The beginning of the final chapter of Paul’s letter to Timothy continues his instructions concerning church relationships. He has already addressed widows and elders. He now turns to slaves.

See the passage for yourself at 1 Timothy 6:1-2:

Slavery in New Testament times was significantly different than it has been in recent centuries, especially as experienced in the US. As a result of this, we have very little comprehension of just what it was like to be a slave in those days. We can’t even imagine what it must have been like.

Slavery in the New Testament had very little to do with nationality, ethnicity or skin color. It was more based upon economic circumstances, or because of war. In fact, it was not a rare occurrence for a person to sell themselves into slavery to improve their situation or pay a debt. Slavery to a good master was often a better place to be than a poor free person.

Slaves made up a significant portion of many of the early churches written to in the New Testament, and Paul addressed slavery in many of his letters, such as 1 Corinthians 7:21-24, Colossians 3:22-25, Ephesians 6:5-8, and Titus 2:9-10. Peter also addressed slavery in 1 Peter 2:18-25.

But why would Paul address slavery in this letter to Timothy? It may be that some problems had arisen among slaves and master, similar to those issues and attitudes among the younger widows, which Paul spends some time discussing.

Many presume to think that Paul is condoning slavery because he does not speak out against it. However, the truth of his intentions is exactly the opposite of that idea. Paul understand that slavery is abhorrent and immoral. He simply doesn’t have the means to turn such a large and widespread custom into something better. In fact, it will take several more centuries before William Wilberforce sees success in this endeavor.  However, the practice of slavery is still very much alive and prosperous around the world, and there are many organizations dedicated to eradicating it.

In light of this, Paul does the best that he can, and lays the foundation for healthy relationships between slavers and their masters. He encourages slaves to show respect to their masters, because to do otherwise would be to slander the name of God and the gospel message.

The situations becomes even more difficult when both the slave and the master are believers. Now we have a relationship that, legally speaking, is between master and slave, but spiritually speaking, is between brothers in Christ. Apparently some slaves saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of their masters. Paul encourages them to set aside such notions and serve their masters even better, and show them all the more respect. Paul’s intention again, is to prevent slander to the name of God and the gospel message.

Finally, Paul once again encourages Timothy to teach and encourage these things to the church in Ephesus. The context isn’t perfectly clear here to what Paul is referring. He may be encouraging Timothy to teach these things pertaining to slaves, elders and widows. But since this section of the letter concludes much of what went before, this may well refer back as far as the beginning of chapter two.

With this, Paul concludes much of the bulk of his letter to Timothy. His final words in the next several verses will draw things back to the initial purpose of the letter, which was to address the false teachers Timothy was encountering. The final chapter will tie up a lot of loose threads and leave the pleasant taste of encouragement behind.

What are your thoughts about the crisis of epidemic proportions concerning slavery in our world today? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.