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CONNIE: Does the Bible condone slavery? Or does it “proclaim liberty to the captives?” Join us today as we study the little book of Philemon, seeking God’s guidance as we search for true freedom.

Giving God’s trumpet a Certain Sound for more than 70 years, this is the Voice of Prophecy.

CONNIE: Hello, I’m Connie Jeffery,

LONNIE: and I’m Lonnie Melashenko. Connie, today we’ve come to Paul’s shortest letter. And yet it’s one that’s loaded with significance, because it’s a letter written to a slave owner.

CONNIE: I guess it’s just natural to expect that Paul, as a great Christian teacher, would have been opposed to slavery. But apparently it was so deeply ingrained in society in his day that it just wasn’t an issue he felt called to address.

LONNIE: That’s true, Connie. And we’ll look more closely at that a bit later in our program. I have to say though; it’s amazing how much insight you can gain by taking a careful look at such a short book of the Bible. The Bible does have a lot to teach us when we do our best to find how the messages written so long ago apply to our modern world.

CONNIE: As we look at the message of Philemon, we’ve invited Professor Angel Hernandez of Pacific Union College to share with us. Ken Wade spoke with him, so let’s listen in.

KEN: I want to welcome to our program today Dr. Angel Hernandez, he is a professor of the New Testament at Pacific Union College. Welcome to our broadcast.

ANGEL: Thank you Ken, I am glad to be on the air.

KEN: We’re looking today, at one of the shortest books in the Bible, certainly the shortest of Paul’s letters, the letter to Philemon, and though it’s so very short it’s freighted with a lot of significance, because it addresses an issue. What is that issue, Dr. Hernandez?

ANGEL: I think that the issue is the disturbing notion that Christianity in any way was silent, or did not speak up more forthrightly against the slavery institution.

KEN: We have here a letter in which Paul apparently has become acquainted with a runaway slave, and rather than helping this slave find freedom, he’s sending him back to his master, carrying essentially a letter, but Paul doesn’t say, doesn’t take an abolitionist stand and say we need to get rid of slavery, does he?

ANGEL: He doesn’t. Yet he makes a plea to that slave owner Philemon, and makes a case to have this man released.

KEN: He makes a very loving case where he even says, look, if this man owes you something, charge that to my account. So Paul kind of stands in as a redeemer here, but I guess the thing that has troubled a lot of people through the years is that this book Philemon; along with other statements by Paul, have been used by Christians to justify the holding of slaves. For instance, I read a quotation from the president of the confederate states of America, with Jefferson Davis saying, “Slavery was established by decree by the almighty God, it is sanctioned in the Bible in both Testaments from Genesis to Revelation,” and Philemon is probably exhibit A in that case. What’s happening here, in that the New Testament writers are not condemning slavery?

ANGEL: First, we need to understand that when Paul wrote to Philemon that he was asking for the release of the slaves. He is asking though in a kind, polite, and subtle way. Certainly he was very diplomatic, and it’s not very overt but it is there.

KEN: Now, slaves in those days weren’t as bad off, a lot of times, as we may think. Of course there were the galley slaves, but many slaves were actually in fairly good condition.

ANGEL: Yes they were. If you take for example in ancient Israel a slave who ran away to become independent could not be brought back to submission by his master, it was completely illegal. In Roman times, slaves were…fate was sometimes even better; sometimes they actually sold themselves into slavery in order to better their status.

KEN: Some of them were very educated too, right?

ANGEL: Yes, and some of them were even more educated than their patrons, they were so educated that they were asked in many instances to be the teachers, or the pedagogues to their children.
KEN: Now that comes up in Galatians, the idea of Pedagogues, doesn’t it?

ANGEL: Yes it does. It comes up in Galatians chapter 3 and chapter 4, and it is very clear that they played a major role in the life of children.

KEN: So, slaves might be better off, in particularly if they were living in a wealthy persons household than they would have been out trying to eke an existence out on some farm, where they weren’t hardly able to get enough to eat.

ANGEL: Some slaves actually sold themselves in order to gain a greater opportunity to go up the corporate ladder so to say. For example, if a free person sold themselves into the household of one of the emperors, or one of their high-ranking officials, they can achieve greater recognition by that, and greater opportunity for education, and greater opportunity for gaining financial capital, and also opportunities to become free again, because they can purchase their freedom.

KEN: As we wrap up, slavery in those days often was very bad, but it didn’t necessarily imply something quite so bad, and the fact that the church didn’t take a stand against it; well the church today doesn’t take a stand against many evils in society, and perhaps, rather than condemning the church of those days we ought to look at ourselves and say, what is it that we’re missing? Just because it is so ingrained in our society that we don’t even think about it.

ANGEL: Definitely, so today we might not have the label of slavery, but we have slavery living conditions that we need to speak out about today, and I think that the book Philemon is definitely very relevant for us today to reconsider how we treat our fellow man.
KEN: Thank’s Angel for coming on our program today.

ANGEL: It was good to be here.

CONNIE: Thank you, Dr. Hernandez, and Ken, for that overview of the book of Philemon—as we think about slavery and freedom today, let’s listen to a classic King’s Heralds recording “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name”—recorded back in 1953.

LONNIE: Amen! You know, that hymn, written by Edward Perronet—a close associate of John and Charles Wesley—reminds me of the text in Romans, where Paul reminds us that “when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness” (Romans 6:16, NIV).

CONNIE: We all have to choose whom we will serve—like Joshua said, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve . . . but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15, KJV).

LONNIE: The hymn looks forward to the day John described like this: “And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: ‘Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!’ ” (Revelation 5:13, NKJV).
We’re talking about slavery and freedom today, as we look at the book of Philemon, and it’s important to remember that the only way to be truly free is to choose your master carefully.

CONNIE: It’s not possible—or good—to be free of all rules and regulations, all control. We can really get ourselves into trouble by trying to break free of all bounds.

LONNIE: When you think about it—that’s what went wrong in the Garden of Eden. The hard lesson learned there—that we need to keep learning over and over again—is that the only way to be truly free is to commit ourselves to God. To be His slaves instead of slaves to selfishness and sin.

CONNIE: The book of Philemon raises some important issues about slavery and freedom—let’s listen to Lonnie’s message for today, “Philemon—Freedom in the Lord.”

Philemon—Freedom in the Lord

The year was 1680. The place, Virginia Colony, North America. It was in that year that a debate was introduced to the governing body of the Episcopal Church of Virginia—the body that controlled the practice of Christianity for the whole colony.

The question at hand: Should Christian teachers be allowed to share the gospel with the African slaves owned by Virginians?

It was a dicey issue, weighted with heavy financial considerations. After all, if these pagan captives were allowed to become Christians, wouldn’t that in some way make them human, and equal with their masters? Wouldn’t it make it more difficult to treat them like property to be bought and sold? If they came to know and understand the gospel of liberty, wouldn’t that possibly lead them to conclude that they ought to be set free?

Converting slaves could lead to all kinds of problems. And so it wasn’t easy for the leaders of the church in Virginia to come to a conclusion. In fact they tossed the issue back and forth like a hot potato for the next half century, never making a decision until 1730, when it finally became legal—under church rule—to lead a slave to accept Jesus as his or her Savior.

It’s amazing to realize that such a question would be so hard for Christians to answer. The apostle Paul certainly had no qualms about introducing slaves to Jesus.

That’s obvious in the letter he wrote to a man named Philemon. It’s the shortest of his letters in the New Testament. But it reveals a lot about the apostle’s heart of love, and the way he treated his fellow human beings.

Paul himself was a prisoner in Rome at the time—which put him about as low on the social totem pole as you could go while you were still breathing. But because he had appealed to the emperor, and was waiting for his case to be heard, he was being held under house arrest and could receive visitors.

One day, who should show up on his doorstep but a slave named Onesimus. Paul had apparently encountered this man before, while living at Ephesus. Onesimus was the property of a rich man named Philemon, who lived in Colossae, just up the highway from Ephesus.

What was this slave doing in Rome—without his master? Apparently he had run away from home. But for some reason, he came looking for Paul. Perhaps he’d been attracted by Paul’s preaching about Jesus who came to “proclaim liberty to the captives” (Luke 4:18, NKJV). Or perhaps he just came to renew an old acquaintance. Whatever the circumstances, the runaway must have felt some attraction to the apostle.

And it didn’t take Paul 50 years to decide what to do about the slave’s interest in the gospel. He wrote to Philemon: “I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains,” (vs. 10, NKJV).

As far as we know, Paul didn’t have any actual sons. But there are three men in the Bible whom he refers to as his sons: Timothy, Titus, and Onesimus. They were his spiritual children—whom he had “begotten” by leading them to faith in Jesus.

When Onesimus showed up in Rome, Paul didn’t disparage him or turn him over to the authorities as a runaway slave. He saw him as one more candidate for enrollment in the kingdom of God. He shared the gospel with him, and when Onesimus proclaimed his faith in Jesus, Paul accepted him as a spiritual son. And Onesimus stayed by and ministered to Paul’s needs. A slave now, not out of compulsion, but out of love.

This left Paul with a bit of a sticky problem. Should he simply set Onesimus free because he’d become a Christian? He was inclined to do so, but chose not to. Rather, he handed that privilege over to the slave’s owner. He sent Onesimus back to Philemon, along with a letter in which he wrote, “I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. I would have liked to keep him with me. . . . But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do will be spontaneous and not forced” (Philemon 12-14, NIV).

Paul left it up to Philemon whether to set the slave free to return to Rome and continue his ministry there. But in so doing, he offered his own good name and credit for the redemption of the captive. “If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account,” he insisted (verse 18).

In doing this, Paul was serving as Onesimus’s redeemer. He didn’t insist that the slave be set free. But he offered himself in the captive’s place. What a magnanimous offer! Paul saw this slave as something more than property that could be bought and sold. And he treated him as a brother and son.

And yet, through the centuries that followed, the book of Philemon was used as one of the justifications for continuing to enslave men, women, and children all over the Christian world. And still today, people ask, why didn’t Paul and the other apostles call for the total abolition of slavery? How could an apostle, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, write to Titus, one of his other “sons,” “Tell slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect; they are not to talk back . . . but to show complete and perfect fidelity, so that in everything they may be an ornament to the doctrine of God our Savior” (Titus 2:9, 10, NRSV).

Why would he call for slaves to honor God by being good slaves instead of calling on Christian masters to honor God by setting the captives free?

I think we need to look carefully at this question. Because it seems crystal clear to most Christians in the 21st century that enslavement of other human beings is morally wrong. But for the better part of 19 centuries, most Christians justified slavery as “ordained of God,” and supported by the Bible. For example, the Methodist denomination eventually took a place in the forefront of the fight to free slaves in America. But statistics reveal that "In 1843, 1,200 Methodist ministers owned 1,500 slaves, and 25,000 members owned 208,000 slaves . . . the Methodist Church as a whole remained silent and neutral on the issue of slavery."

What is going on here? Why the sudden change of heart in just the past 150 years? Who is right, and who is wrong about what the Bible teaches about slavery?

First, let’s consider the question of why the apostle Paul did not out and out condemn slavery and call for the liberation of all slaves.

An important consideration here is the fact that approximately 1/3 of the population of the Roman Empire was made up of slaves. Slavery was as much a normal part of life in that era as the presence of minimum wage workers is in America today. To suddenly abolish slavery would have totally destabilized society. And the thought of doing so seems never to have occurred to Paul. He didn’t see that as part of his mission. His focus was on introducing everyone to Jesus, and letting the Holy Spirit make changes in their lives and attitudes.

And in the centuries that followed, Christianity did make radical changes in the world. As leaven working in the lump, gradually changing things.
But recognizing the fact that Christianity had to “grow up” and develop further before tackling the issue of the injustice of slavery presents 21st century Christians with an immense challenge.
It lays before me the challenge of looking around at my world and asking, Is it just possible that there are institutions in my society that are so ingrained in the nature of our world that I just accept them as normal. Things that ought to be called into question, just as slavery was in the 19th century?
What is the next challenge for Christians, as we seek to fulfill the mission of our Lord on this earth?
As I ask this question, let me assure you that I’m not asking that we forsake our vision of a soon-coming Savior, who will right all wrongs. No. By no means. We here at Voice of Prophecy will continue to preach the gospel and spread it to the whole world in preparation for the soon return of Jesus.
But the book of Philemon puts the question to us: What other changes would Jesus like us to make in the world while we wait for His return.
I could mention that by some estimates there are currently some 30 million people living in indentured servitude on our planet. Is it right for us to be so heavenly minded and so Second Coming-focused that we turn our backs and do nothing to address this continuing injustice? Is Jesus perhaps calling on you to do something to make a difference for these people?
As Christians first moved into the arena to fight for the abolition of slavery, one of the texts most cited was Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (KJV).
What about other inequalities that are addressed in this text? In light of this, can we allow ourselves to be prejudiced against one race or another? To give preferential treatment to one group or another because of their national heritage? To favor Jew over Arab or vice versa? Black over White or vice versa?
Friend, there are multitudes of injustices being done all over the world. Rather than criticizing Christians of an earlier era for not dealing with slavery, perhaps there’s an issue of injustice in my own front yard that I ought to become involved in helping to right.

And what about the other issue raised in Galatians 3:28—Paul’s declaration that “there is neither male nor female”? What about women’s rights and standing in the Christian church?

“Ah, Pastor, now you’ve quit preaching and gone to meddling,” I can hear someone saying.

But let me assure you, I’m not the type to invest a lot of energy in promoting various causes in the church. My own Seventh-day Adventist denomination has spent countless hours debating the question of whether women can serve as ordained ministers or elders in the church. I have no intention of entering the fray. I only ask we look carefully at the issues Paul’s letter to Philemon raises about slavery. What was acceptable in Paul’s day in treatment of slaves is no longer acceptable to Christians. Should we apply the same principle in our treatment of women, and take Paul’s and Jesus’ teaching about the equality of all people to heart and make that the guiding principle for our decisions?

I’ll leave it at that—as a point to ponder—rather than one to push. Perhaps a later generation will look back at us—as we do at the 17th-century Christians who couldn’t decide whether to treat slaves as humans worthy of the gospel or not—and ponder why we found it so hard to apply the principles of equality to all human beings.

Be that as it may, may I simply leave with you the challenge that Philemon presents to us all: Look around. See what injustice is being done, and ask the question: What can I do to right that wrong?

Jesus came “‘to preach the gospel to the poor; . . . to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed;’ ” (Luke 4:18, NKJV).

That’s a mission statement we’re all called to take to heart. In whatever way the Lord reveals to us. Ask Him today—Lord, what would you have me to do?