12 Bible Verses about Slavery, In Nt
Most Relevant Verses
Once as we were on our way to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had the gift of magical fortune-telling, and continued to make great profits for her owners by fortune-telling. This girl kept following Paul and the rest of us, shrieking, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, and they are proclaiming to you a way of salvation." She kept this up for a number of days. Because Paul was so much annoyed by her, he turned and said to the spirit in her, "In the name of Jesus Christ I order you to come out of her." And that very moment it came out.read more.
But as the owners saw that the hope of their profit-making was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to the public square, before the authorities, and brought them to the chiefs of the police court. They said, "These men are Jews; they continue to make great disturbance in our town and to advocate practices which it is against the law for us Romans to accept or observe."
For by one Spirit all of us, Jews or Greeks, slaves or freemen, have been baptized into one body, and were all imbued with one Spirit.
For all of you are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who have been baptized into union with Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no room for Jew or Greek, no room for slave or freeman, no room for male or female, for you are all one through union with Christ Jesus.
You slaves must practice obedience to your earthly masters, with reverence and awe, with sincerity of heart, as you would obey Christ, not serving them as though they were watching you, but as true slaves of Christ, trying to carry out the will of God. Heartily and cheerfully keep on working as slaves, as though it were for the Lord and not for men,read more.
for you know that everyone, slave or free, will get his reward from the Lord for anything good he has done.
Everybody must remain in the station in which he was called. Were you called while a slave? Stop letting that annoy you. Yet, if you can win your freedom, take advantage of such an opportunity. For the slave who has been called to union with the Lord is the Lord's freedman; in the same way the freeman who has been called is a slave of Christ.read more.
You have been bought and actually paid for; stop becoming slaves to men. Brothers, each one must continue close to God in the very station in which he was called.
Slaves, practice obedience to your earthly masters in everything, not as though they were watching you and as though you were merely pleasing men, but with sincerity of heart, because you fear the Lord. Whatever you do, do it with all your heart, as work for the Lord and not for men, for you know that it is from the Lord that you are going to get your pay in the form of an inheritance; so keep on serving Christ the Lord.
All who are under the yoke of slavery must esteem their masters to be deserving the highest respect, so that the name of God and our teaching may not be abused. Those who have Christian masters must not pay them less respect because they are brothers; they must serve them all the better, because those who get the benefit of their service are believers and so are dear to them. These are the things that you must continue to teach and urge them to do.
Continue urging slaves to practice perfect submission to their masters and to give them perfect satisfaction, to stop resisting them and stealing from them, but to show such perfect fidelity as to adorn, in everything they do, the teaching of God our Saviour.
You house-servants must be submissive to your masters and show them perfect respect, not only to those who are kind and fair but also to those who are cruel. For it is pleasing in the sight of God for one to bear his sorrows though suffering innocently. For what credit is it to bear it patiently, if you do wrong and are beaten for it? But if you do right and patiently suffer for it, it is pleasing in the sight of God.read more.
Indeed, it was to this kind of living that you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you might follow His footsteps.
You slave-owners, too, must maintain the same attitude toward your slaves, and stop threatening them, for you know that their real Lord and yours is in heaven, and that He never shows partiality.
Masters, you must practice doing the right and square things by your slaves, for you know that you have a Master in heaven.
that is, if he understands that law is not enacted for upright people but for the lawless and disorderly, the godless and sinful, the ignorant and profane, people who kill their fathers or mothers, murderers, the immoral, men who practice sodomy, men who make other men their slaves, liars, perjurers, or anything else that is contrary to sound teaching,