Modern Slavery

We all know that the slavery of the 17th through 19th centuries in America and Europe was a nightmare. A travesty of justice. The epitome of cruelty and injustice. For what? To make a buck, to be more comfortable, oh, and to have power, to be sure. There was nothing commendable about that era, that slavery. But, as it turns out, slavery has been around a long time and it still goes on. The Bible speaks on the topic of slaves, and, even though it was a different sort of slavery addressed there, it was there. And we are constantly reminded of modern slavery, people kidnapping people to be owned and used and abused. Women, girls, children, whomever serves their lusts, be it sexual or otherwise. Slavery, it seems, always was and remains to this day, shifting only in form but not existence.

Jesus talked about slavery. When He famously said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32), the Jews told Him they were already free (ignoring, for reasons I don't quite understand, their Roman overlords). So we read, "Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin'" (John 8:34). That was Jesus's term -- "slave of sin." Paul picked that up in Romans 6.

Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? (Rom 6:16)

The same idea that Jesus presented. Those who commit sin -- who submit themselves to sin -- are slaves of sin. To the church at Ephesus, he wrote,

So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. (Eph 4:17-19)

Those who submit themselves to sin are slaves to sin.

Believers -- those who by faith have died with Christ and been raised with Christ -- have the option to not be slaves to sin. And why should we be? Slavery to sin makes futile minds. Slavery to sin darkens understanding. Slavery to sin hardens hearts. Modern slavery -- as it has always been as well -- is practiced by the slaves, greedily giving themselves over to impure sensuality of every kind. Just like we see in our society today. The kind of slavery that rules our current culture.

We moderns, as a rule, are opposed to slavery. Certainly slavery by race. Most of us are absolutely opposed to kidnapping children as sex slaves. (I say "most" because, after all, there are still evil people doing it, right?) We are outraged that slavery still exists. And, yet, as a rule, our society submits itself to slavery. Slavery to pleasure, slavery to lust, slavery to sex and wealth and comfort and power. The kind of slavery that steals freedom and makes for futile minds. Humans enslaving humans is bad enough. Our culture does it to itself and demands that they be free to do it. (Think of the irony of that. "Free to be slaves.") The only hope any of us have for freedom is in Christ, and that freedom comes by faith in Him through death to self. So why are so many of us keeping that freedom to ourselves?