The Slavery Connection: Why Context Changes Everything

While reading through Scripture one day, the Holy Spirit took me on an unexpected journey that completely transformed how I understand biblical passages about submission. It started with the book of Philemon and ended with a revelation that changed everything.

Let me take you on that same journey.

It Started with Onesimus

I was reading about Paul's appeal to Philemon regarding Onesimus, a slave who had become Paul's "son in the Lord." What struck me was how Paul handled this delicate situation. He didn't pull his apostolic rank and demand Onesimus's freedom. Instead, he appealed to Philemon as a brother in Christ, saying essentially, "You have control here because we're yielding it to you. But we pray that you would see that Onesimus is actually free in Christ."

Paul was bringing love into the institution of slavery. He was yielding to the human system voluntarily, although he probably could have pulled his "I am your apostle" card. But he chose a different approach—the Kingdom approach.

The Pattern Becomes Clear

From Philemon, the Spirit led me directly to Titus, where I found something I'd never noticed before. In the same context where Paul talks about older women and older men serving as elders (the translators actually changed "elder women" and "elder men" to "older women" and "older men" to hide this reality), he gives instructions about wives being subject to their husbands.

But here's what's crucial: just two paragraphs later, Paul writes: "Urge slaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be pleasing, not argumentative, not stealing, but showing good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of our God and Savior in every respect" (Titus 2:9-10, NASB).

The context is identical. Paul isn't saying God is pro-slavery. And he's not saying women have to obey their husbands in the way we've been taught.

The Same Story, Four Times

As I continued studying, I discovered this pattern appears in every single passage about wives submitting to husbands:

Ephesians 5: After instructing wives to submit to husbands, Paul writes, "Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh" (Ephesians 6:5, NASB).

Colossians 3: "Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord" is followed by "Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth" (Colossians 3:18, 22, NASB).

1 Peter 3: The famous passage about wives submitting comes right after "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable" (1 Peter 2:18, NASB).

Titus 2: As we've seen, wives and slaves are addressed in the same breath.

Four passages. Four times the same context. This isn't coincidence.

Understanding Paul's Strategy

Paul was showing believers how to operate within corrupt human institutions while releasing Kingdom transformation into them. Just as we now understand Paul wasn't endorsing slavery for all time, we must recognize he wasn't endorsing male domination either.

Think about it: Paul was writing to a culture where women were literally domestic slaves. They had no voice, no opportunity to earn their own wages, no say in society. In most cases, if they did work, they had to give their wages to their husbands or fathers.

Paul was meeting people where they were, not establishing God's eternal design for human relationships.

The Revolutionary Approach

Here's what Paul was really doing: He was teaching those who were oppressed—women and slaves—how to rise up out of obligation (where they had no choice) and enter into the realm of operating in their own power with their own free will.

When Paul tells slaves to work "not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart" (Ephesians 6:6, NKJV), he's saying: "I know you're in this system, but you can choose your attitude. You can choose to serve from love rather than fear."

The same principle applies to wives. Paul is saying: "You can go through the motions of cultural submission, or you can choose to yield from a place of strength, knowing who you really are in Christ."

The Difference Between Slave and King

Here's the key: A slave can't release God's Kingdom, but a king can. And we're all called to be kings and queens in God's Kingdom.

When I choose to submit to Gregory because I feel like that's what the church is telling me to do, and I believe I have no choice—that I'm secondary by God's design—I can go through all the right motions and never actually release the power of the gospel into our relationship.

But when I submit knowing who I really am—that I am royalty, that I am powerful, that I actually have a voice—and out of that place of strength I choose to yield, now I can release God's Kingdom. Now transformation can happen.

Why We Stopped Here But Not There

Here's what puzzles me: The church eventually recognized that Paul's instructions about slavery were contextual, not eternal. We don't go on national television and say, "Slaves, be subject to your masters." We understand those passages were about bringing Kingdom principles into a corrupt system until that system could be transformed.

But we certainly will hold conferences and televise them worldwide saying, "Wives, be subject to your husbands." We've kept one half of Paul's parallel teaching while abandoning the other.

The Heart of the Matter

Paul's strategy was revolution from the inside out. Not rebellion that destroys, but transformation that renews. He was showing believers how to infiltrate corrupt institutions with love, knowing that love always wins in the end.

When Onesimus returns to Philemon as a free man choosing to serve rather than a slave forced to obey, everything changes. When a wife chooses to yield from strength rather than obligation, the entire dynamic shifts.

That's how God's Kingdom comes—always as leaven from the inside out, not revolution from the outside in.

The Question We Must Answer

So here's the question we each must wrestle with: If we've correctly understood that Paul's words about slavery were contextual rather than eternal, why do we continue to apply his parallel teachings about wives as if they were timeless commands?

The same Spirit who led us to freedom from slavery is leading us to freedom in marriage—not freedom from commitment, but freedom to love and serve from choice rather than obligation.

That's the freedom Christ died to give us. That's the freedom that releases His Kingdom into every relationship and every situation.

And that's the freedom that will ultimately transform every corrupt institution from the inside out, just as Paul intended.

Blessings,
Susan 😊