Sermon Tone Analysis

I want to thank Jimmy for preaching last Sunday.

I love listening to the men of this church preach and lead us in the study of God’s Word.

You might not know how blessed RHCC is to have men who are able and willing, gifted and called to preach and teach.

Very few churches have such capable and godly men.

I knew Jimmy could handle all of 1 Timothy 5, and he did so with ease.

Jimmy got to wrestle 25 verses; I’m only going to take-on 2 verses this morning.

I was tempted and I almost tacked these onto what Jimmy was preaching last week (most commentators and even your Bible group them together under the heading “Women, Elders, and Slaves”).

There’s a clear connection between chapter 5 and these two verses in chapter 6.

But these two verses in 1 Timothy 6, considering the topic covered, require a separate sermon.

Let’s go ahead and read our text for this morning.

If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to 1 Timothy 6.

If you’re able and willing, please stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word, out of reverence for Him.

May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!

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There are many versions of slavery, several iterations, and it’s important that we discuss what those are so that we can understand what Paul is writing here.

Chances are, what we have in mind is slavery as we know it from American History.

But this here in 1 Timothy is quite different.

It’ll be helpful to provide some background and context to the discussion of slavery so we can better define our terms and understand the text.

World history is filled with various types of slavery.

Therefore, we have to be careful when we talk about this subject.

When you hear the word slavery, no doubt there are certain images that come to mind.

Not all forms of slavery look the same.

We’re going to consider a few different ways slavery has been practiced in history (David Platt has provided us with a helpful summary of a few different types of slavery).

The first is Hebrew servanthood.

In the OT, there’s a system of Hebrew servanthood that was set up for poor Israelites to become servants.

This servanthood was designed to provide for poorer Israelites and their families.

Poverty is a reality in every age, and so the law of God made this provision for those in poverty.

Hebrew servanthood is discussed in Leviticus 25:

In this type of servanthood, a person could sell themselves into slavery as a way to escape poverty.

They wouldn’t be treated as a slave, but as a hired hand.

Now, there were those who abused their servants, but that was not God’s intention in setting up this system.

Hebrew servanthood was much, much different from the pre-Civil War slavery in the southern United States.

In the system of Hebrew servanthood, the Lord even provided a reprieve for slaves by instituting sabbatical years when all the slaves had be be released.

Another form of slavery was present in the Roman Empire.

Slavery was deeply ingrained into the fabric of Roman society.

Some estimates have over one-third of the people in the Roman Empire as slaves; that’s 50-60 million individuals.

Some of those slaves were simply employees—teachers, craftsmen, cooks, even government officials.

Roman slavery wasn’t based on ethnicity or skin color but on socio-economic status.

In order to become a Roman citizen, people would sell themselves into slavery and work for their freedom.

Many slaves were free by the time they were 30 years old.

However, slavery wasn’t a great life by any means.

Slaves were still slaves: marginalized, powerless, prone to disgrace or insult, saddled with grueling labor and harsh treatment, on the receiving end of physical and sexual abuse.

This system of slavery was ingrained into the empire’s economy.

Common in colonial America was indentured servitude.

Many people could not afford to come to the new county on their own so they’d contract themselves out as indentured servants and agree to work in certain households until they could earn enough money to pay off their debt.

Historians estimate that over one-half to two-thirds of European white immigrants who came to America came as indentured servants.

Indentured servitude and Hebrew servanthood are pretty closely related.

Fourth and finally, there is the picture of slavery connected to the African slave trade.

This type of slavery was promoted across the 18th and 19th centuries.

Within this evil system, millions upon millions of Africans were traded and sold across Europe.

They were transported in cruel, grueling conditions.

Upon being sold into slavery, these slaves were subjected to harsh working conditions as well as physical abuse, sexual abuse, and torture.

Frederick Douglas, one of the leaders in the abolitionist movement, wrote the following about his first slave-master, Captain Anthony:

He was a cruel man, hardened by a long life of slave-holding.

He would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping a slave.

I have often been awakened at the dawn of a day by the most heart-rending shrieks of my own aunt, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip…till she was literally covered with blood.

No words, no tears, no prayer from his gory victim seemed to move his iron heart from its bloody purpose.

I don’t relish the sharing of such an awful account, and yet I realize that short paragraph is a fairly tame representation of the atrocities of that time.

It can’t be downplayed or excused.

There is no justification for even one ounce of the African slave trade.

It’s a horrific moment in history, this kind of slavery which took place in our own country not that long ago.

>It’s important to note that the slavery we’re familiar with, the slavery that took place on American soil, the slavery that divided the states IS NOT the kind of slavery Paul is addressing in 1 Timothy 6.

There is no mention of slavery anywhere in the Bible that can be used to justify or okay the African slave trade.

None.

I’ve heard more than a few people say, “Well, the Bible talks about slavery and slaves are even instructed not to disobey or disrespect their masters!”

It’s apples and oranges.

No, it’s more like apples and limousines.

The slavery Paul discusses here and the sinful, racist, bigoted slavery of the American South do not belong in the same category.

They’re not on the same page or the same book; they aren’t even in the same library.

Just because it’s mentioned in the Bible doesn’t mean the Bible encourages it.

Divorce is discussed at some length; that doesn’t make it commendable.

We need to understand the kind of slavery Paul is referencing so that we don’t begin to confuse or equate the various forms of slavery.

Paul is by no means condoning the mistreatment of slaves.

We need to note a few truths about slavery in the Bible:

Slavery is not part of creation (God’s original created order)

Slavery is the product of sin (poverty, class distinction, prejudice, bigotry, favoritism, abuse)

Situations in a sinful world call for specific instructions to a sinful world (because slavery existed, something had to be said about slavery, regulations and protections had to be put into place)

Biblical instructions concerning slavery do not imply biblical support of slavery (when slavery is addressed it’s addressed to help shepherd people who were trapped in a sin-stained economic and social system that produced the need for slavery)

The Bible very clearly condemns slavery.

Slavery undermines the dignity and worth of a human being by functionally denying it.

Slavery undermines God’s creation and the imago dei, the image of God in which all people are created.

Every single person has equal dignity and worth before God and because of God.

Every.

Single.

Person.

It wasn’t Abraham Lincoln who came up with the idea that “all men are created equal.”

That is not an American invention; it’s God’s truth, the Creator’s truth.

Lincoln said: “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

But this was God’s idea long before Lincoln or any of us even were:

Every single person has equal dignity and worth before God and because of God.

Every.

Single.

Person.

Every person is of enormous value because God says so.

Christians should be the first to stand up and say that slavery—any slavery, including the slavery of our forefathers—was shameful, sinful, and wrong.

Some “Christian” pastors and church members in the “Christian” south were buying and selling, trading and using, abusing African slaves.

This is one of the darkest, most shameful moments in our history.

True Christianity, however, made an impact upon the institution of slavery.

Christianity was, in fact, the major social force in altering man’s understanding of the worth of the individual, that before God all men are of equal value.

This realization and the conviction of Christians led to the overthrow of slavery as a social institution.

When we come to this here in 1 Timothy 6, Paul is addressing Christian slaves who are serving under either unbelieving or believing masters.