Slavery in the Roman World

The Bible is full of slavery. As we’ve said, it is an overarching theme of life, that we all are slaves to someone or something. We are made with free will; we can make choices. That freedom is real, but once we’ve chosen (or refuse to choose) we will discover who we will obey. The Hebrew word for slave, ebed, can speak of literal slavery to a human master, or be used metaphorically to describe believers (more than 250 times!), denoting their duty and privilege to obey the heavenly Lord. The New Testament uses the Greek work, doulos, and it’s meaning is similar, referring to believers at least 40 times (from John Macarthur’s book Slave), much more than the familiar term we tend to use today, Christian. The odd thing is, when translating these words, often modern translators choose to use the word “servant” rather than slave. Why? Our past two articles on this topic helped explain. We have been sensitized to the evils of slavery through the American experience and with modern trafficking being such a hot topic. So, we push back from calling a Christ follower this. Servants are hired helpers; slaves are owned by someone. Ironically, the Greek language has at least a half dozen words that can mean servant. The word doulos is not one of them. So, when the New Testament writers used the word doulos, they intentionally meant slave, not servant. As a Christian, I don’t wake up each day and say, “Should I serve Jesus today, or not?” If I am a Christian, I am bound to him. He is my Lord; I am his slave. What he commands, I will do. Sure, even a slave in ancient times could wake up and say, “I refuse to do what my master says today.” Such freedom exists, but with it comes the consequences of such a choice. It may result in punishment from the master, estrangement, and the “freedom” we tried to exercise is called into question, backfiring. In Rome of Jesus’ time, roughly 20% of the empire’s population were slaves, totaling about 12 million as the first century AD began. The Roman economy was very dependent on this pool of skilled and unskilled labor. Keep in mind that a slave in Roman society was not like the slaves brought to America from Africa, unseated from the environment they understood and placing them in one they could not relate to. Roman slavery was not race oriented. The slaves of Rome might be cooks, shopkeepers, skilled craftsmen, even doctors; they just were under the yoke of being owned by someone else. They were not foreign to the culture, they may have grown up in it, and it might even be hard to tell the difference between the slave and his master from a quick glance on the street as they walked by. Sure, some owners might be heavy handed with their slaves, but normally within the Roman culture, slavery offered social and economic protection for the slave. Room and board were provided, you were trained for the task you carried out, and if the master was respected, you would be respected also, since you were attached to him. If the master was a powerful member of the community, maybe a government official, his slaves would have honor due to their relationship with him. He might send them on errands to far-away places, trusting them to carry out his will. The experience of a slave in Roman society was dependent on the demands and goodness of his master. If the master was abusive, temperamental, lacked values, then the slave’s life could be one of misery. But, if the master was reasonable, gracious, and kind, the life of the slave could be very good. In such a case, the slave might have no desire whatsoever to leave their master, buy serve him with honor.

Cross Point: “That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome” (Romans 1:15). The good news (gospel) is that we can have a reasonable, gracious, and kind master, who will save us from sin and then lead us to heaven.