(50) Slavery
in Pauline Thinking
Whereas Aristotle denied that there could be philia (friendship) with a slave qua slave, he admitted that there could be such with a slave
considered as anthrōpos, “human
being” (Nic. Ethics 8.13 §1161b).
Paul’s outlook was considerably different, especially when it came to Christian
slaves, for he states in Gal 3:26–28, “As many of you as were baptized into
Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor
free, neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” This unity
of Christians in Christ Jesus is an effect of faith and baptism and results in
Christian equality. That equality “in Christ Jesus” does not cancel out all
cultural, political, or social distinctions. It is rather a unity that
transcends the distinctions such as they are. This is made clear by 1 Cor
12:13–14, where Paul says, “Just as a body is one, though it has many members,
and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so too is Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks,
whether slaves or free, and we all were made to drink of one Spirit.”
(51) Paul’s most explicit treatment of the status of slavery is found in 1
Cor 7:20–24:
Everyone should remain in the state in which he was called. Were you a
slave when you were called? Do not worry about it! But if you can become free,
make the most of it. For the slave called in the Lord is a freedman of the
Lord; similarly the one who was free when called is a slave of Christ. You have
been bought at a price; do not become slaves to human beings. So, brothers,
everyone should continue before God in the state in which he was called.
The basis on which this Pauline judgment is made is expressed in 2 Cor
5:17: “Whoever is in Christ is a new creation; things of old have passed away,
new things have come to be.” This expresses the christological foundation of
the way that Paul regards the new Christian status. See further S. S. Bartchy, Mallon chrēsai, and the bibliography
given on pp. 185–99.
In the Letter to Philemon, Paul formulates the matter a bit differently,
for the slave was to be considered not only as anthrōpos but as adelphos,
“brother,” i.e. a fellow Christian: “as more than a slave, as a beloved
brother. He is such to me, but how much more to you, both as a man and in the
Lord” (v 16). To deprive Paul of Onesimus would be to deprive him of his own
heart (v 12).
What strikes the modern reader of such Pauline passages is his failure to
speak out against the social institution of slavery in general and the
injustices that it often involved, not only for the individual so entrapped but
also for his wife and children. If I am right in interpreting the “more than I
ask” of v 21 as an implicit request made of Philemon to see to the emancipation
of Onesimus, that may tell us something about Paul’s attitude toward the
enslavement of a Christian; but that “more” has been diversely interpreted over
the centuries and its sense is not clear. Moreover that is an implicit request
about an individual case of a Christian slave who could help Paul in his work
of evangelization. Would Paul have written the same thing to the non-Christian
owner of a pagan slave? Would he have agreed with Aristotle’s view about
“friendship” with such a slave? (Joseph
A. Fitzmyer, The Letter to Philemon: A New Translation With Introduction and
Commentary [AB 34C; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008], 31-32)
