppression?"

Psalms 42:8-9

If you've ever had this kind of jarring flip-flop from faith to fear and back again - YOU ARE NOT ALONE! It happened to many of the spiritual giants in the Bible. Let's go read Psalms 42-43, and then come back and briefly discuss the possibilities of a Christian being depressed.

If you define depression in a very general and sort of vague way - maybe that depression is an extended and persistently depressed mood - keeping in mind that I'm neither a doctor, nor psychologist, I think you'll find that several giants in the Bible qualify as depressed. The Sons of Korah, authors of our Psalm today, and others count. As does Elijah and Moses, both mighty men of God that were so downcast that they told God they were ready to die. Jeremiah also fits that bill, wishing he hadn't been born, and worse. Hannah in 1st Samuel declares that she is a woman with a broken heart, and King David (Psalms 69) also went through several periods of seeming depression.

Other giants of the faith have too, such as Charles Spurgeon:

"I am the subject of depressions of spirit so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of wretchedness as I go to.'" Charles Spurgeon.

"It is all very well for those who are in robust health and full of spirits to blame those whose lives are sicklied or covered with the pale cast of melancholy, but the [malady] is as real as a gaping wound, and all the more hard to bear because it lies so much in the region of the soul that to the inexperienced it appears to be a mere matter of fancy and diseased imagination. Reader, never ridicule the nervous and hypochondrichal, their pain is real; though much of the [malady] lies in the imagination [thought-processes] it is not imaginary."

Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, 3 vols. (Newark, Del.: Cornerstone, 1869), 2.132.

And John Piper:

I cannot tell you how many hundreds of times in the last twenty-eight years at Bethlehem I have fought back the heaviness of discouragement with these very words: "Hope in God, John. Hope in God. You will again praise him. This miserable emotion will pass. This season will pass. Don't be downcast. Look to Jesus. The light will dawn." It was so central to our way of thinking and talking in the early eighties that we put a huge "Hope in God" sign on the outside wall of the old sanctuary and became known around the neighborhood as the "Hope in God" church.

John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2014).

So - can a Christian have depression, or be depressed? You bet they can! I see nothing in Scripture that would lead me away from that conclusion, and volumes that affirm it. If you are now fighting depression know that you are NOT alone - many saints in the Bible and throughout church history also waged war against depression. I do not have an easy antidote for you, or a fake cure-all. I do want to close out with a hopeful passage from God's Word, though:

Psalm 34:18: The Lord is near the brokenhearted; He saves those crushed in spirit.

I'd also like to recommend David Murray's book, Christians Get Depressed Too. 5 stars, and very helpful, comforting, and faithful to God's Word!

I do realize that this is short commentary, but do not despair, as this will be a topic we return to fairly regularly as we go through the Psalms!

Today we are talking about depression - is it possible for a Christian to be depressed? If you listen to some Christians and preachers, you might come away with the idea that the Bible lacks depth and realism - that it is merely a collection of optimistic sayings designed to reel in the rubes and novices. If you actually read the Bible, however, you might just be shocked to see how authentic and gritty it is. Our Psalm today, Psalm 42, is one of the most realistic and relatable passages in the Bible, and it

Happy Wednesday, friends! Today we in California are celebrating an astounding SIX weeks of sheltering in place, and it looks like a few more weeks are on tap. I guess celebrating is the wrong word there. We are LAMENTING six weeks of sheltering in place. Lord deliver us from this pandemic!

Today's Bible readings don't have anything to do with coronavirus, but do equip us to live and thrive in times of pandemic, trials and troubles. We are reading Numbers 6, Psalms 40 and 41, Song of Songs 4, and Hebrews 4. Our Big Bible question comes from the famous and well-known verse in Hebrews 4:12:

For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Many Christians grew up hearing that passage fairly regularly, but when you actually think about what it means, you realize what a strange statement it is. How in the world is the Word of God a living thing? A sharp thing? A penetrating thing, or a judging thing? Let's go read Hebrews 4, and then see if we can find out more.

And we're back, and we haven't had our question answered yet, at least in Hebrews 4. We do remember, however, that Hebrews began in chapter 1 by discussing the power of God's Word:

3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Hebrews 1:3

All things are SUSTAINED by the powerful Word of Jesus. Further, as we keep reading Hebrews, we discover:

3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

Hebrews 11:3

This, beyond a shadow of a doubt, demonstrates the awesome POWER of the Word of God, but it doesn't answer our question - How is God's Word living and active, or living and effective? For that answer, we need to turn to the parable of Jesus that is effectively the key to understanding every parable of Jesus - the Parable of the Sower:

13 Then he said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand all of the parables?14 The sower sows the word.15 Some are like the word sown on the path. When they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word sown in them.16 And others are like seed sown on rocky ground. When they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy.17 But they have no root; they are short-lived. When distress or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away.18 Others are like seed sown among thorns; these are the ones who hear the word,19 but the worries of this age, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.20 And those like seed sown on good ground hear the word, welcome it, and produce fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundred times what was sown."

Mark 4:13-20

So, we see here exactly how God's Word is living and active, because Jesus tells us that the Word of God is like a SEED. It has life, and it gives life. It blooms and grows, just like a seed, but instead of being sown or buried in the ground,the Word of God is sown into people who listen to it, and bear fruit depending on how they respond to the seed/Word of God. And, from that same chapter:

24 And he said to them, "Pay attention to what you hear. By the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and more will be added to you.25 For whoever has, more will be given to him, and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him."

Mark 4:24-25

Here we see that the Word of God/Living seed comes into a person by virtue of that person HEARING (reading) God's Word. The more you hear - and the more you WANT TO HEAR - the more fruit you will bear and Godly transformation you will see in your life. Jesus here compares eager listeners to those coming to get something good with either a small measure - think a teaspoon, or something like that vs. the person who comes with a great big old bucket. The one who DESIRES more of the Word - a greater measure - will see more fruit in their lives than those who just want a drop or two. Finally, in verses 26-29, we see:

26 "The kingdom of God is like this," he said. "A man scatters seed on the ground.27 He sleeps and rises night and day; the seed sprouts and grows, although he doesn't know how.28 The soil produces a crop by itself—first the blade, then the head, and then the full grain on the head.29 As soon as the crop is ready, he sends for the sickle, because the harvest has come."

Mark 4:26-29

We see here that Word of God is the thing that brings transformation and change in people. They aren't changed by their own wills, or by the work of the pastor or a teacher, they are changed because the Word of God is LIVING - like a seed - and when it gets into the soil of our lives/minds/hearts/emotions, it brings growth, transformation and salvation!

This is what is meant when it is said that the Word of God is "living and active." It's not like mere words on paper, because it is (as we learned in Timothy), God-BREATHED. My words are Chase-breathed. They might be memorable, they might be funny, they might be awkward or random or strange. They might be accompanied by bad-breath, or they might be said while I'm itching my noise, because I have the world's itchiest nose...but they most certainly won't be God-breathed and LIVING, unless I am quoting the Word of God. My words don't have life or bring life - they are just Words. God's Words created all that is, and also brings transformation to reality and to human beings alike. I love how Tim Keller expresses the biological nature of God's Word:

I want you to think about the image Jesus has chosen for the Word of God, for the gospel. Even though, by the way, he could because these are used in the Old Testament. He doesn't choose an image of the word of God as a hammer. He doesn't choose the image of the word of God as a fire. He doesn't choose the image of the word of God as a sword. He chooses a seed, and a seed is weak, a little thing. You don't drop a seed into the ground, saying, "Bombs away!" because you drop a seed and you can't even find the seed after you dropped it. Three out of the four soils reject the power of the word. The first one doesn't let it in at all. The second one is excited about Jesus but really just wants miracles, really just wants good times, really wants just needs to be met. The third group, of course, is very, very concerned about what the world thinks and about the issues of the world and gets choked.

The seed is so weak. It's not a hammer. It's not a fire. A hammer crushes its opposition. Fire blasts the opposition. The sword slashes through the resistance. The seed seems so weak. Why would Jesus Christ characterize the gospel as something so weak? If we think a little bit more about the metaphor, let's admit seeds have a paradoxical weakness and strength. Here's an acorn. What's an acorn? We talked about this a couple of weeks ago. On the one hand, in that acorn is everything necessary to grow a huge tree, and then out of that tree could come hundreds of other acorns. Out of every one of those trees could come hundreds of other acorns. Do you realize a single acorn has the power in it to cover the entire face of the earth in wood? No hammer, no fire, no sword has the power to do that, and yet you could stick that acorn on the ground and crush it and it's gone. Power and yet weakness. G. Campbell Morgan tells an interesting story. He was in Italy once, and he went into a graveyard. This was a kind of tourist attraction, because there was one very, very old grave, centuries old. It was either a king or some wealthy man, and there was this enormous, incredibly thick slab of marble over the grave. It was huge and thick, yet an acorn had fallen into the grave. Over the years somehow, it had grown up, found a way out of the one side, then got bigger and bigger and bigger. It took centuries. Eventually, it became this huge tree. Over the centuries it had cracked that marble slab and rolled it off into two pieces. Everybody used to come and see that. Isn't it amazing? An acorn, something of course if you dropped it on the slab, it never would've done a thing. You can just stamp it out with your foot, and yet if you give it a chance to release its power, it can do something a team of horses couldn't do. Why does Jesus Christ characterize the word of God, the gospel, as a seed? Here's the reason why. If you're reading the gospel of Mark, up to this point some people have pointed out every single soil is somebody's response to Jesus. The first soil is the Pharisees and the religious leaders. They rejected him. The second soil is the crowds. They're happy with him but as long as he's doing miracles. The third soil is his family, who's very upset with the fact that they're losing face and the fact of the shame and the fact that they're losing honor because of what he's doing. In other words, the parable of the soils is not just a parable of how people respond to the Word but how people respond to Jesus, and Jesus did not come as a hammer. Jesus did not come as a fire. Jesus did not come as a sword. He came, not to judge, but to be judged, not to be strong, but to be weak and to die, because seeds only release their power if they fall into the ground and die. If Jesus had come as a sword, if Jesus had come as a hammer, if Jesus had come as a fire, we would've all been dead meat, but Jesus Christ came as the ultimate seed. He says it himself in John 12. "Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed, but if it dies, it produces much fruit." In the garden of Gethsemane, the night before Jesus Christ was to go to the cross, he was facing infinite suffering. He was facing cosmic abandonment. He was going to pay the penalty for our sins. Even the foretaste of that, even the hint of it, the prospect of it, smote the eternal Son of God to the ground in such shock that blood came out of his pores. He looks up to heaven and says, "Is there any other way?" The answer of heaven is, "My life cannot be released into them unless you become a seed, unless you go into the ground and die." And he did. He became voluntarily weak for us. He became a seed that goes into the ground and dies, but that is the secret of the gospel's power, because the power of the word is the weakness of the Lord. When you see him doing that for you, if you see him doing that for you, if you see the beauty of his weakness, that comes into your life, and that's the power that will change you. The weakness of the Lord is the power of the word. Nothing else will change you like that. Nothing else will change you like seeing the beauty of his weakness for you, his willingness to be the ultimate seed.

Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

Hebrews 4:16 is a famous Bible passage that is well known - "The Word of God is living and active, sharper than a double-edged sword." Many Christians know that passage, but what does it actually mean? How can Words be alive, and have life?

Happy Tuesday, friends! Today we are celebrating the birthday of the most famous writer in the history of the state of Alabama, Harper "To Kill a Mockingbird" Lee. Fun fact: No mockingbirds die during that book. Jay Leno and Jessica Alba also have birthdays today. Happy birthday, Jessica!

Today's Bible readings include Numbers 5, Psalms 39, Song of Songs 3, and Hebrews 3. Our focus question comes from the middle of Hebrews 3:

"12 Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won't be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin's deception. 14 For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start." Hebrews 3:12-14

Hebrews 3:13 has long struck me as an incredibly important command in Scripture, but one that the church honestly doesn't practice regularly enough. We must hear this command - and follow it - now, more than ever. In a world where the plague hides around every corner, and people are prisoners in their homes cowering in fear, anger, or both...we need to be daily ENCOURAGING each other. By phone, by text, by Facetime, by Zoom, by smoke-signal, by any and all means necessary. This is a crucial command, and it's not just simply about lifting somebody's spirits...it is actually life or death, if I am understanding the context of the passage properly. Let's read Hebrews 3, and then discuss.

Key word for the day is 'Encourage,' but the Greek word used there is not exactly the same as our word for encourage. It's the word: "παρακαλέω parakaléō," and it means to be called to one's side. It is a very active verb - and it implies drawing near to somebody. It is also the word used by Jesus in Matthew 5:4 - blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted/parakaleo'd. So the word has an aspect of comforting to it, but also an aspect of encouraging somebody AND an aspect of asking/beseeching somebody. I think the context of the overall passage helps to illuminate what the Word of God is calling us to, and why it is so important. Hebrews, similar to 1 and 2 Thessalonians, is written to a group of believers who are being tempted (by trials/tribulations/persecution) to turn away from Jesus. One of the Bible antidotes that is prescribed for us when we are weary and ready to quit is this ministry of daily encouragement/beseeching/comforting. WE ALL NEED IT. It is not a weakness to require daily encouragement/beseeching/comforting any more than it is a weakness to require daily vitamins, minerals, water and air - we were designed by our Creator to NOT function well without this daily ministry of encouragement/beseeching/comforting.

Where does the beseeching part come in? Great question. Are you a wrestling fan? I'm not talking about entertainment wrestling, though I grew up a big fan of the WWF/WWE - I'm talking about real wrestling. I believe the beseeching part of parakaleo can be compared to a fan or a family member of a particular wrestler that is just about to get pinned by his opponent shouting encouragements to him to not give up. We all need to GIVE that ministry of daily encouragement/parakaleo to each other and we all need to RECEIVE that ministry of daily encouragement/parakaleo FROM each other. The fact is, you never know when somebody feels like they are about to be pinned - daily encouragement/parakaleo ministry is a necessity in the Body of Christ to keep us going forward and overcoming.

You might be wondering why I called this a life or death issue earlier. I can assure you, that I am not engaging in hyperbole. One of the very thorny issues that is raised by the book of Hebrews, beginning in this chapter, and expanded on in several other chapters, is the issue of apostasy, or falling away. Can a Christian lose their salvation? That is a question that we are going to explore in depth over the next two weeks, or so. I believe that the Bible teaches something that many call the Perseverance of the Saints, the view that a truly saved Christian will NOT ever lose salvation, but that view is a difficult one to hold in light of all of the sobering warnings in the book of Hebrews about falling away. I have seen some people hold so tightly to 'once saved, always saved,' that they practically nullify any impact that the warning passages of Hebrews 3, 6, 10 (and others!) might have, and I think that is a danger. Hebrews 3, 6, and 10 are written to be sober and scary warnings about turning away from Jesus, and I believe fidelity to God's Word requires us to treat those warnings in a sober and serious way.

On the other hand, I have seen people so over-emphasize the warning passages in Hebrews, that they way-underemphasize the saving and preserving power of God and, in turn, inflate the role of man in His own salvation by saying something like, "The only way you'll be saved is if you hold tight to the rope in your own power and strength and never let go." I concur with the idea that if preserving my salvation was all up to me and my power to be faithful, I'd be doomed - If I could fumble away my salvation, I sure would do it. But I believe the teaching of the Bible is that GOD is the one who preserves those who are His. Yes! We must hold firmly to the truths we have been taught, but it is the grip of God and His grip strength that is the deciding factor in my salvation, and not my own grip strength.

We will dive deeply into these issues in future episodes. This will be a 3-5 part series on the Perseverance of the Saints, but they all won't be back to back - instead, we will discuss them as we get to each of the warning passages in Hebrews. Stay tuned for that! For now, let's close by strongly taking heed to the truth in Hebrews 3:14, "For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start." ESV, "14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end." Many Christians and churches emphasize making a one-time decision for Christ, and it is all about the fact that we have decided to follow Jesus. That is great, and I want to preach so that people will follow Jesus for sure, but in my preaching and teaching, I put my less emphasis on the 'I have decided part." and much MORE emphasis on the "FOLLOW JESUS" part. The Christian life is NOT about making a one-time decision in a moment of time that gives you fire-insurance for all of eternity, any more than marriage is all about saying, "I do," and then you just sit back and reap the rewards of your one time decision to say those words. Instead, following Jesus is about holding firmly from beginning to end. Or, as Paul puts it:

Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:1-3

23 Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful

Hebrews 10:23

Encouragement is a ministry that Christians are called to on a daily basis - we must encourage one another daily. According to the book of Hebrews, this is a virtually life or death matter, which brings us to part 1 of a very big theology question: Can Christians lose salvation?

Happy Monday, friends - and God bless all of you essential workers, first responders, medical professionals and others that are headed into work today to keep our country going, to serve the needs of the people, and to heal and help the sick. We are more grateful for you than we have ever been before, and that gratitude and appreciation is long overdue.

Today's Bible readings include Numbers 4, Song of Songs 2, Psalms 38 and Hebrews 2. Our focus question remains on the issue of slavery and the Bible. Specifically, we will compare what the Bible calls doulos/bond-servants/slaves with what most westerners think when they hear the term 'slave.' I'm reading some excerpts from my book The Bible and Racism, which is available on Amazon, and has never been featured as a Oprah Winfrey's book of the month for reasons I can't begin to fathom.

It should be remembered, that the Israelites themselves started out as slaves, aliens and strangers in a strange land. They were under the yoke of slavery for over 400 years, a fact prophesied by God to Abraham in Genesis 15. The Israelites knew first hand the horrors of slavery for centuries.

In Matthew 6:24 Jesus teaches, "No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money." This is Jesus' first mention of slavery, and it is interesting on two different counts. First, Jesus demonstrates here that one can be a slave and love one's master. Second, it introduces us to the New Testament use of the word "slave." In this particular instance, the word Jesus uses is the verb "douleuō" which means either to be a slave OR to be a servant. The same verb is used in Luke 15:29, "but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends."

In this case, the verb is used by the elder brother in Jesus' famous parable of the prodigal son. The elder brother was obviously not a slave in his father's household, but he did work and serve his father. The fact is that the Greek verb "douleuō" and the Greek noun "doulos" from which it is derived can be used to indicate either slavery or service, and the meaning of the word is probably more in line with our English word servant, than our connotations of the word "slave."

Matthew 20:26-28 "It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." In vs 26, the word used by Jesus that the ESV translates as "servant," is the Greek word "diakonos" and the word that Jesus uses in vs 27, translated as "slave," is "doulos" Diakonos is the Greek word that was used for somebody who waited on tables in the first century - a server. It was co-opted by the church to mean "deacon," in Acts 6, and ultimately came to also mean "minister." Jesus' teaching here is revolutionary - He is saying that the key to greatness, and the key to becoming first, or chief, is to be a servant or slave.

In context, it appears that the words servant and slave are used very similarly here by Jesus, and they are used glowingly. In the upside-down Kingdom of Jesus, being a servant is being great, and being a slave is opening the door to being chief. This proclamation goes right along with Jesus' teaching in Mark 10:31, "Many who are first will be last," in the Kingdom of Heaven and eternity. It should be said here that being a master - especially the master of a slave - would be the opposite of servanthood, and in many ways, the opposite of being great.

Romans 6: 15-23 15 "What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The word "bond-servant" (doulos) appears in about 36 verses in the New Testament, with Romans 6 and Galatians 4 being the two densest discussions of the topic. While Paul's discussion of slavery (or bond-servitude) here is largely metaphoric, there are still two noteworthy facts about slavery in the Bible found in this passage. First, as indicated by vs. 16, New Testament slavery does carry implications of obedience. Second, Paul here contrasts two polar opposites that humans will serve: Either they will be slaves to sin, a terrible master that brings only death, or they will be slaves to God, a master that brings freedom, sanctification, and eternal life. In Pauline theology, all humans are slaves to something, a fact that has extreme implications when discussing the complicated issue of slavery in the Bible. In the way that Paul discusses slavery, the key question relates to how good the master is. If the master is sin itself, or a cruel human, then slavery is a terrible evil. If the master is God, or a Godly human, then servant-hood is very different.

American Christians, no matter their race, hopefully cringe in their inner-selves when they hear the word slavery. The system of slavery in America from its inception until the late 19th century was race-based, cruel, godless, an abomination and diametrically opposed to the understanding of slavery/servitude in the Bible. Slavery in the Bible was far more similar to what we think of when we think of somebody serving as a butler, or a housekeeper, or a groundskeeper. No, it wasn't a glorious position, and yes, sometimes slaves were taken advantage of, but first century slavery, at least the type discussed in the New Testament, was NOT race-based, and shared little in common with the race-based, kidnapping focused slavery of England and the Americas.

The idea of being slaves to God or Christ is a recurring theme in the New Testament, far more prevalent than is commonly understood, appearing in Matthew 6:24, Matthew 22:3-10, Mark 13:34, Luke 12:37, Luke 12:38, Luke 12:45, Luke 17:10!, John 15:15, Acts 2:18, Acts 4:29, Acts 16:17, Ephesians 6:6, Philippians 1:1, Colossians 3:24, 1 Peter 2:16, Romans 6:22, Romans 16:18, Revelation 1:1, Revelation 2:20, Revelation 6:11, Revelation 7:3, Revelation 19:2, Revelation 19:5, Revelation 22:3, and Revelation 22:6, and quite possibly at least a dozen other verses.

The most frequent name used to designate general followers of Jesus in the New Testament is the word "brothers." Unless I am mistaken, the second most frequent name for general followers of Jesus in the New Testament is "slave/servant/doulos." (The word "disciple"also frequently refers to followers of Jesus, but is more often applied to the original 12 disciples of Jesus, and is not used at all after the book of Acts) Let this idea sink in, because it is crucial: followers of God, according to the Bible, are slaves/servants/douloses of Him. To be a servant is not a bad thing, according to Jesus, but is the very key to greatness. Americans and Westerners look down on serving and servitude, but Jesus practically glorified it. That acknowledged, I want to reiterate that race-based slavery is a cruel and horrid abomination, and its perpetrators deserve nothing more than derision.

1 Corinthians 12:12-14 12 "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit."

The early church was made up of slaves, freeman and nobles. It was composed of Jews, Greeks, Romans and other 'barbarians.' There were all shades of skin color, and all manner of economic class together when the early church met. Sometimes, this dynamic led to favoritism and partiality, but multiple times in Scripture, the church was sternly warned to not give any place to favoring one people group over another. As Paul notes here in 1 Corinthians 12, all of the members - slave or free - were baptized by ONE Spirit into ONE Body. The coming of Christ Jesus, His death on the cross and His resurrection has destroyed every dividing wall in humanity. To reiterate: Slaves, free, nobles, rich, poor, Gentiles, Jews, strangers, aliens and the like are all now saints, citizens, members of the household of God, and co-heirs with Christ. All other titles and positions are meaningless.

. 2 Corinthians 4:5 For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves because of Jesus. Once again we see a normative New Testament usage of the word doulos/servant/slave. Paul is proclaiming that he and his apostle team are 'slaves' to the Corinthians. In doing so, he is also demonstrating the lack of racial baggage that adhered to the word doulos in the first century.

The book Racism and the Bible covers many more verses in this discussion and goes much deeper. If this is an issue you still want to grapple with, I'd encourage you to get the book, or just leave a comment, and I'll send you a .pdf of the chapter in question if you'd like. I'll move to a close:

So, what is the conclusion of this complicated question, does the Bible indeed condone slavery? The answers is primarily no, with a couple of important caveats. The first and primary answer is no - the Bible soundly and roundly condemns any sort of race-based slavery, and any sort of slavery that includes kidnapping, violence, coercion, or threatening behavior. On the other hand, the Bible does condone doulos/servant/slavery, at least in a sense of the word 'condone,' by not calling for the utter abolishment of slavery. That answer at first might seem wishy-washy, but it accurately reflects the tenor and tone of the Bible's teaching about slavery and servitude. As we have seen above, the writers of the Bible, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, had no trouble whatsoever referring to themselves as slaves of Christ, and didn't blink an eye about calling followers of Jesus to slavery/servitude of God. The word 'doulos/servant/slave,' though it was a lowly word and position, simply did not carry the same racial baggage and negative connotations to them that it does to us.

Writer John Ellis gets it correct in this nuanced discussion of slavery and the Bible: "It's true that the Bible never explicitly condemns slavery, but it never condones it either. It does regulate, liberally regulates, an already existing institution – an institution that had little resemblance to the slavery found in the American South."

Right off the bat, Exodus 21:16 flatly forbids and condemns what most people mean when they reference slavery. Look, if God's Word clearly states, and it does, "Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death", it's hard, at least with a straight face, to claim that the Bible condones slavery as defined by 18th and 19th century America. I know many preachers tried to make that case, but they were horribly and sinfully mistaken - trying to justify their wickedness, rather than being led by God's Word.

Truth be told, the slavery that the Bible discusses would be more appropriately termed "indentured servitude." For one thing, there was no racial element involved.

Fair enough, but the Bible is one thing and the Church another, right? I mean, the Church supported slavery, didn't it? Well, no. In fact, many of the Christians and churches that opposed American chattel slavery on moral and religious grounds often pointed to the reality that the version of slavery practiced during Biblical times would not allow for American chattel slavery. Referring to slavery in the Old Testament, Kentucky Baptist preacher James M. Pendleton wrote in the 1840s, "there are points of material dissimilarity between that system and our system of slavery."

One of those "points of material dissimilarity" was that if the Southern slaveholders were to practice the type of slavery that was regulated by the Bible, they would have to enslave whites as well as Africans. Noted historian Mark Noll points to the anti-slavery arguments of Minister John Fee, among others of the time, that the concept of slavery based on race was not only absurd but unbiblical. Unfortunately, this argument failed to make inroads with the Southern slaveholders, and Mark Noll concludes with the telling statement that this failure "reveals that factors other than simple fidelity to Scripture were exerting great influence [over Southern slave-holders]." (Source: https://adayinhiscourt.com)

Now, to our final answer: Does the Bible condone slavery? I believe the answer is no. Does the Bible outlaw/forbid slavery - also no, but it absolutely does outlaw the kind of race-based, kidnapping fueled slavery practiced in Western countries in the last 500 years. I think the best way to express the Bible's position on slavery, taking into account the whole counsel of the New Testament, is that the Bible strongly discourages slavery, calls for equality, kindness, mutual respect, and mutual benefit in boss and bondservant type relationships, elevates servanthood to a position of greatness, and forbids any and all kinds of racism.

Happy Monday, friends - and God bless all of you essential workers, first responders, medical professionals and others that are headed into work today to keep our country going, to serve the needs of the people, and to heal and help the sick. We are more grateful for you than we have ever been before, and that gratitude and appreciation is long overdue. 

Today's Bible readings include Numbers 4, Song of Songs 2, Psalms 38 and Hebrews 2. Our focus question remains on the issue of slavery and the Bible. Specifically, we will compare what the Bible calls doulos/bond-servants/slaves with what most westerners think when they hear the term 'slave.' I'm reading some excerpts from my book The Bible and Racism, which is available on Amazon, and has never been featured as a Oprah Winfrey's book of the month for reasons I can't begin to fathom. 

It should be remembered, that the Israelites themselves started out as slaves, aliens and strangers in a strange land. They were under the yoke of slavery for over 400 years, a fact prophesied by God to Abraham in Genesis 15. The Israelites knew first hand the horrors of slavery for centuries. 

In Matthew 6:24 Jesus teaches, “No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money." This is Jesus' first mention of slavery, and it is interesting on two different counts. First, Jesus demonstrates here that one can be a slave and love one's master. Second, it introduces us to the New Testament use of the word "slave." In this particular instance, the word Jesus uses is the verb "douleuō" which means either to be a slave OR to be a servant. The same verb is used in Luke 15:29, "but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends."

In this case, the verb is used by the elder brother in Jesus' famous parable of the prodigal son. The elder brother was obviously not a slave in his father's household, but he did work and serve his father. The fact is that the Greek verb "douleuō" and the Greek noun "doulos" from which it is derived can be used to indicate either slavery or service, and the meaning of the word is probably more in line with our English word servant, than our connotations of the word "slave."

Matthew 20:26-28 "It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” In vs 26, the word used by Jesus that the ESV translates as "servant," is the Greek word "diakonos" and the word that Jesus uses in vs 27, translated as "slave," is "doulos" Diakonos is the Greek word that was used for somebody who waited on tables in the first century - a server. It was co-opted by the church to mean "deacon," in Acts 6, and ultimately came to also mean "minister." Jesus' teaching here is revolutionary - He is saying that the key to greatness, and the key to becoming first, or chief, is to be a servant or slave.

In context, it appears that the words servant and slave are used very similarly here by Jesus, and they are used glowingly. In the upside-down Kingdom of Jesus, being a servant is being great, and being a slave is opening the door to being chief. This proclamation goes right along with Jesus' teaching in Mark 10:31, "Many who are first will be last," in the Kingdom of Heaven and eternity. It should be said here that being a master - especially the master of a slave - would be the opposite of servanthood, and in many ways, the opposite of being great. 

Romans 6: 15-23 15 "What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The word "bond-servant" (doulos) appears in about 36 verses in the New Testament, with Romans 6 and Galatians 4 being the two densest discussions of the topic. While Paul's discussion of slavery (or bond-servitude) here is largely metaphoric, there are still two noteworthy facts about slavery in the Bible found in this passage. First, as indicated by vs. 16, New Testament slavery does carry implications of obedience. Second, Paul here contrasts two polar opposites that humans will serve: Either they will be slaves to sin, a terrible master that brings only death, or they will be slaves to God, a master that brings freedom, sanctification, and eternal life. In Pauline theology, all humans are slaves to something, a fact that has extreme implications when discussing the complicated issue of slavery in the Bible. In the way that Paul discusses slavery, the key question relates to how good the master is. If the master is sin itself, or a cruel human, then slavery is a terrible evil. If the master is God, or a Godly human, then servant-hood is very different.

American Christians, no matter their race, hopefully cringe in their inner-selves when they hear the word slavery. The system of slavery in America from its inception until the late 19th century was race-based, cruel, godless, an abomination and diametrically opposed to the understanding of slavery/servitude in the Bible. Slavery in the Bible was far more similar to what we think of when we think of somebody serving as a butler, or a housekeeper, or a groundskeeper. No, it wasn't a glorious position, and yes, sometimes slaves were taken advantage of, but first century slavery, at least the type discussed in the New Testament, was NOT race-based, and shared little in common with the race-based, kidnapping focused slavery of England and the Americas.

The idea of being slaves to God or Christ is a recurring theme in the New Testament, far more prevalent than is commonly understood, appearing in Matthew 6:24, Matthew 22:3-10, Mark 13:34, Luke 12:37, Luke 12:38, Luke 12:45, Luke 17:10!, John 15:15, Acts 2:18, Acts 4:29, Acts 16:17, Ephesians 6:6, Philippians 1:1, Colossians 3:24, 1 Peter 2:16, Romans 6:22, Romans 16:18, Revelation 1:1, Revelation 2:20, Revelation 6:11, Revelation 7:3, Revelation 19:2, Revelation 19:5, Revelation 22:3, and Revelation 22:6, and quite possibly at least a dozen other verses.

The most frequent name used to designate general followers of Jesus in the New Testament is the word "brothers." Unless I am mistaken, the second most frequent name for general followers of Jesus in the New Testament is "slave/servant/doulos." (The word "disciple"also frequently refers to followers of Jesus, but is more often applied to the original 12 disciples of Jesus, and is not used at all after the book of Acts) Let this idea sink in, because it is crucial: followers of God, according to the Bible, are slaves/servants/douloses of Him. To be a servant is not a bad thing, according to Jesus, but is the very key to greatness. Americans and Westerners look down on serving and servitude, but Jesus practically glorified it. That acknowledged, I want to reiterate that race-based slavery is a cruel and horrid abomination, and its perpetrators deserve nothing more than derision.

1 Corinthians 12:12-14 12 "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit."

The early church was made up of slaves, freeman and nobles. It was composed of Jews, Greeks, Romans and other 'barbarians.' There were all shades of skin color, and all manner of economic class together when the early church met. Sometimes, this dynamic led to favoritism and partiality, but multiple times in Scripture, the church was sternly warned to not give any place to favoring one people group over another. As Paul notes here in 1 Corinthians 12, all of the members - slave or free - were baptized by ONE Spirit into ONE Body. The coming of Christ Jesus, His death on the cross and His resurrection has destroyed every dividing wall in humanity.  To reiterate: Slaves, free, nobles, rich, poor, Gentiles, Jews, strangers, aliens and the like are all now saints, citizens, members of the household of God, and co-heirs with Christ. All other titles and positions are meaningless.

. 2 Corinthians 4:5 For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves because of Jesus. Once again we see a normative New Testament usage of the word doulos/servant/slave. Paul is proclaiming that he and his apostle team are 'slaves' to the Corinthians. In doing so, he is also demonstrating the lack of racial baggage that adhered to the word doulos in the first century.

The book Racism and the Bible covers many more verses in this discussion and goes much deeper. If this is an issue you still want to grapple with, I'd encourage you to get the book, or just leave a comment, and I'll send you a .pdf of the chapter in question if you'd like. I'll move to a close: 

So, what is the conclusion of this complicated question, does the Bible indeed condone slavery? The answers is primarily no, with a couple of important caveats. The first and primary answer is no - the Bible soundly and roundly condemns any sort of race-based slavery, and any sort of slavery that includes kidnapping, violence, coercion, or threatening behavior. On the other hand, the Bible does condone doulos/servant/slavery, at least in a sense of the word 'condone,' by not calling for the utter abolishment of slavery. That answer at first might seem wishy-washy, but it accurately reflects the tenor and tone of the Bible's teaching about slavery and servitude. As we have seen above, the writers of the Bible, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, had no trouble whatsoever referring to themselves as slaves of Christ, and didn't blink an eye about calling followers of Jesus to slavery/servitude of God. The word 'doulos/servant/slave,' though it was a lowly word and position, simply did not carry the same racial baggage and negative connotations to them that it does to us.

Writer John Ellis gets it correct in this nuanced discussion of slavery and the Bible: "It’s true that the Bible never explicitly condemns slavery, but it never condones it either. It does regulate, liberally regulates, an already existing institution – an institution that had little resemblance to the slavery found in the American South."

Right off the bat, Exodus 21:16 flatly forbids and condemns what most people mean when they reference slavery. Look, if God’s Word clearly states, and it does, “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death”, it’s hard, at least with a straight face, to claim that the Bible condones slavery as defined by 18th and 19th century America. I know many preachers tried to make that case, but they were horribly and sinfully mistaken - trying to justify their wickedness, rather than being led by God's Word. 

Truth be told, the slavery that the Bible discusses would be more appropriately termed “indentured servitude.” For one thing, there was no racial element involved. 

Fair enough, but the Bible is one thing and the Church another, right? I mean, the Church supported slavery, didn’t it? Well, no. In fact, many of the Christians and churches that opposed American chattel slavery on moral and religious grounds often pointed to the reality that the version of slavery practiced during Biblical times would not allow for American chattel slavery. Referring to slavery in the Old Testament, Kentucky Baptist preacher James M. Pendleton wrote in the 1840s, “there are points of material dissimilarity between that system and our system of slavery.”

One of those “points of material dissimilarity” was that if the Southern slaveholders were to practice the type of slavery that was regulated by the Bible, they would have to enslave whites as well as Africans. Noted historian Mark Noll points to the anti-slavery arguments of Minister John Fee, among others of the time, that the concept of slavery based on race was not only absurd but unbiblical. Unfortunately, this argument failed to make inroads with the Southern slaveholders, and Mark Noll concludes with the telling statement that this failure “reveals that factors other than simple fidelity to Scripture were exerting great influence [over Southern slave-holders].” (Source: https://adayinhiscourt.com)

Now, to our final answer: Does the Bible condone slavery? I believe the answer is no. Does the Bible outlaw/forbid slavery - also no, but it absolutely does outlaw the kind of race-based, kidnapping fueled slavery practiced in Western countries in the last 500 years. I think the best way to express the Bible's position on slavery, taking into account the whole counsel of the New Testament, is that the Bible strongly discourages slavery, calls for equality, kindness, mutual respect, and mutual benefit in boss and bondservant type relationships, elevates servanthood to a position of greatness, and forbids any and all kinds of racism. 

Happy Lord's Day to you, friends and family! As I write this greeting, I've just finished uploading a series of testimonies and words of encouragement from members of our church family to be shown in today's livestream. I'd love to invite you to join us - just go to Facebook and search for VBC Salinas, and you can jump on and worship and pray with us, and hear a message on standing firm in the midst of trials and tribulations from 2nd Thessalonians. Today's Bible readings include Numbers 3, Song of Solomon 1, Psalms 37 and Hebrews 1. I'm excited about our two new books and look forward to reading them together with you!

Today we are continuing our discussion from yesterday on slavery in the Bible, and will likely conclude it tomorrow. Our big Bible question is: Does the Bible condone slavery? Ultimately, I believe that we will demonstrate that the New Testament strongly discourages slavery and strongly promotes equality in a very cutting edge and modern way. There have definitely been church people throughout the years that have taught that the Bible blesses slavery, but that was usually not the majority in the church, and such teaching was absolutely the opposite of what the Bible taught. Today we will begin by looking at some voices from throughout church history that strongly opposed slavery and stood for righteousness, and we will also consider some Bible passages that are quite illuminating. Paul's letter to Philemon has sparked us on this discussion, as it is basically a very nicely worded command from Paul to Philemon to let his bond-servant Onesimus go. I treat this entire subject at length in my book The Bible and Racism that is available on Amazon for less than the cost of 7 luxury yachts. What a deal!

More than that, the gospel has a consuming power... Once fairly set alight, it will burn, and blaze, and spread till others shall cast away their evil habits, and turn unto the living God. I cannot help noticing in history the consuming power of the gospel of Christ. There have been old systems of iniquity that have been hoary with age, but when, at last, they have been attacked by the Church of God with the sword of the Spirit, and the gospel of Christ, they have been utterly destroyed. There was, for instance, that abominable institution of slavery, and there was a part of the Church of Christ which tried to palliate it, and spoke of it as "a divine institution, a peculiar institution," and I know not what; but when the Church of God denounced slavery as a thing utterly inconsistent with Christianity, the thing was burnt up right speedily, and passed away. There are many more social and political wrongs that will have to perish through the burning power of the gospel; and there is much in our hearts, and much in our lives, and much all round about us that will have to go as the gospel fire burns more and more vigorously. But remember that it must be God's Word that will burn out the evil. We cannot do much with our poor thinkings and tinkerings; it is the eternal truth, the everlasting verities, brought to bear upon the sons of men, that shall soon separate between the dross and the gold, consuming the one and leaving the other pure. (Source: C. H. Spurgeon, "God's Fire and Hammer," in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 42 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896), 172. Note: This message was preached by Spurgeon in 1886)

Do you not mark how God hath followed you with plagues, and may not conscience tell you, that it is for your inhumanity to the souls and bodies of men - To go as pirates and catch up poor Negroes, or people of another land that never forfeited life or liberty, and to make them slaves, and fell them, is one of the worst kind of thievery in the world, and such persons are to be taken for the common enemies of mankind; and they that buy them as beasts, for their mere commodity, and betray or destroy or neglect their souls, are fitter to be called devils than Christians. It is an heinous sin to buy them...because by right the man is his own; therefore no man else can have a just title to him. Richard Baxter, a Puritan preacher and writer from the 1600s. (Source: The Practical Works of Richard Baxter)

Consider with yourselves, if you were in the same condition as the blacks are, who came strangers to you, and were sold to you as slaves. I say, if this should be the condition of your or yours, you would think it hard to measure. Yea, and a very great bondage and cruelty. And therefore, consider seriously of this, and do you for and to them, or any other, to do unto you, were you in like slavish condition; and bring them to know the Lord Christ. George Fox, Quaker preacher, 1671. (Source: Source: A caution and warning to Great-Britain and her colonies, in a Short representation of the calamitous state of the Enslaved Negroes in the British Dominions : Collected from various Authors, and submitted to the Serious consideration of all, more especially of those in power. By Anthony Benezet and William Warburton, 1779. )

We ourselves, who profess to be Christians, and boast of the peculiar advantage we enjoy, by means of express revelation of our duty from heaven, are in effect just like these very untaught and rude heathen countries. With all our superior light, we instill into those, whom we call savage and barbarous, the most despicable opinion of human nature. We, to the utmost of our power, weaken and dissolve the universal tie that binds and unites mankind. We practice what we would exclaim against, as the utmost excess of cruelty and tyranny, if nations of the world, differing in colour, were possessed of empire, as to be able to reduce us to a state of unmerited and brutish servitude. Of consequence, we sacrifice our reason, our humanity, our Christianity, to an unnatural sordid gain. We teach other nations to despise and trample under foot all obligations of social virtue. We take the most effectual method to prevent the propagation of the gospel by representing it as a scheme of power and barbarous oppression, and an enemy to the natural privileges and rights of men. Perhaps all that I have now offered may be of very little weight to restrain this enormity, this aggravated iniquity. However, I shall still have the satisfaction of having entered my private protest against a practice which, in my opinion, buds that God, who is the God and Father of the Gentiles, unconverted to Christianity, most daring and bold defiance, and spurns at all the principles, both of natural and revealed religion. James Foster. (Source: Discourses on All the Principle Branches of Natural Religion and Social Virtue, 1749)

The issue of racism and the Bible, as we have seen, is actually a fairly simple one. The Bible heartily and completely condemns racism of any kind, and unequivocally declares that all humans are equally made in the Image of God, and equally related to each other through Adam and Eve. God shows no partiality, and the gospel and its benefits are for every tribe, nation, tongue and people.

Less simple is the topic of slavery and the Bible, primarily because the writers of the Bible acknowledge the existence of slavery but are not wholly concerned with toppling the institution. Before we discuss the particulars of why that might be, it is important to consider an overview of what exactly the Bible does teach about slavery. The majority of the passages below will be New Testament passages. This does not discount the teaching of the Old Testament, but it is a recognition that Christians of the past 19 centuries have been primarily governed by the New Testament. The Old Testament was written to the Jewish people, and it is Scripture and profitable for Christians today, but the New Testament is binding and authoritative for Christians today.

Yes - there is an entire book of the New Testament, Paul's letter to Philemon, that is concerned with the issue of slavery. Philemon is a Christian and a slave owner (!) that is a friend of Paul, and was apparently saved through Paul's ministry. Paul doesn't directly ask Philemon to release Onesimus, but you could argue that he absolutely does ask for, and even command, the release of Onesimus, a fact made obvious by vs. 14 ("your good deed."), vs. 16 (no longer a slave!), vs. 19 (Paul will repay any debt of Onesimus) and vs. 21 ("Since I am confident of your obedience. I know you will do more than I say") Even if one doesn't fully agree with that premise, it is unquestionable that Paul directs Philemon to no longer consider Onesimus a slave, but to treat him as Philemon would treat Paul - a lofty command, to be sure. While the Bible doesn't indicate whether Philemon followed Paul's directive or not, church history tells us that he did, and Onesimus went on to become a bishop in the early church. Henry Halley tells the story in his Bible handbook:

The Bible gives no hint as to how the master received his returning slave. But there is a tradition that says his master did receive him, and took Paul's veiled hint and gave the slave his liberty. That is the way the Gospel works.... Christ in the heart of the master made the master recognize the slave as a Christian brother and give him his liberty. There is a tradition that Onesimus afterward became a bishop of Berea. The Mosaic slave laws and the writings of Paul benefited and protected the slaves as best as possible in their situation. God's desire for any who are enslaved is freedom (Luke 4:18; Gal. 5:1). Those who are set free in Christ then need to be prepared to walk in liberty. Pagan nations had a much different outlook toward slaves, believing slaves had no rights or privileges. Because of the restrictions and humane aspect of the Mosaic laws on slavery, it never existed on a large scale in Israel, and did not exhibit the cruelties seen in Egypt, Greece, Rome, Assyria and other nations. (Source: Henry Halley's Bible Handbook with the New International Version, 2008)