HUMAN BEINGS ARE created in the image of God, and are therefore of great intrinsic worth and dignity. No human has the moral right to own another as property. And I would love to be able to tell you that slavery is a thing of the past, a dark chapter of human history that we’ve since moved past. But the truth is that slavery merely goes by other names today, such as forced labor or human trafficking.

In the Roman Empire of Paul’s day, there may have been between five and ten million slaves at any one time, and slavery was a widely accepted and legal practice. We may not live with the same kind of institutionalized slavery today, but that simply means that slavery has taken other forms. In 2022, the International Labour Organisation estimated that fifty million people — mostly from marginalized people groups — live under the thumb of some form of modern slavery, and many of them are children.

For that reason, we might want the apostle Paul to put slavery in his theological crosshairs and forthrightly condemn it. But he doesn’t, neither in writing to the Christian slave owner Philemon nor in his letter to the Colossians. Quite the contrary: Paul almost seems to support slavery in Colossians 3:

Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism. (vss. 22-25, NIV)

How should we read this? Again, let’s think about both the social and the pastoral context of what he says. The social context is one in which slavery is already likely to be on the minds of the people hearing the letter. Philemon, a wealthy and well-respected member of the Colossian community, is a slave owner who hosts a house church in his home. He became a Christian through the ministry of Paul. Onesimus, one of his slaves, ran away, somehow encountered Paul, and also became a Christian. Paul sends Onesimus back to Colossae with the letters he wrote to Philemon and to the Colossians as a whole, knowing that Philemon was within his rights by Roman law to punish or even kill Onesimus. What would Philemon do, knowing that Onesimus was now his brother in Christ? And who in the church wouldn’t be thinking about that situation when hearing what Paul has to say to slaves?

Moreover, consider the pastoral context. Paul has been telling the Colossians not to settle for a superficial, outside-in kind of religion of rules but to pursue the inside-out transformation of seeking the things above and living out of the new nature that’s been made possible for them in Christ. And while we may want Paul to rail against slavery, he was writing as a pastor, not an upstart Roman senator or revolutionary. He had no political power to abolish the institution from the outside. What he had was the power of the Holy Spirit to dismantle the institution from the inside, beginning with Philemon.

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PAUL’S LETTER TO Philemon is not addressed merely to him as an individual, but also to the church that meets in his house. That means that everything Paul says to Philemon will be known to the rest of the church. Paul doesn’t say, “Now, Philemon, you know slavery is wrong, so I’m ordering you, whether you like it or not, to set Onesimus free.” Given the importance of institutionalized slavery to the smooth functioning of the empire, and the intolerance of Rome toward any form of sedition, imagine what would have happened to Paul and to the church if he had phrased things like that!

What Paul does instead is consistent with the inside-out approach he takes in Colossians. He lovingly and rhetorically twists Philemon’s arm, challenging him to see Onesimus in a new light. He doesn’t say, “Onesimus is no longer your slave.” Rather, in essence, he says, “Yes, Onesimus is your slave, but he is now also your brother in Christ. He’s been a great help to me, just as you have. So think of him that way, and in love, do what you know in your heart to be right. And oh, by the way, don’t forget: you owe me a big favor.”

Everyone in Philemon’s house church, indeed, I imagine all the believers in Colossae, would have known what Paul said to Philemon. It’s almost impossible for me to believe that Philemon didn’t do what Paul wanted him to do. And if he hadn’t, the letter would probably never have been preserved for our benefit, to be read again and again for its pastoral wisdom.

A good number of the believers in Colossae would have been slaves. Some of them surely belonged to non-Christian masters. And Paul tells all of them to obey their masters in everything.

But this is not Paul kowtowing to the powers that be nor giving his implicit support to the institution of slavery. Paul sent Onesimus back with a letter urging Philemon to think of him as his brother in Christ. Assuming that his pastoral strategy was successful, the transformation of the institution was already taking place. The example of Philemon, a respected member of the community, would have set an important precedent and been a living example of the gospel. The story of Onesimus would have given other slaves in the church hope.

But Paul didn’t want those who were already both slaves and Christians to use Onesimus’ story as an excuse to run away. His instructions to them in Colossians 3 help preserve social order while still encouraging a future-oriented hope and an inside-out transformation of their imagination. Let’s take a closer look at those instructions next.