BBL 450 New Testament
Backgrounds
CLASS V: Slavery & Family
Dr. Esa Autero
Slavery & Family
1.1 Introduction
 Why does NT condone slavery?
 What were families like in the ancient Roman empire
and the in the NT?
 What about the status of women?
Slavery & Family
2.1 Slavery in the Roman Empire
 Slavery – foundation of Roman society
 warfare, kidnapping, punishment, reproduction
 Julius Caesar’s 1 million POW from Gaul
 Slaves: est. 16-20% [60 million] of Roman Empire
 Many also freedman – i.e. former slaves
 Justification for slavery
 Some “slaves by nature” per Aristotle (Pol. 1252a-55b)
 ius gentium (everybody does it) – legitimate spoils of war
 Romans: slavery ‘contrary to nature’ but justifiable
 Slaves owned by individuals, families, temples, associations, municipalities,
state, municipalities, some common people
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The first coupling together of persons…and the union of natural ruler
and natural subject for the sake of security (for he that can foresee
with his mind is naturally ruler and naturally master, and he that can
do these things with his body is subject and naturally a slave; so that
master and slave have the same interest) Thus the female and the
slave are by nature distinct （for nature makes nothing as the cutlers
make the Delphic knife, in a niggardly way, but one thing for one
purpose; for so each tool will be turned out in the finest perfection, if it
serves not many uses but one）. Yet among barbarians the female
and the slave have the same rank; and the cause of this is that
barbarians have no class of natural rulers, but with them the conjugal
partnership is a partnership of female slave and male slave. Hence
the saying of the poets — “ 'Tis meet that Greeks should rule
barbarians,— ” implying that barbarian and slave are the same in
nature. From these two partnerships then is first composed the
household, and Hesiod was right when he wrote “ First and foremost a
house and a wife and an ox for the ploughing— ” for the ox serves
instead of a servant for the poor.’(Aristotle, Pol. 1252a-b)
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•
Slavery and social status
 Wealth & social status of the elite – number of slaves owned
let us turn to C. Cæcilius Claudius Isidorus, who, in the
consulship of C. Asinius Gallus and C. Marcius
Censorinus…declared by his will, that though he had suffered
great losses through the civil wars, he was still able to leave
behind him four thousand one hundred and sixteen slaves, three
thousand six hundred pairs of oxen, and two hundred and fiftyseven thousand heads of other kind of cattle, besides, in ready
money, sixty millions of sesterces. (Pliny, Nat. Hist. 33.47)
 Status of slaves – from respectable to extreme debasement
 Educators, doctors, city officials (Erastus, aedile Rom 16:23; Acts 24:22-27)
 Managers of households, estates, business
 Top managerial positions of familia Caesaris (cf. Phil 4:22; Acts 8:27)
 More status, money, and power than most free Romans
Slavery & Family
 “Normal” and menial slave tasks – most slaves
 Household servants, shop keepers, barbers, magicians (Acts 16:16-24),
agricultural workers; mines, quarries, oarsmen
•
Conditions of ancient slaves and New World slavery
 Social death – complete subjugation of self to master(s)
 Ancient slavery: not racial; no segregated tasks or housing
 Possibility of manumission – strings attached
 For good service – solidify the system & benevolence of master
 Refusal not optional generally (cf. 1 Cor 7:21, contra NRSV)
 Most agricultural slaves never manumitted
 How common was manumission open to debate
Slavery & Family
 Ancient slaves and NW slavery
 Punishment & torture – worse in the ancient world (sexual abuse;
flagellum, crucifixion, burning, gladiator competitions)
 Legislation to curb violence (lex Aelia sentia; lex Petronia etc.) – min.
age for manumission to 30yrs. by Augustus; no death by wild beasts AD
79; prohibition of castration for commercial purposes (Domitian).
 AS: Possibility of earning money toward manumission (peculium)
 Fugitivus status w/ possible advocate (Phlm.) vs. fugitive in the NW
 AS: Could potentially acquire education
 AS: Might be better off than day laborers & other ‘degraded’ classes
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 Seneca section
Seneca, Epist. 47
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• Translating words or
Seneca, Epist. 47
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 Pliny’s letter to Sabianus:
 Pliny the Younger (AD 62-115)
 Roman Senator
Slavery & Family
 Read the above and Philemon; indicate similarities & differences
Slavery & Family
Moreover Palestine and Syria too are not barren of exemplary wisdom
and virtue, which countries no slight portion of that most populous
nation of the Jews inhabits. There is a portion of those people called
Essenes, in number something more than four thousand in my
opinion…and there is not a single slave among them, but they are all
free, aiding one another with a reciprocal interchange of good offices;
and they condemn masters, not only as unjust, inasmuch as they
corrupt the very principle of equality, but likewise as impious, because
they destroy the ordinances of nature, which generated them all
equally, and brought them up like a mother, as if they were all
legitimate brethren, not in name only, but in reality and truth. But in
their view this natural relationship of all men to one another has been
thrown into disorder by designing covetousness, continually wishing to
surpass others in good fortune, and which has therefore engendered
alienation instead of affection, and hatred instead of friendship. (Philo
Prob. 75, 79)
Slavery & Family
 How should NT passages on slavery be understood?
 1 Cor 7:21-22; Eph 6:5-9; Col 3:22-4:1; 1 Tim 6:1-2; Tit 2:9; 1 Pet 2:18-19; Phlm.
 Institution of slavery inevitable – abolishment unthinkable
 1 Cor 7:21-23 encourages freedom/manumission(?)
 Eph & Col gives instructions also to masters
 Slavery “Christianized” – instructions to masters & slaves’ moral autonomy
assumed
 Pastorals – church as a household & social harmony
 1 Pet 2 – suffering as Christ
 Pastorals and 1 Pet 2 focus on witness
 Phlm 16 “more than a slave…” – seeds of emancipation?
 Practical outworking of Gal 3:28
 Slavery imagery and status from slave to son (Rom 8:15-16)
Slavery & Family
2.2 Family in the Roman Empire
 Family structure in the
Greco-Roman world
 Parents, children,
grandparents, slaves, cousins
 Family wealth, honor, and status
 Family honor & status of individuals
 Paterfamilias – honor, beneficence, rule
 Materfamilias – virtue, modesty, character
 Children – valued as contribution to family unit
 Personal happiness subordinate to the family
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 Women, wives, and mothers
 Most literary sources written by men
 Select inscriptions, private letters, paintings by women
 Public & private space – Greek (secluded), Roman, Jewish (more freedom)
 Restricted participation – exclusion from politics & military; no guarantee for debts
 Woman’s identity in relation to male relatives – father, husband, son
 Societal ideals of modesty, industry, and pietas (=piety)
 Women in city: patronesses; clients, business, owned slaves, some
studied philosophy; shop keepers, tailors; worked in the market, as
slaves, wet nurses, sex workers, household chores.
 Rural: farm work, chopped firewood, prepared meals & household chores.
 Status in society and freedom connected
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• Translating words or
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 Marriage – as a teen (men 25-30yrs.) by “agreement” & local ceremony
 Dowry – payment to husband but returned in divorce
 Marriage often pragmatic arrangement & divorce had no stigma
 Sex only w/ husband – men had “free reign”, but not w/ married women
 Roman – monogamous w/ concubines
 Jewish men – polygamy (Ant. 17.11-12; cf. 1 Tim 3:12)
 “for it is the ancient practice among us to have many wives at the same time”
 Betrothal process and marriage early teens (cf. Matt 1:18-21)
 Divorce common even among the pious (cf. Deut 24:1; Mark 10:2-12)
 Shammai: only for adultery
 Hillel: for almost any reason
 Wife, slaves, children conspired against dominant male acc. to
Menander (cf. Eph 5:21-6:9)
Slavery & Family
Princes and kings honor themselves in giving honor to philosophers
and learned men. On the other side, great personages admired and
courted by philosophers are no way honored by their flatteries, which
are rather a prejudice and stain to the reputation of those that use
them. Thus it is with women, who in honoring and submitting to their
husbands win for themselves honor and respect, but when they strive
to get the mastery, they become a greater reproach to themselves
than to those that are so ignominiously henpecked. But then again, it
behooves a husband to control his wife, not as a master does his
vassal, but as the soul governs the body, with the gentle hand of
mutual friendship and reciprocal affection. For as the soul commands
the body, without being subject to its pleasures and inordinate desires,
in like manner should a man so exercise his authority over his wife, as
to soften it with complaisance and kind requital of her loving
submission. (Plutarch, Conj. Praec. 33)
Slavery & Family
 High maternal and child mortality rate
 Woman’s honor tied to family & husband; virtue & sexual purity
 Children – little sentimentality toward children
 Children as irrational – need of strong correction by paedagogus
 Parents not often primary caregivers
 Children as part of the family group
 High infant mortality – 30-35% died
 Exposure to violence and social disruption
 Presentation of the baby to paterfamilias for acceptance/rejection
 Female/child infanticide
 Baby naming on 9th day for boys and 40th day for girls
 School/learning a trade at age seven
 Work started by teenage years
Slavery & Family
Hilarion to his sister Alis, many greetings, also to my lady
Berous and Apollonarion. Know that I am still in Alexandria;
and do not worry if they wholly set out, I am staying in
Alexandria. I ask you and entreat you, take care of the child,
and if I receive my pay soon, I will send it up to you. Above all,
if you bear a child and it is male, let it be; if it is female, cast it
out. You have told Aphrodisias, "Do not forget me." But how
can I forget you? Thus I'm asking you not to worry. The 29th
year of Caesar, Pauni 23. (verso) Hilarion to Alis, deliver.
(P.Oxy. 744)
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1 For evil are women, my children; and since they have no
power or strength over man, they use 2 wiles by outward
attractions, that they may draw him to themselves. And
whom they cannot 3 bewitch by outward attractions, him
they overcome by craft. For moreover, concerning them, the
angel of the Lord told me, and taught me, that women are
overcome by the spirit of fornication more than men, and in
their heart they plot against men; and by means of their
adornment they deceive first their minds, and by the glance
of the eye instill the poison, and then through the
accomplished 4 act they take them captive. For a woman
cannot force a man openly, but by a harlot's (T.Ruben 5.1-4)
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[9] A daughter keeps her father secretly wakeful, and worry over
her robs him of sleep; when she is young, lest she do not marry,
or if married, lest she be hated; [10] while a virgin, lest she be
defiled or become pregnant in her father's house; or having a
husband, lest she prove unfaithful, or, though married, lest she
be barren. [11] Keep strict watch over a headstrong daughter,
lest she make you a laughingstock to your enemies, a byword in
the city and notorious among the people, and put you to shame
before the great multitude. [12] Do not look upon any one for
beauty, and do not sit in the midst of women; [13] for from
garments comes the moth, and from a woman comes woman's
wickedness. [14] Better is the wickedness of a man than a
woman who does good; and it is a woman who brings shame
and disgrace. (Sir 42:9-14)
Slavery & Family
But let not a single witness be credited, but three, or two at
the least, and those such whose testimony is confirmed by
their good lives. But let not the testimony of women be
admitted, on account of the levity and boldness of their
sex. Nor let servants be admitted to give testimony, on
account of the ignobility of their soul; since it is probable
that they may not speak truth, either out of hope of gain, or
fear of punishment. But if any one be believed to have
borne false witness, let him, when he is convicted, suffer all
the very same punishments which he against whom he
bore witness was to have suffered. (Ant. 4.8.15; cf.
mNiddah 6.45)
Slavery & Family
 Despite the derogatory remarks, Jewish women in Diaspora
(Thess.) sometimes functioned as synagogue leaders & elders
•
New Testament texts on women and family:
 Mark 10:2-12; 7:24-30
 Luke 8:1-3; 10:38-42; 24:1-12
 John 4:7-42; 20:1-18
 Acts 16:11-15, 16-24; 18:26
 Rom 16:1-5, 7; Phil 4:2-3
 1 Cor 1:11; 11:1-16; 14:34 (11:4; cf. olulugia);16:19
 Eph 5:21-33; Col 3:18-21; 1 Pet 3:1-7
 1 Tim 2:11-15; Tit 2:5
 1 Tim 3:11; Tit 2:3 & heavy drinking among women
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• Translating words or