DOES THE BIBLE GIVE CHRISTIANS PERMISSION TO OWN PEOPLE?

DOES THE BIBLE GIVE CHRISTIANS PERMISSION TO OWN PEOPLE? No. You cannot pull a law from ancient Israel and turn it into permission for Christians to buy and sell human beings. “But Exodus and Leviticus mention slaves.” They do. Now pay attention to who was being addressed and what kind of service the passage describes. Some people entered service because they were poor. Leviticus 25:39 describes an Israelite selling himself into service, and verses 40–43 required him to be treated as a hired servant rather than ruled over ruthlessly. Exodus 21:2 required a Hebrew servant’s release after six years. This included arrangements commonly described as indentured servitude. Calling that identical to kidnapping somebody and forcing them into lifelong slavery ignores the differences. Some servants wanted to stay. Exodus 21:5 records a servant saying, “I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free.” His household and relationships mattered to him. The law provided for willing lifelong service. That does not mean every servant was happy or every arrangement was voluntary. Exodus 21:16 also made stealing a person to sell them punishable by death. Anyone using the Bible to defend kidnapping people for the slave trade has to answer that verse. But Leviticus 25:44–46 goes further than indentured service. It permitted owning foreign slaves and passing them to children. We cannot honestly pretend that passage describes an ordinary job. That permission belonged to Israel’s civil law under the Mosaic covenant. In dispensational terms, Christians must distinguish Israel under the law from the church under grace. An ancient legal permission is not automatically a command or authorization for Christians today. The New Testament condemns “menstealers” and tells masters to stop threatening their servants, because they answer to God themselves. 1 Timothy 1:10. Ephesians 6:9. So when somebody asks whether owning and exploiting another human being is right, my answer is no. When they ask whether the Mosaic law permitted forms of slavery, the honest answer is yes. Those are different questions. A Christian can defend Scripture without defending slavery or rewriting the passages that make us uncomfortable. #MoreJoyMinistries