Slavery & Christianity by John Robbins: A Review

Source: http://fellowprisoner.wordpress.com/2007/03/07/slavery-christianity-by-john-robbins-a-review/

In his briefest epistle, Paul writes to his friend Philemon and his house church, asking that he receive back his fugitive slave Onesimus as a free man and brother in Christ. In his reasoning and appeals to Philemon as a cherished Christian brother, Paul effectively defines both slavery and Christianity and demonstrates why they are incompatible.

Dr. Robbins’s book (Trinity Foundation, 2007) is both a commentary on Philemon and an exposition of slavery as unbiblical as practiced in the Roman Empire–and in the United States.

“Southern slavery was pretty good, and the Northern free labor market was evil–condemned, ironically, as ‘wage-slavery.’ Agrarianism is good, and industrialism is evil. Feudalism is good, and capitalism is evil. Legally enforced social (and perhaps racial) hierarchies are good; equality before the law is evil. In holding these views, Southern nationalists find common ground with both Romanists and Marxists, so it is not unusual or surprising to see Marxists and Romanists like Eugene Genovese and Thomas DiLorenzo defending the feudal, slaveholding South.”

It is possible that Dr. Robbins may overestimate the South’s enthusiasm for its own economic debilities and underestimate the North’s political oppression and economic tyranny, but we all have our biases. But nothing can change the fact that American slavery was unbiblical and unjust. Dr. Robbins’s treatment of American slavery is qualitatively a well documented sidebar in his exposition of the theme of Philemon.
God’s law supercedes man’s law, and the Roman fugitive slave law, Dr. Robbins observes, violated Deuteronomy 23:15-16:

Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee: He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him.

The same Scriptural reasoning applies to the Civil War fugitive slave laws, and to the Dred Scott decision. What many Southern defenders miss, and it must be willful blindness, is the obvious fact that, while slavery existed in the Bible, it was by right of conqueror over the conquered, and was never considered a just treatment of either fellow Israelites or strangers (Exodus 22:21). Slavery as practiced in the United States violated the Biblical injunction against manstealing (Exodus 21:16).

Dr. Robbins proceeds topically with his exposition of Philemon. He deals with “Race and Christianity,” demonstrating the Gospel’s abrogation of racial distinctions. He highlights Paul’s referral to himself as a prisoner, both of the Roman Empire and of Christ Jesus, and appeals to Philemon’s compassion as much as to his fraternity. Paul appeals to Philemon as a fellow worker, not as to an adversary who needs to shape up. Dr. Robbins emphasizes Paul’s reverance toward Philemon as a cherished brother. He examines the respective roles of church and state, the providence of God, and the theme of substitution and imputation in his own promise to make good any debt Onesimus has left unpaid to Philemon. And, as debt is inconsistent with grace, Paul appeals to Philemon that slavery is inconsistent with Christian love and brotherhood.

“…what makes these Gentiles beloved to Paul, and now Onesimus beloved to both Paul and Philemon, is their common doctrine: Truth is the basis, the foundation, for Christian love. Biblical love is not a warm feeling in the stomach, but the exercise of a good will toward another. That good will does not exist apart from a knowledge of the truth.”

Source: http://fellowprisoner.wordpress.com/2007/03/07/slavery-christianity-by-john-robbins-a-review/

Source: http://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2007/03/28/book-review-slavery-and-christianity-by-john-robbins/

A book I finished reading like last night…
This is why I recommend this super-short booklet.
BOOK RECOMMENDATION: SLAVERY AND CHRISTIANITY, BY JOHN ROBBINS


In the history of the United States, there is no war that is bloodier for America, than the American Civil War from 1861-1865. One of many issues and controversy surrounding this conflict was the issue of Slavery. Today, the issue of Christianity and slavery is still bought up, and usually done in light of slavery that existed in the South. From both sides, arguments were given that attempted to justify their position by appealing to the Bible. For anyone interested in the subject, host of books can be recommended. Indispensable to this, is John Robbin’s latest work, Slavery and Christianity.

Slavery and Christianity is actually a commentary on the Book of Philemon, in the New Testament. One of Paul’s shortest epistles, this book in the Bible has always been referenced as having a dramatic impact for the abolition movement. John Robbins pointed out early in his commentary of how people often misjudge something that is short as being insignificant. Interestingly enough, Slavery and Christianity is also short, coming in at 49 pages, yet it is powerful. Having read several commentaries on Philemon, in my estimation Slavery and Christianity was the best one among them. Many people are cautious with the works of John Robbins in controversy today, but the quality of Slavery and Christianity is what you would expect from a Reformed and Presuppositional teacher of the Word of God: logically sharp, fascinating insight from the Biblical text, lay-man friendly and more importantly, spiritually edifying.



Slavery and Christianity commentary on Philemon draws out the social and political ramification of God’s Word, specifically as it touches on the institution on slavery. There is no doubt, that this new book would cause a stir among some pro-Southern Slavery theologians existing even today. For those who have always heard that Philemon advances the abolition’s cause but would like to see exactly how the argument from Biblical references goes, Slavery and Christianity is highly recommended.
–Jimmy Li

**POSTSCRIPT: As I read this and was writing this, I know there are those out there from a theonomic perspective, that supports and defend the Southern conception of Slavery who read this xanga from time to time, feel free to respond, but I want to let you know that I think its a hard position to defend. Also, I”m going to try to find Dabney’s book articulating your perspective. I don’t think that by being Theonomic you have to buy into Southern Slavery by the way. Southern Slavery undermind free-market economics as well, a defining plank in Christian Reconstructionism***

Source: http://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2007/03/28/book-review-slavery-and-christianity-