Does the Bible condone slavery?

Slavery lands squarely in the category of things we wish the Bible unequivocally condemned. One human being owning another human being? Surely there must be an Eleventh Commandment: “You shall not own slaves.” But we search the Scriptures without success for such prohibitions.

Yet the Lord is not silent on slavery. Slavery was an integral part of the culture in both the Old and New Testaments. The Israelites themselves were famously enslaved in Egypt. Perhaps as much as a third of the Roman Empire’s population in Jesus’ time consisted of slaves. Slaves appear in our Savior’s parables. And we know slavery did not disappear once Bible times ended. It continued all over the world in many forms, with people of many races and cultures becoming both slaves and masters.

We fool ourselves if we think the days of slavery are behind us. In 2021, the International Labor Organization estimated that there are still 50 million slaves worldwide. The great evil of sex trafficking is a form of slavery. Tragically, slavery will likely endure until the world ends.

So does the Bible condone this long-standing, detestable institution? Answering that question is challenging because of the word condone and the word slavery. If we understand condone as “approve” or “encourage,” the answer is no. If we understand it simply as “permit” or “regulate,” the hard answer is yes.

A permitted institution

When God gave the Mosaic Law, slavery already existed. We cannot help but cringe at some of God’s instructions for his chosen people. There is no sugar-coating words like these: “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property” (Exodus 21:20,21). Does it cheer us to hear that if the beating results in the loss of an eye or a tooth, the owner must let the slave go free? Likely not, and the same goes for learning that the Israelites were to limit their slaves to foreigners.

We likely shudder still more to hear of abuses committed by people professing to believe in Christ. In 1710, the Church of England founded a Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts and gave it a plantation in Barbados as an income stream to support its work. This group branded “Society” with a hot iron on the chests of several hundred slaves. In 2006, the Church of England formally apologized for this atrocity. In spite of such painful, shameful incidents, we are encouraged somewhat that eventually Christians led the way toward abolishing slavery in many countries, including the United States.

What does the One who abolished slavery to sin for us and a world of sinners say? Although the Bible never records Jesus speaking directly to the issue, we can get a sense of the Lord’s attitude toward slavery from his response when the Pharisees challenged him on divorce. By pointing out that Moses allowed divorces, they implied that God must have “condoned” that. But Jesus pointed out, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard” (Matthew 19:8, emphasis added).

Moses spoke to the reality of God’s people breaking God’s will regarding his institution of marriage. God sought to “manage” this mess with those certificates. The Bible speaks to the reality of sinners and their institution of slavery. A world without sin would not have slavery and its obvious violations of God’s foundational command to “love your neighbor as yourself.” The Lord seeks to “manage the mess” of slavery with his perfect Word to an imperfect world.

Now, let’s consider the difficulty of determining what his Word means by “slavery.” The words that the Bible translates as “slave” describe someone whose situation would likely not have resembled the horrendous conditions on American plantations prior to the Civil War. Biblical slaves were often bond servants who were sold into a slavery arrangement in order to pay back debts. Such people would not have been born as slaves and would not typically die as slaves. They could remain with their families, at times becoming close to their owners, as with Eliezer, Abraham’s servant. They had higher levels of legal and social status than we likely picture. In addition, many became slaves when their nation was defeated in war. If given a brutal choice among death, prison, or slavery, most people would likely opt for slavery.

A regulated practice

While the Bible does not explicitly forbid slavery, it does place some guardrails around it. We might say that God does not condone slavery but “contains” it. Exodus 21:16 commands death for a person who kidnaps another with the intention of selling the individual. Earlier in the chapter (v. 2), the Lord commands the release of slaves every seven years. This makes Old Testament slavery different from the especially destructive and dehumanizing “chattel slavery,” which characterized the institution in more recent centuries, including in the United States. Chattel slavery was brutal for families, as slaves could be sold at any time regardless of how that action might separate spouses and tear children from parents.

This destruction of family is likely part of the reason slave traders are specifically condemned in the New Testament as well. The apostle Paul includes them in a list of other blatant sinners: “rebels . . . those who kill their father . . . slave traders and liars” (1 Timothy 1:9,10, emphasis added).

God made it clear that his people were to conduct themselves differently when participating in this manmade institution. Paul wrote, “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart” (Ephesians 6:5,6). The Spirit-inspired words continue: “Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven” (Ephesians 6:9).

While the Bible does not explicitly forbid slavery, it does place some guardrails around it. We might say that God does not condone slavery but “contains” it.

God’s call to be different from the world shines through in the brief letter from the apostle Paul to Philemon, a slave owner. Paul describes how Philemon’s escaped slave Onesimus has become a believer in Christ and a valuable assistant to Paul in his work. For that reason, Paul urges Philemon to receive the runaway slave back as a free man. Paul suggests, “Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever—no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother” (Philemon 15,16). A master and his rebellious slave as brothers! What a radical thought, but consistent with God’s declaration of what the gospel means: “There is . . . neither slave nor free . . . for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

We began this brief article with a wish that the Bible said more in condemnation of slavery. But it is not our place to advise the Lord. It is our place to praise him for his grace. Even as he has turned us sinners into saints, he takes a picture from the ugliness of slavery to proclaim the beautiful work he has done. Paul reminded the Corinthians of their redemption in Jesus’ blood—“You were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 7:23). That price means we former slaves to sin and death are no longer condemned, nor merely condoned, but eternally cherished by our gracious Master and Savior.

Author: Jonathan Balge
Volume 112, Number 09
Issue: September 2025