Archive for August, 2009
New Testament Slavery: A User-Friendly Guide
Modern readers are often troubled by the New Testament’s failure to criticize the first century institution of slavery.
This concern is often born of the idea that first century slavery is like pre-Civil War American slavery.
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
First Century Slavery v. 18th Century:
Major Differences
Even though first century slavery was widespread (half of Rome’s approximately 4 million residents were slaves [warning: PDF]), slaves were often highly educated, permitted to own land and could expect emancipation.
Furthermore, slaves and masters were often of the same ethnic background. In other words, they were indistinguishable from each other.
Seneca records that a proposal was put forth to have slaves wear distinctive clothing. The proposal was shot down when someone pointed out that slaves would then see how numerous they were. [De clementia 1.24.1]
Finally, because slaves supported the personal economy of masters, masters invested in their slaves. Owners often provided medical care and sufficient housing and food for their slaves and family.
This explains why slaves often chose to remain with their masters. A free man couldn’t take those things for granted [ Between Slavery and Freedom, M. I. Finley].
Treatment of Slaves
Naturally, the ideal slave owner was a benevolent patriarch who ruled justly and fairly. Pliny claims he treated his slaves fairly, going as far as sending one to a friend’s villa on the French Riviera to recuperate from an illness.
Yet, since the treatment of slaves depended on the character of the master, mistreatment was rampant. Emperor Claudius passed laws that limited and forbid masters to punish or kill their slaves.
How to Become a First Century Slave
There were five main ways a person could become a slave during Jesus’ life.
1. Debt. People who couldn’t pay their debts offered themselves as slaves.
2. Retribution. A thief who couldn’t repay what he stole could be sold as a slave.
3. Parents. As a last resort, a father could sell his daughter into slavery to pay off a debt.
4. Birth. Children born to slave parents became property of the masters. These children were known as “house born slaves.”
5. Conquest. A person could become a slaved when their nation was conquered by another nation.
Three Ways a Slave Could Buy His Freedom
What’s unique about the first century institution of slavery versus the 18th–especially in the Jewish context–is that a slave could eventually go free. That freedom came in three fundamental ways:
1. After six years, a slave was to be released. For nothing. Exodus 21:2
2. In the year of Jubilee, all slaves were released, no matter how long they’d been slaves.
3. Finally, slaves could buy their freedom–or someone could buy it for them.
Naturally, slaves could choose to remain with their masters. As I mentioned above, there was great incentive for a slave to stay with his master.
Why Paul Didn’t Condemn Slavery
Slavery was such an essential, fundamental part of first century society–much like our current minimum-wage labor–that it was difficult for anyone embedded in the culture to call for the actual abolition of the institution. Instead, more emphasis was put on its reformation.
In that context, rather than call for an out-right rebellion, Paul advised slaves to obey their masters. But he also urged masters to treat their slaves with compassion.
There’s no doubt about it: Slaves in New Testament times stood at the bottom of the social scale.
Yet, the thrust of the New Testament is a new standing–neither free nor slave–but all one Christ. In other words, slaves are no longer second class citizens, but brothers and sisters in Christ.
Therefore, even though there isn’t a direct call to abolish slavery in the New Testament, the implication of the gospel–especially it’s ethic of love–stands in opposition to slavery.
Final Thoughts
In the end, Paul was more concerned about people apart from Christ–people who were slaves to sin. He understood: Change a person’s heart and you change the way they treat slaves.
And the beauty of the gospel is that Christ can set people free from the bondage of sin.
All Christians–especially ministers–are servants of Christ. Bondservants. Rather, slaves. Slaves do not manage their lives. Neither do Christians. We acknowledge that the Savior has power over us. And so joyfully embrace this institution of slavery.
An Open Letter to Skeptics
Dear Skeptic,
I apologize for not writing sooner, but I wanted this to be a meaningful response. Not one kicked out in an hour.
See, you level–like many others before you–a serious accusation at Christians that’s worth a deliberate, thoughtful reply.
A reply that evaluates every inch of your accusation…addresses the perception behind this accusation…and then corrects it.
Why Am I Doing This?
I think it may help you understand us a little better, because we’re all here to understand each other, right?
Well, let’s see how I do.
First, the Accusation
What is the accusation I’m talking about? Nothing more than we Christians like to change the subject on you.
Now, I confess: We do. At least I do. And I’ll tell you why in a minute. But right now I want to explore something else…
I want to unpack your perception of why you believe we change the subject. Tell me if I get it right.
See, you accuse Christians of changing the subject and suggest the reason why is that we can’t answer your objections.
Perhaps this is true in some circumstances. But let me suggest another option:
We change subjects because it’s pointless.
At some point in our discussion–and I’ve seen these struggles between believers and skeptics long enough to know when it’s happening–we have to draw the line and say this person isn’t open to an earnest conversation.
He isn’t interested in my beliefs…he’s looking for a fight.
Or he’s looking to get his kicks from making Christians stumble. Or maybe he’s simply looking for a platform to display his arrangement of arguments and sophisticated intelligence. In the end, he’s just looking to snub and ridicule another person’s beliefs.
How Do I Know Your Motivation?
It’s easy to see. So often you’re asking the right questions. Questions like, “Is there eternal life? Did Jesus rise from the dead? What do I need to do to be saved?”
But unfortunately, you’re not looking to understand our position. You’re looking for a soft spot. And when you think you find that soft spot–you punch it…
You demand we give you a systematic explanation that satisfies you. We explain, you find another soft spot–and punch that one. Ad infinitum.
The sad thing is you’ve already answered those questions for yourself–in the negative, which is fine–but now you demand Christians intellectually gratify you.
Sorry. But we’re not obligated to do that.
This Is All We’re Obligated to Do
All we’re obligated to do is deliver a clear, graceful articulation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. To warn you of the consequences of rejecting that gospel. And to alert you to the danger of bowing down to men like Einstein, Aristotle or Plato.
Men who scientifically, logically and philosophically can walk circles around most Christians like me. But men who are morally inferior to the conquering Messiah.
The conquering Messiah who existed before time. Who walked on the earth. Who died. And who rose from the dead [Warning: PDF].
Indeed, I wish I had the stamina and intellectual resources to answer your every objection. But thank God, I’m not obligated to do that.
I do try to evaluate each discussion. Answer honest objections. Discern the the sincerity of each question: Are they seeking? Or are they looking for a fight?
If it’s the latter, then it’s pointless to argue. It’s pointless because you are dead to the truth. Blind to reason. And doomed to stumble in intellectual darkness.
And it’s only the gospel that will pry your eyes open.
If you accuse me of being insane, irrational or simply naive, so be it. I glory in that accusation…in that association with the risen Christ.
Why I Change Subjects on You
Furthermore, when I change the subject on you, it doesn’t mean I can’t answer the question. More than likely it just means the subject you want to fight over is peripheral. And I won’t squander emotional equity on peripheral arguments.
Yet the subject I want to shift the conversation to–the wrath of God appeased on the cross of Christ–is the real issue.
And the issue I’m willing to die for.
It’s like fighting over the color of the seats while the plane is going down in flames. Let’s land this wreckage first then squabble over what remains. [Forgive me. I'm terribly pragmatic.]
I Won’t Neglect This to Satisfy You
Listen: I do have a biblical obligation to give a defense of my faith. To explain why I believe what I believe. Especially to those who come in a posture of humility–whether fans or opponents of the faith.
But I’m not obligated to gratify antagonistic, self-righteous opponents of the Cross. Christ didn’t. And I won’t.
Neither am I required to appease your moral shock or intellectual grievance over my beliefs. This is simply part of the territory. The Bible plainly states:
Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense [1]…but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles [2].
If I do try to fight…if I do try to answer your every objection…we will go around in circles. And I’ll neglect the most precious, joyful privilege I’ll ever have: Confessing Christ and explaining the law of the cross.
Understand, I’m horribly self-conscious about this letter. That I missed an angle. Or flubbed a point. But I hope at least I’ve edged our understanding of each other an inch in the right direction.
If not more.
I’m confident you’ll let me know if I did. Or didn’t. That being the nature of this type of communication. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Demian Farnworth
P.S. Please, share your thoughts. Brutal and all.
Crucifixion: The Messiah Mocked on the Cross
Near the end of the story of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we see Jesus nailed to a cross…
A cross standing between two crucified robbers–a subtle insult by Pilate suggesting the king of the Jews was nothing more than a criminal.
The Mocked Messiah
Onlookers cursed Jesus. Spit his way. Even challenged him to crawl down from the cross. The two robbers hurled abuses at him.
Some Jews cried, “He saved others, but he can’t even save himself!”
This is a gruesome antithesis of Mary’s reckless act of worship. A far cry from an otherworldly transfiguration.
Jesus on the cross is not a potent display of power. It doesn’t move anyone to declare, “You are the Christ.”
In fact, in the minds of Mary, John and Peter–in the minds of all his followers–it looks like nothing more than a scandal. A fraud. A huge, out-of-nowhere upset late in the quarter.
This can’t be happening. Not to our Messiah. But it is.
Cursing Christ
The mockery doesn’t stop. Someone cries, “Let Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!”
A final demand for a miracle by the unbelieving Jewish authorities. A miracle they claim would convince them once and for all that Jesus is indeed who he says he is: The Messiah.
Their claim is false. They would not believe. They refused to believe any miracle up to that point. And they would refuse to believe in the resurrection.
In the end, they satisfied the desires of their heart. At the expense of the suffering Christ. But, without knowing it, they established the glory and perfection of Jesus: He saved others but not himself.
What the Work of the Crucifixion Means
This is what we don’t see: The work occurring out of every one’s sight between Jesus and God. The work that darkened Jesus’ soul, broke his body but displayed his absolute perfection.
All the work between himself and God.
And morally rejected by the world there was no longer any room in it for his mercy towards it. He drank in his soul the cup of death and the judgment of sin. His work was complete.
Obedient to the end, he dies. But his death ushers in another world. A life where evil could never enter…and the new man will be perfectly at peace in the presence of God.
How Do You See the Suffering Messiah?
The man who sees the danger in mocking the suffering Messiah will with relentless intensity seek salvation.
The man who sees the forgiveness for sin and the gift of eternal life purchased for him by the suffering and death of the Son of God will rejoice endlessly.
And the man who sees the sins which crucified Christ will mourn with godly sorrow.
How do you see the suffering Christ?
**Part of The Messiah: Eleven Meditations from the Book of Mark series.**
How to Absorb a Book into Your Bloodstream
Just in case you were beginning to mistake me for a methamphetamine addict who blazes through books, I thought I’d write a post to correct that picture in your mind.
In fact, I want to convince you of one of the most important rules when it comes to reading.
I want to show you why absorbing a book into your bloodstream is a good thing.
And I want to show you that unless you do this, you’re likely missing out on the best kind of reading. Let me show you what I mean.
Mutilating the Garden
Now, what I’m about to say might make you grit your teeth. Clench your fist. Pick up a crow bar.
You might compare my idea to a suggestion we rip out the chrysanthemums from your garden. Uproot the lemongrass, lavender or tarragon. Or pluck your prize-winning cherry tree out with a winch hitched to a pick up.
But that couldn’t be further from the truth. So relax.
3 Kinds of Book Owners
There are book owners who buy and never read. They worship the bestseller. They adore the elegant binding and pristine paper of a collector’s edition set. These book lovers are marked not so much by intelligence but by wealth.
Then there’s the book owner who buys but seldom reads every page of a book. More likely flirts with a few pages before setting a volume down. Like the first, his books look brand new ten years after he bought them.
Then there’s the book owner who owns a small shelf collapsing under the weight of stained, dog-eared, loose in the binding and, most importantly, scrawled-in-from-front-to-back books.
It’s that last reader who absorbs a book into his bloodstream. And it’s that last reader who I want to convince you to become.
5 Good Reasons to Write in a Book
Writing in a book isn’t a magical act. And it isn’t like destroying a garden. But it is a symbol that you’ve crossed over from owning a book to actually absorbing a book. Mortimer J. Alder compares it to buying a steak versus eating the steak…
Until it’s in your bloodstream, you’re simply keeping it cool. And until you write in a book, you don’t own it. You’re just babysitting.
So, before I give you ideas on how to mark a book up, let me show you why writing thoughtfully in your books is a good idea.
Here are five reasons:
1. Activates your mind. Instead of being a participant who merely sits back and tries to acknowledge everything that comes at him, the mind leans forward and starts to interrogate.
2. Marks your territory. Disgusting, but think dog, urine, fire hydrant. Going back to a book two years later after you marked it up can be so entertaining: You get to explore your thoughts, moods and passions from the past. It’s an intellectual diary.
3. Establishes a footprint. Your scribble marks in a book tell you what ground you’ve covered in a half-read book. And they help you recall ideas and concepts you’ve read if you’re going in for a second time.
4. Teaches you how to write. After picking apart a chapter, you naturally start to absorb that writer’s style. Important if you’re an emerging author.
5. Exposes the intangible. Marking up a book uncovers the writer’s patterns, styles and meaning…much like an archaeologist meticulously dusting debris away from a ceramic pot buried three thousand years ago sees the design.
How Does This Approach Differ from Speed Reading?
Are you kidding me? It’s the difference between a dog swallowing a burrito versus a caterpillar systematically nibbling away at a leaf.
One’s fast. One’s slow. And one is better.
You drill through a newspaper in 15 minutes…devour a magazine in an hour…claw your way through a Kellerman in a night because these are light, superficial readings.
On the other hand, you linger on the poems of John Donne. Repeatedly grind a rut with a pencil into the first four pages of Charnock. And laboriously fill the margins of a chapter like Galatians 3 with notes.
Why Go Through All This Trouble?
The point of writing in a good book is NOT to see how many you can get through. The point is to see how many get through to you. How many you absorb into your blood.
And one of the best ways to do that is to write in it. Let me give you some obvious and no-so-obvious tips on how to do just that.
10 Tips on How to Write in a Book
1. Circle interesting words.
2. Underline interesting sentences.
3. Write questions or comments in the margin.
4. Draw arrows from the notes in the margin to the section of book the note refers to.
5. Record the page number where an idea is repeated.
6. Summarize each chapter on the blank page in between chapters.
7. Create an outline of the book on blank pages in the front of the book.
8. Summarize the main idea of the book in the blank pages at the back.
9. Summarize some of the supporting ideas.
10. Create an index of topics, books or ideas for future exploration.
If I’ve failed to convince you of writing in a book, at least use a scrap of paper to write on. A scrap of paper you keep in the book.
Your Turn
Writing in books: Good or bad? Easy or hard for you? What tricks do you use to mark up your books? Anything I didn’t mention? Looking forward to your thoughts.
Enemy of God [Our Condition Apart from New Birth]
**Part of the 10 Hard Truths about Being Born Again series**
You whore, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?
And don’t you know, if you are a friend with the world, then you are an enemy of God?
No. I haven’t gone bonkers.
Simply quoting James 4:4 to make a point: The person dead-set on embracing all the world has to offer can never please God.
And that’s a dangerous thing. Let me explain.
The Sum of Human Affairs
First, let’s define the word “world.” In James 4:4 it refers to the customs, practices and interests of man. It refers to the sum of human affairs.
And what are the sum of human affairs? Sex, money, fame and power. Subtle as a stiff-necked refusal to nurture a spouse. Vivid and wicked as bashing a baby into a tree.
Quiet as a college student cheating on a test. Loud as a state governor’s addiction to call girls.
These are the sum of human affairs. Affairs that the enemy of God quite often views as neutral, harmless or even inviting.
The Problem with Embracing Human Affairs
Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
In other words, a decision for sex, money fame or power is a decision against God. A decision at odds with serving Christ. You will be consumed by one or the other. Not both. And which one you choose is important.
John the Apostle said, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
This statement–like eleven others in a recent post–are designed to determine your authenticity as a Christian. Designed to determine your commitment to Christ. Either you are submitted or not.
Do This to Know If You’re Submitted to Christ
How do you know if you are submitted or not? Here’s one way.
Which way do your thoughts move? If they move towards the pleasure of God, the welfare of your soul, the concern of things eternal, then your mind is after Christ.
But if your thoughts move towards the pleasure of man, the welfare of the flesh, the concern of the earth, then your mind is after the world.
Bottom line: A love for the world means you are NOT committed to Christ. Thus, you are dead, dark and hard toward God. You are a captive to the world. God’s enemy. And spiritually dead.
What does that mean? Three things.
1. You are a slave to self and sin.
2. God wants to destroy you.
3. You can’t do anything about it.
Enter Jesus Christ. The only person who can change your condition. He can raise you from spiritual death. Open your spiritual eyes. Remove God’s wrath. And secure peace between you and God.
That means God can subject the unbeliever to his will and law. But the carnal mind can’t do it on his own. His carnality must be broken. It must be driven out.
The Spiritual Problem with Carnality
Without the Holy Spirit our minds are resistant to God’s authority. Thus, we will not–we CANNOT–submit to God. And if we can’t submit to him, we can’t please him.
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:7-8
Unfortunately, the law requires inward obedience. Fortunately, that obedience comes by faith in Jesus Christ. Faith that is a gift from God.
Here’s what you have to keep in mind: God demonstrated his hatred for sin by the sufferings of Jesus on the cross. But in that one act we were pardoned. We were justified. We were given new life and the ability to please God.
We were given an alien righteousness we could not attain apart from the new birth. And this is why you need to be born again.
Your Turn
I summarized human affairs as sex, money, fame and power. Do you agree? Disagree? Add anything to it?
And what does submitting to Christ look like to you? I look forward to your thoughts. Brutal and all.
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