As we know, the Greek philosophers laid much of the foundation for both the American educational system and the thinking processes behind a lot of Western civilization.

The Roman and Greek cultures of their day defined a slave as a person who was by nature the property of another; this person, because of who they were as a person, deserved to be a slave to the other.

Aristotle, for one, reasoned, “But is there any one thus intended by nature to be a slave, and for whom such a condition is expedient and right, or rather is not all slavery a violation of nature? There is no difficulty in answering this question, on grounds both of reason and of fact. For that some should rule and others be ruled is a thing not only necessary, but expedient; from the hour of their birth, some are marked out for subjection, others for rule.”

In the Bible, “slavery” was simply a form of compulsory service.

From the Book of Deuteronomy, for example, we know a person could pay off a debt to someone else by “selling themselves” to that person for a maximum of seven years.

“The penal system in the Bible is quite different from that in our day,” says my pastor, Richard Jordan, in a study he once gave on the issue of slavery. “Today, if you’re in debt to somebody and can't pay your bills, you can claim bankruptcy and walk away free. In the Bible, you couldn't do that.

“In Israel, it was just like if you stole something. You steal somebody's car, you don't just go to jail for three years and learn to be a better car thief. When you got caught and convicted, you had to buy that guy four cars. You had to replace it fourfold. So there's an education process of restitution.”

Jordan says it’s precisely because it was a matter of compulsory service in payment of a debt “that the Bible uses the word ‘servant’ instead of ‘slave’ in your English translation—there's recognition that there's a difference in the way the Bible looks at it.”

When the Apostle Paul wrote his one-page letter to Philemon, Onesimus was viewed by the Roman culture as a slave, but Paul cautioned Philemon, “I don't want you to think of him as the world does. He's a Believer and you're a Believer. He may be indentured to you, but look upon him as a brother in Christ.”

From the letter we know Paul was responsible for sending Onesimus back to Philemon, in essence telling him, “You stole from Philemon and now you need to go pay your debt. If you want to serve the Lord, and if you truly have a repentant heart and a transformed life by the grace of God, you need to deal with the past and set it right as much as you can."

To Philemon, Paul advised, “Onesimus is coming back and I want you to see personally the repentant heart and transformed life he’s living. Part of you seeing what God’s done in his life is in him coming back and giving himself back to you, and when he does, Philemon, I want you to see the value in releasing him and actually sending him back to me.”

In I Cor. 7: 21-22, Paul writes, “Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.

“For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.”

“What he’s saying is, ‘Wherever you are, be the Lord's freeman; live in the circumstances you’re in, whatever they are, in the grace of Christ and reflect His life,’ ” explains Jordan. “Your social status isn't the issue. You know, Believers are often called upon to live in very difficult social circumstances.

“You and I are a bunch of wimps when it comes to this. We live in the ‘land of the free.’ It may not be ‘the home of the brave,’ but it’s certainly the land of the free compared to the rest of the world. The worst we have it here is better than 90% of all the planet has it.

“Lots of folks around the world live in tough circumstances. Tough situations. You can go behind the Red Curtain in China and there are brothers and sisters in Christ who would give their heart to be able to meet like we're meeting today.

“You know there's almost 3,000 house churches in China today due to the ministry of one brother. A trainer of those pastors there was put in jail last year, and you want to hear what his complaint was? It wasn't that they put him in jail and abused him, which they did. You know what was his complaint? He said it was ‘inconvenient to the work of the ministry.’ He said, ‘I've got these men who need to be trained and I'm having to be over here tortured.’ And I'm thinking, ‘INCONVENIENT?! It’s DANGEROUS!’ ”