Bible Challenge

Over the years many scholars and individuals have used the Bible as evidence for their anti-slavery and pro-slavery arguments, with each side taking specific verses and interpreting them to fit their own agenda. Now, it is understood that the slavery era was a negative time in our history and should not be supported. However, there is still some conflict within circles as to where the Bible stands on the slavery argument.

During the time of slavery, many believed that the Bible condemned slavery. However, this is not accurate. The Bible did in fact condone the act of slavery. Many white slaveholders of the time relied on the teachings of the Bible specifically from Genesis 9:25 and its statements such as, "A slave of slaves shall you be to your brothers" to solidify their views that slavery was religiously supported.

There were other parts of the Bible, including the story of Abraham where his slave Hager had an angel tell her to "return to your mistress and submit to her." Describing how religious figures such as angels wanted slaves to obey their masters because that was looked upon as the "holy thing to do". Many also viewed Jesus' acceptance of slavery as a reason to support these practices. Statements including, "not one word of criticism did the Lord ever utter against slaver. He was quick to attack moral evil but not slavery" are what swayed people to not view slavery negatively.

Also Charles Hodge, a Presbyterian theologian between 1851 and 1858, stated, "to call slavery sinful was a direct impeachment of the word of God", explaining that to think slavery was something wrong, was to go against Christian beliefs.

Therefore, based on quotes directly from the Bible itself and theologians of the 1800s, slavery was condoned by the Bible and Christianity.

While some people argue that the Bible is in support of slavery, these claims often come from specific verses that were taken out of context and manipulated to fit human ideas. Many books and scenarios in the Bible are clearly against slavery. As pointed out in the Condensed Anti-Slavery Bible Argument, we see that the Bible never specifically mentions slavery by name when arguing for or against it. Instead, it describes and discourages similar scenarios. In Exodus 21, the text talks about how a man who steals and sells another man should be put to death himself. This emphasizes a passage of the Bible that speaks directly to undesirable consequences given for putting other human-beings under conditions of slavery. 

Slavery is not only seen as an action that requires punishment, but it is also seen as the consequence of transgression. As expressed in Slavery and Sin: The Fight against Slavery and the Rise of Liberal Protestantism, we see that this argument could easily be taken out of context to say that the Bible was pro-slavery. However, when you put this argument into context it is clear that this passage is not about the kind of slavery that was present in America. If slavery is used as a consequence for sin, then the Bible would definitely not agree with subjecting individuals into slavery because of their race or status. 

It is also important to realize that the Bible has been translated and copied many times, so the way we interpret slavery is not necessarily the way the Greek or Hebrew words for slavery would have been interpreted in ancient times. It is pointed out in The Challenge of Bible Translation, that translations were often made with the goal of keeping the meaning the same, but there cannot be translations made for cultural differences. 

There are clearly two sides to every story and it is easy to interpret the Bible in different ways, especially because of the different cultures and languages in which it originated. While all arguments today are anti-slavery, it is important to remember that was not always the case. As source material is interpreted, it can often be manipulated to fit individual beliefs so it is important to be objective, look at the facts, and think through outside influences of the time.