Slavery in Paul's Message to Philemon

Slavery and Servitude in the Western World:
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Slavery and Servitude in the Western World
Slavery was entrenched in the social structures of the Greco-Roman world, and enslaved people lacked legal rights throughout classical antiquity. Paul found himself in a delicate situation involving the essence of his message and the realities of the Roman culture, especially regarding slavery. Onesimus was a runaway slave while Philemon was presumably the angry and wronged master; both owed their belief in Christ to Paul. According to Scott Redd, Paul viewed slavery as a cultural norm that undermined professional and social relationships in Greco-Roman society, including the newly-founded community of mutual love amongst early Christians. In addition, Paul noted that slavery is incompatible with the Christian view that all human beings are created in God’s image. Slavery was inhuman, and it undermined the fundamental doctrine that all humans are created in God’s image.[Redd, Scott. “Literary Analysis of Paul’s Letter to Philemon: An Analysis of Paul’s Use of Poetic Devices to Appeal to Philemon’s Conscience.” Retrieved from /files/english/new_testament/49110~8_18_2003_4-57-39_pm~nt.redd.philemon.8.18.03.html] [Cho, Bernardo. "Subverting slavery: Philemon, Onesimus, and Paul’s gospel of reconciliation." Evangelical Quarterly: An International Review of Bible and Theology 86, no. 2 (2014): 99-115. Retrieved from http://biblicalstudies.gospelstudies.org.uk/pdf/eq/2014-2_099....