There are more people in slavery today than at any time in human history – 27 million.

This growth in the number of slaves is driven by the population explosion, widespread impoverishment of people and their resulting vulnerability, and government corruption so that people are not protected from the violence of enslavement.

Recently I took a small group of people through the letter Paul wrote to Philemon. The letter itself concerns a slave called Onesimus who had run away from his master (Philemon), and somehow met the apostle Paul in prison in Rome. By Roman law, the power of life and death was in the hands of the master – the head of the family. Onesimus, despite laws to protect slaves during the 1st century, would have been considered as “property” – thus anyone coming in to contact with a runaway slave was required by law to return them to their owner.
1st century slavery was slightly different to what we have now come to know – when we think of it today, I’m sure images of Black Africans chained up, deprived, abused etc comes to mind – a race based institution. 1st century slavery did not function on a racial basis and its intention was not to reduce the value of the enslaved. Slaves were often educated, and an important part of the Roman Empires workforce being given jobs of responsibility. Slavery was not considered a permanent position and there were ways you could be released – death or manumission (be released/set free). Owners could manumit someone on the basis of good, loyal behaviour and hard work, and on release many were given citizenship into the Roman Empire.

The Bible does not expressly condone or condemn slavery, yet there are many things we can learn from the Bible about the ideal treatment of people. The apostle Paul was a somewhat “subversive” type when it came to slavery, and so was Jesus. They may not have spoken out-rightly against the established system of the time, but it seems to me they certainly did not support the system as an ideal.

Ultimately, slavery ENSLAVES. It is a system where one person takes power over another persons life and subjects them to their will. Studying Philemon brought us to look at slavery today. Yes, it clearly exists. Our daily news readers may focus on the wars in Afghanistan…Iraq…Pakistan…globally… and knife crime on the streets etc… Yet behind the scenes, in the darkness, many people are losing their life to the ravages of human trafficking…slavery.

Take a look at this excellent video on slavery – it touches my heart deeply every time I see it:

WEBLINKS:
Free the Slaves
Anti-slavery
Freedom Center
10 Fascinating facts about slavery

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