An Exposition Of 1 Peter, Part 14: Christianity And Slavery

Christianity and Slavery

1 Peter 2:18-20

Introduction

In the last study, we discussed the obligation to submit to lawful secular authority at all levels from the king on down. The Church was not to rebel against this authority as all authority comes from God. We are to model good conduct in a hostile and evil world. We are not to overcome the evil in this world by doing evil ourselves. As we look at the study today we see a similar authority structure at a lower level. The level we are addressing today is economic authority, the authority of the workplace. Most people work for someone called a boss. They might not properly be called slaves as was often the case in the Roman Empire, but in exchange for a paycheck, the employer expects the employee to submit to workplace authority.

One of the major economic units in Rome was that of the plantation. This was common in rural areas. The churches which Peter wrote to probably lived in the plantation society. At the head of the plantation was the owner, called the “master.” He was ruler over the house (oikos) in Greek. His family came next in rank. The plantation was run according to the rules he set. The Greek words “oikos” and “nomos” (law) are put together in English to form the word “economy.”

There were often a few skilled workers such as blacksmiths and barrel makers who lived on the plantation. Many of these were freemen. Their houses (oikia) were on the property itself. Most of the plantation consisted of slaves. slaves made up well more than half the population of the Roman Empire. The performed all sorts of task on the plantation from actually managing the plantation for the master (economist) down to the most menial tasks.

Outside the plantations, there were businessmen and traders who made up much of the population f towns. These also owned slaves and employed workers. The third group were government employees and officials. Many also owned slaves, such as scribes, tutors for their children, cooks, and domestic slaves to care for the estate. So, there were a lot of slaves. And in the church, this meant that there were a lot of believers who were formally slaves. How were they to deal with the reality that even though they were freed in Christ, that they were still slaves to men.

Exposition of the Text

Slaves, be subject to your masters with all fear — The Greek word for “be subject” is not a main verb, even though it is translated as an imperative in English. Participles introduce subordinate ideas. In this case, the use of the participle subjects the idea to another verb, an imperative in this case. We need to go back to verse 14 to find the link. So the idea here is subordinate to where Peter says to be subject to all human authority. This gives us the idea here of “In like manner, household slaves are to be subject to their master with all fear.” All things are subject to the Sovereignty of God. The emperor is subject to God. The governor is subject to God through subjection to the emperor. So here we see a lower level of subjection. The household slaves are to be subject to their master who are subject to the governor, the governor to the king, and the king to God. This is God’s order for society, and He will hold all accountable.

Peter uses the Greek word “oiketes” here translated “slave.” But this is not the common word for “slave” which is “doulos.” As Peter has just used the general word for slave in 1 Peter 2:16 to describe the Christian’s relationship with God, we must realize that Peter has a specific type of slavery in mind. Roman society had four ranks of slaves, and often gave the slaves names or titles according to their rank. The first rank was called “primus” in Latin. The second was “secundus,” the third “tertius,” and the fourth “Quadratus.” The first two ranks were usually referred to as “oiketes” or “domestic slaves.” So Peter is addressing these slaves particularly. This is because these slaves were visible. The lower ranks of slaves were managed by a manager or overseer. The master rarely interacted with slaves of thies lower ranks. This is not to say that the lower ranks of slaves were invisible to God. It is interesting that in the Book of Romans, a slave by the name of Tertius as the one who wrote what Paul dictated and gives greeting. Even more amazing is that Quadratus also gives greeting. So there you have the entire rank of the society represented from the master Erastus who was probably the treasurer of the city of Corinth down to the lowly Quadratus mentioned in the same verse (Romans 16:23). (James Boice has good commentary on this in his commentary on Romans, volume 4.) I might add that even though the third and fourth ranks are not directly addressed by Peter here, it can be implied that they are to be subjected to their overseers and taskmasters.