1 Timothy 6:1-2 presents a troubling fact in the New Testament as it is clear that Paul did not out and out denounce slavery. Though the Bible doesn’t denounce slavery, neither does it approve of it. The influence of the New Testament upon those 60 million slaves of the 1st century caused the end of slavery by the end of the 2nd century. Historians admit that the Bible had a major influence in eliminating slavery in every society it has been read. Of further interest is that the method of liberation was mainly personal transformation instead of armed revolt. The pressure wasn’t placed upon slavery from the outside; it was eliminated from the inside as both slaves and masters looked at each other through their conversion in a new way. It was not uncommon for a master and a slave to go to church together, where the slave would be an elder in the church, and the master expected to submit to the slave’s spiritual leadership!
God is not only interested in liberating us from temporary situations and circumstances He wants to set us free from the most oppressive tyrannical dictator we have ever had the displeasure of meeting. This fellow is so crafty that he has most folks devoted to himself, pampering him, thinking that everything revolves around him, he gets us to fight everything and everyone so that we will only serve his interests. You know this person well though he has many different names but three names are enough for us to unveil him or her, “ME, MYSELF and I”.
God in His wisdom uses other oppressors on the job to free us from ourselves. We have to deal with that person and they are just a bear to deal with, every day they frustrate us and we can’t see how they ever got put in the place over us but the Bible says that we are to regard them “worthy of all respect”. “Why has the Lord allowed this situation?” I submit to you that God is using the boss to free you from self. Your freedom will come when you regard them “worthy of all respect” when you become more concerned that your behavior towards this tyrant may cause “the name of God and His doctrine to be blasphemed.” It is when we become more interested in being instruments of God’s grace and reflecting His glory day in and day out no matter who our oppressors are that we become truly free.