The New Testament addresses slavery explicitly and repeatedly, but it does not condemn the institution. Instead, it provides instructions for how Christian slaves should behave toward their masters and how Christian masters should treat their slaves.1 These household codes appear in multiple epistles and consistently instruct slaves to obey, submit to, and serve their masters.2, 3, 4, 5 The absence of any command to free slaves or condemnation of slaveholding stands in stark contrast to the biblical text's extensive moral prohibitions on other behaviors.
The New Testament passages
The clearest and most extensive instruction to slaves appears in Ephesians 6:5-8. This passage is part of a household code outlining relationships between wives and husbands, children and parents, and slaves and masters.
"Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free." Ephesians 6:5-8 (English Standard Version)2
The Greek word translated "bondservants" is "douloi" (δοῦλοι), which means slaves in the literal sense of human property.6 While some English translations use softer terms like "servants" or "bondservants," the underlying Greek refers to enslaved persons who were legally the property of their masters.7 The command is unambiguous: slaves are to obey their masters with the same sincerity and devotion they would show to Christ himself.
Colossians 3:22-25 contains nearly identical instructions.
"Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality." Colossians 3:22-25 (English Standard Version)3
This passage adds the directive to "obey in everything," emphasizing the comprehensive nature of the submission required. It also includes a warning that wrongdoers will be punished, which in context appears to apply to slaves who fail to obey.8
First Timothy 6:1-2 addresses slaves who have believing masters, instructing them not to take advantage of their shared faith.
"Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved." 1 Timothy 6:1-2 (English Standard Version)4
The phrase "under a yoke" is explicit imagery for slavery.9 The passage instructs slaves to honor their masters and warns that failure to do so could bring reproach on Christian teaching. Notably, it directs slaves with Christian masters to serve even more diligently, not to expect freedom or equality based on their shared faith.10
First Peter 2:18-21 goes further by specifically instructing slaves to submit even to harsh and unjust masters.
"Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps." 1 Peter 2:18-21 (English Standard Version)5
This passage acknowledges that some masters are unjust and that slaves may suffer beatings even when they have done nothing wrong. Rather than condemning this injustice, the text instructs slaves to endure it as Christ endured suffering.11 The Greek word translated "unjust" is "skolios" (σκολιός), meaning crooked, harsh, or unreasonable.12 The instruction to submit to such masters represents an explicit command to accept unjust treatment without resistance.
Titus 2:9-10 adds to the pattern.
"Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior." Titus 2:9-10 (English Standard Version)13
This passage emphasizes submissiveness, forbids argumentativeness, and frames slave obedience as a way to make Christian teaching attractive.14 The directive is utilitarian: slaves should obey so that Christianity will not be brought into disrepute.
New Testament instructions to slaves2, 3, 4, 5, 13
| Passage | Command | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Ephesians 6:5 | Obey with fear and trembling | All masters |
| Colossians 3:22 | Obey in everything | All masters |
| 1 Timothy 6:1-2 | Regard masters as worthy of honor | Especially believing masters |
| 1 Peter 2:18 | Be subject with all respect | Even unjust masters |
| Titus 2:9 | Be submissive in everything | All masters |
Roman slavery
To understand these passages, it is necessary to understand the institution they address. Slavery in the Roman Empire of the first century was widespread and brutal. Estimates suggest that 10 to 20 percent of the Roman population were enslaved, totaling between 5 and 8 million people in the first century CE.15 Slaves were considered property under Roman law and had no legal rights. Masters could beat, rape, or kill their slaves with minimal legal consequences.16
Roman slavery was not based on race, as in the later transatlantic slave trade, but on conquest, birth, debt, and abandonment.17 Prisoners of war were routinely enslaved, as were children born to enslaved mothers. People could sell themselves or their children into slavery to pay debts. The institution pervaded every level of Roman society: slaves worked in mines, agriculture, households, businesses, and even as skilled professionals such as teachers and physicians.18
Treatment varied widely. Some household slaves enjoyed relatively decent conditions, while others, particularly those in mines and on agricultural estates, endured horrific abuse.19 Slaves could be freed by their masters, a process called manumission, but this was entirely at the master's discretion and often required the slave to purchase their freedom.20 Many slaves never obtained freedom.
This is the institution the New Testament addresses. When Ephesians instructs slaves to obey "with fear and trembling," when 1 Peter tells them to submit to unjust masters who beat them, when Titus commands submissiveness in everything, these are instructions for how to live within the Roman slave system.2, 5, 13
The absence of condemnation
What the New Testament does not say about slavery is as significant as what it does say. It does not condemn the institution. It does not call for abolition. It does not instruct Christian masters to free their slaves, except in the single ambiguous case of Philemon.21
The household codes address masters as well as slaves, but the instructions to masters are brief and comparatively mild. Ephesians 6:9 tells masters, "Stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him."22 Colossians 4:1 instructs, "Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven."23 These directives encourage fair treatment but do not question the legitimacy of owning human beings as property.1
This stands in contrast to the New Testament's treatment of other practices. The text explicitly condemns sexual immorality, idolatry, greed, theft, lying, and numerous other behaviors.24 It contains extensive moral instruction on topics ranging from marital fidelity to proper use of wealth. But on slavery, the consistent message is regulation rather than condemnation. The institution itself is accepted; only certain behaviors within it are subject to moral instruction.25
The case of Philemon
The epistle to Philemon is often cited as evidence of Paul's opposition to slavery. In this personal letter, Paul appeals to Philemon to receive back his runaway slave Onesimus, whom Paul has converted to Christianity during Onesimus's time away.21
Paul writes that he is sending Onesimus back to Philemon and asks Philemon to receive him "no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother" (Philemon 1:16).26 Some interpreters see this as a veiled request for Onesimus's freedom. However, the text does not explicitly call for manumission. Paul says he is sending Onesimus back and asks that he be treated as a brother, but he does not directly instruct Philemon to free him.27
Moreover, Paul explicitly states that he is returning Onesimus to Philemon, acknowledging Philemon's legal ownership: "I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart" (Philemon 1:12).28 If Paul believed slavery was inherently immoral, he could have refused to return Onesimus or could have explicitly commanded his freedom. He did neither.29
At most, Philemon represents a call for humane treatment of a slave who has become a fellow believer. It does not constitute a rejection of slavery itself.27
Galatians 3:28
Defenders of the New Testament often point to Galatians 3:28 as evidence that Christianity transcends social hierarchies including slavery. The verse states: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."30
This passage speaks of spiritual equality before God. However, it does not translate into a call for social or legal equality on earth.31 The same Paul who wrote Galatians 3:28 also wrote the household codes in Ephesians and Colossians instructing slaves to obey their masters.2, 3 In context, Galatians 3:28 addresses who can be included in the people of God through faith in Christ, not the social structures Christians should establish or dismantle.32
If Galatians 3:28 meant there should be no social distinction between slave and free, we would expect the New Testament to instruct masters to free their slaves. Instead, it instructs slaves to obey their masters and masters to treat slaves fairly within the existing system.25 The spiritual equality proclaimed in Galatians coexisted with acceptance of earthly inequality, as evidenced by the consistent household code instructions.1
Common apologetic responses
Various defenses have been offered to mitigate the difficulty these passages present for those who believe the Bible is a perfect moral guide.
The "this was indentured servitude, not chattel slavery" defense
Some apologists argue that the slavery addressed in the New Testament was more like indentured servitude, a temporary condition that one could work out of, rather than the brutal chattel slavery of the American South.33
This claim is partly true and partly misleading. Roman slavery did include cases where educated slaves held positions of responsibility and where manumission was possible. However, it also included brutal chattel slavery in mines and on agricultural estates where slaves were worked to death, and it included the legal status of slaves as property who could be beaten, raped, or killed at their master's discretion.16, 19 The New Testament passages do not distinguish between different types of slavery; they address the institution as it existed, in all its forms.7
Moreover, even if we grant that some Roman slavery resembled indentured servitude, the passages still present a moral problem. First Peter 2:18 instructs slaves to submit even to unjust masters who beat them unjustly.5 This goes well beyond regulating a benign form of contracted service. It is an instruction to endure violent abuse without resistance.11
The "Paul was accommodating cultural context" defense
Another common defense holds that Paul and other New Testament writers were working within their cultural context and could not have called for immediate abolition without causing social chaos. The claim is that the gospel would gradually transform society from within.34
This defense raises difficult questions. If God's moral standards are absolute and unchanging, why would divinely inspired texts accommodate an immoral institution? The New Testament does not hesitate to call for radical breaks with cultural norms in other areas—demanding sexual purity in a culture that accepted prostitution and adultery, insisting on monotheism in a polytheistic world, and commanding love of enemies in a society built on honor and revenge.24 Why would slavery be uniquely exempt from moral critique?35
Furthermore, if the New Testament intended to undermine slavery gradually, we would expect at least some hint of that intention—a statement that slavery is not ideal, a vision of a future without it, or an instruction that freeing slaves is a virtuous act. Instead, the text repeatedly instructs slaves to obey and accepts masters' ownership as legitimate.1
The "spiritual equality matters most" defense
Some argue that the New Testament's emphasis on spiritual equality before God was revolutionary and that earthly social arrangements are of secondary importance.36
While the claim about spiritual equality is textually supportable, the conclusion that earthly arrangements don't matter is harder to sustain. The New Testament devotes considerable attention to earthly behavior, including detailed instructions on sexual conduct, honesty, treatment of the poor, and use of wealth.24 It is deeply concerned with how Christians live in the world, not only with their eternal destiny. The idea that physical bondage and the suffering it entails are unimportant because spiritual freedom is available seems difficult to reconcile with texts that also command care for the hungry, the sick, and the imprisoned.37
Moreover, this defense can justify almost any earthly injustice. If physical oppression doesn't matter because spiritual freedom is what counts, then one could similarly dismiss any form of exploitation or abuse. This leads to a morally troubling position where earthly suffering is minimized in the name of spiritual priorities.38
Historical consequences
These New Testament passages have had profound historical consequences. For centuries, Christian slaveholders in Europe and the Americas cited these very texts to justify the enslavement of millions of people.39
During the antebellum period in the United States, Southern ministers preached extensively from Ephesians 6, Colossians 3, 1 Timothy 6, and 1 Peter 2, instructing enslaved African Americans to obey their masters as a Christian duty.40 These were not fringe interpretations or distortions of the text; they were straightforward readings of what the passages say. Slaves should obey their masters. Masters should treat slaves fairly. The institution itself is never condemned.41
When abolitionists argued against slavery, they could point to broad biblical principles like the image of God in all humans and the command to love one's neighbor. But they struggled with the specific household code passages, which seemed to accept slavery as legitimate.42 Pro-slavery advocates had the advantage of explicit texts commanding slave obedience, while abolitionists had to argue from broader principles and the spirit of the gospel.43
The historical record shows that biblical texts were used extensively to support slavery, and this was not merely a misuse of scripture but a plausible reading of passages that, on their face, instruct slaves to obey masters and do not condemn the institution.44
Moral assessment
Those who view the Bible as a perfect moral guide must grapple with these texts. They present commands to obey human masters, even unjust ones who inflict beatings. They accept the ownership of human beings as property. They provide no vision of a world without slavery and no instruction to work toward abolition.1
Modern readers nearly universally recognize slavery as a profound moral evil. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, states in Article 4: "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms."45 This represents a clear moral consensus that owning human beings as property is inherently wrong, regardless of how kindly they might be treated.46
If this moral consensus is correct—if slavery is indeed always wrong—then the New Testament's accommodation of it presents a serious problem. The text does not merely fail to condemn slavery; it actively instructs people on how to participate in it correctly. Slaves are told to obey; masters are told to be fair. The system itself is never questioned.25
Readers must decide how to reconcile the New Testament's acceptance of slavery with the claim that the Bible is a reliable moral guide. Some conclude that the biblical texts reflect the moral limitations of their time and culture rather than eternal moral truth. Others maintain that the texts must be read in light of broader biblical themes of liberation and human dignity, even when specific passages seem to contradict those themes. Still others accept the passages at face value and argue that the form of slavery they describe was morally acceptable, even if modern chattel slavery was not.47
What is difficult to maintain is that these passages do not say what they plainly say: that slaves should obey their masters, that this obedience should be rendered even to unjust masters, and that the institution of slavery itself is never condemned. Whether one views this as accommodation to an unfortunate reality, as a moral failing in the text, or as acceptable within its historical context, the passages remain. According to the New Testament, slaves should obey their masters.1