New Testament on slavery

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I can understand why slavery was tolerated in the Old Testament, but I can’t understand why slavery was not condemn in the New Testament. Not only the New Testament did not condemn slavery, but also instructed slaves to obey their masters (Eph 6:5-8, Col 3:22-24, 1Tim 6:1-2, 1Pet 2:18, Titus 2:9-10), which in the end only helped pro-slavery people to justify their opinions for centuries.

Any explanation on why the New Testament is so tolerant with slavery and why were the slaves instructed to be submissives? Because I’m having a hard time trying to justify the immorality of slavery with what was left by the apostles.
 
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This question is often asked here at CAF. You might care to take a look at this thread from a few months back, about the specific case of the Epistle to Philemon.
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Paul and slavery in Philemon Sacred Scripture
I am puzzled by the three-cornered drama in the Epistle to Philemon. There are three characters in the story: Philemon, the owner of a runaway slave; Onesimus, the runaway; and Paul, who sends Onesimus back to his owner carrying a written message to him, which is this epistle. What puzzles me is this: In the message, is Paul asking Philemon to give Onesimus his freedom, or not? Some commentators say he isn’t, some say he is, though in the form of a heavy hint rather than an outright, clear-cut …
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Guilherme123 said:
I can understand why slavery was tolerated in the Old Testament, but I can’t understand why slavery was not condemn in the New Testament.
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I guess I’m not sure what you expected to have changed in a relatively tiny timeline between the O.T. and N.T. periods. Of course we understand today that slavery is a horrible institution, but I’m not sure we should have expected them to have fully figured it out back then in a span of roughly 100-200 years.
 
My main problem is that the New Testament not only tolerated slavery, but also instructed slaves to obey their masters. How am I supposed to be against slavery with that?
 
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Guilherme123 said:
slavery
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The most basic issue is the words ‘slavery’ and ‘slave’ in antiquity were general terms that captured quite a lot of different social and economic institutions and arrangements. Many of these systems were quite complex, and did not resemble the overly racialised systems of slavery that we are accustomed to think about. In particular, the word ‘slavery’ in English nearly invariably evokes the antebellum US, and so many English translations use the term ‘servitude’ and/or ‘servant’ to help guide the reader away from anachronistic readings.
 
I mean, if the Roman Empire’s slavery was moral, so can I have some slaves by debt? Or can I fight in some war and bring some slaves back home?
 
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Guilherme123 said:
the New Testament not only tolerated slavery, but also instructed slaves to obey their masters.
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The New Testament is not addressing the issue from the viewpoint of “slavery is a great thing for society, let’s do it”. It is addressing it from the point of view of “how do I honour Christ in my state of life”. So of course, it addresses slavery as one of the social realities in which people lived and converted to Christianity at the time the New Testament was written.

The chapters 5-6 in Ephesians (from which the quote you have in mind comes) answer that question by advising to “submit to each other” - wives, respect your husbands, husbands, love your wives, children, obey your parents, slaves, obey your masters, masters, be kind to your slaves. The point is that, at the end, each person, whether free or slave, will be rewarded by the Lord according to the good they did (Ephesians 6:8). This is actually a subtle way of erasing the social distinction between slave and master.
 
The New Testament is not the be-all, end-all of moral guidance. Tolerance does not equate to promotion or even condoning. You’re to be against slavery because you’ve formed a conscience based on the totality of the Christian message, which is love your neighbor.

The New Testament quite prominently portrays murders and executions. Am I to somehow be confused and conflicted thinking these things might be ok?
 
Well, why do YOU think slavery is bad? What logic led you to that conclusion?

If you didn’t find the rational argument in the NT, what’s your source of authority?
 
My source of authority is the Church:
2414. The seventh commandment forbids acts or enterprises that for any reason - selfish or ideological, commercial, or totalitarian - lead to the enslavement of human beings , to their being bought, sold and exchanged like merchandise, in disregard for their personal dignity. It is a sin against the dignity of persons and their fundamental rights to reduce them by violence to their productive value or to a source of profit. St. Paul directed a Christian master to treat his Christian slave “no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, … both in the flesh and in the Lord.”
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Then there is St. Paul and St. Peter saying that the slaves should obey their masters.
 
Guilherme123 said:
I can understand why slavery was tolerated in the Old Testament, but I can’t understand why slavery was not condemn in the New Testament. Not only the New Testament did not condemn slavery, but also instructed slaves to obey their masters (Eph 6:5-8, Col 3:22-24, 1Tim 6:1-2, 1Pet 2:18, Titus 2:9-10), which in the end only helped pro-slavery people to justify their opinions for centuries.

Any explanation on why the New Testament is so tolerant with slavery and why were the slaves instructed to be submissives? Because I’m having a hard time trying to justify the immorality of slavery with what was left by the apostles.
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This site has some useful information, I feel:
http://gmmx.org/ctt/qnoslavent.html
 
Honoring Christ with submission to the person who owns you doesn’t make any sense. If needed, you absolutely have the right to kill your owner to seek freedom from him.

This is like saying that slaves were committing a sin by trying to escape from plantations or by starting a rebellion against the system.

I am not conviced at all.
 
As some others have pointed out, slavery in ancient times wasn’t quite like the chattel slavery of the American south. But still, your question is a good one.

slavery back then was more like indentured servitude. It was even common for slaves to eventually buy their freedom. St Paul recommended this for Christian slaves because an outright slave revolt had already happened. I’m sure you’ve heard of their leader - Spartacus. That revolt led to 11,000 crucifixions. If St Paul had recommended they revolt, the same would have happened to them. Instead, he recommended they be patient and use the legal route to gain their freedom. In the meantime, they should focus on being a good Christian, as that’s more important than freedom.
 
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Guilherme123 said:
My source of authority is the Church:
2414. The seventh commandment forbids … the enslavement of human beings …
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This is a good illustration of the Church’s growth in understanding the faith, as CCC 94 teaches:
94 Thanks to the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the understanding of both the realities and the words of the heritage of faith is able to grow in the life of the Church:
  • “through the contemplation and study of believers who ponder these things in their hearts”; it is in particular “theological research [which] deepens knowledge of revealed truth”.
  • “from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which [believers] experience”, the sacred Scriptures “grow with the one who reads them.”
  • “from the preaching of those who have received, along with their right of succession in the episcopate, the sure charism of truth”.
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http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/94.htm
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Guilherme123 said:
If needed, you absolutely have the right to kill your owner to seek freedom from him.
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No. Where did you get that idea? There is a commandment not to kill. Where is it taught that freedom from slavery is more precious than the life of another human being?
 
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Does the command not to kill apply to a human being who is enslaving you? I would call this self defense, not murder.
 
Self defense may be morally acceptable in order to save your life, but not your freedom.

Edited: Okay, I took out the comparison to abortion. It was an inadequate comparison.
 
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