Ungodly biblical principles.

Slavery is a biblical principle.

Seriously. It’s a well-established principle too. Abraham ben Terah had slaves. Ge 24.2 Many a bible will translate עֶבֶד/evéd as “servant” in order to downplay this, or because they figure ancient Hebrew slavery was entirely different from American chattel slavery, so the slaveholder/slave relationship was considerably far less like owner/cattle, and more like warden/ward. But not every slaveholder thought of it like warden/ward, and most definitely treated their slaves like cattle. Or their sexual property. Abraham’s son Ishmael was the son of Sarah’s slave. Five of Israel’s tribes were descended from children he begat with his wives’ slaves. (Oh by the way—polygamy is a biblical principle too.)

When the Egyptians made Israel’s descendants their slaves, the bible’s objection was they had been wrongly made slaves; not that slavery in itself was wrong. When slavery gets addressed in the Law of Moses, the LORD didn’t ban or forbid it; he put rules on it. Fr’instance slaves didn’t work on sabbath. Dt 5.14 Or if fellow Hebrews had to sell themselves into slavery, you were to treat them like employees, not slaves. Lv 25.39-43 The LORD mitigated slavery instead of outlawing it.

But because slavery’s a well-established biblical principle, the bible was regularly used throughout American history to support and defend the practice. Including its most evil excesses.

Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m absolutely not defending slavery. Certainly not saying we oughta bring it back. It’s illegal and needs to stay illegal; it needs to be banned in every country which still permits it, and slaveholders should be prosecuted as kidnappers, rapists, and murderers.

Today’s Christians largely agree with me; we recognize slavery is evil and wrong, and needs to be eradicated. But they also incorrectly think, because slavery is evil and wrong, it’s somehow not a biblical principle. Because they have some false ideas about what constitutes a biblical principle.

Y’see, when preachers talk about biblical principles, they insist all these principles are God-things. They’re God’s ideas. God’s expectations. God’s instructions. God’s commands—except they’re not actually commands, ’cause if they were commands God would’ve commanded them. But those who preach ’em, and those who believe in ’em, regularly treat them as functional commands.

So if slavery’s a legitimate biblical principle… that’d mean they have to obey it, don’t they? But slavery is evil and wrong. So, to their minds, it must not be a legitimate biblical principle. Scriptures must’ve been taken out of context, or misused, or they’re part of the old dispensation and we don’t follow those commands anymore. And this is why they’ll insist it’s not a biblical principle: Biblical principles must be followed, and they’re surely not gonna follow that one.

So here’s what they misunderstand about biblical principles:

1. Not every biblical principle is of God.
2. Not every biblical principle must be followed. (Especially the ones which aren’t of God!)

Slavery is a biblical principle because it’s in the bible, because the ancient Hebrews and other ancient peoples practiced it, because God had things to say about it (and often condemned its excesses), and because sometimes God and his prophets used its ideas to teach people about God. Israel was Egypt’s slave, and God purchased them. Dt 15.15 Jesus gave his life to ransom everyone 1Ti 2.6 from our slavery to sin. Ro 6.16 It’s a legit principle.

But does this mean we should practice it? Absolutely not: It’s not of God. He’s set us free, and we should likewise set all the slaves free. Liberty, which Jesus came to declare to God’s people, Lk 4.18 is the biblical principle we should practice.

If it’s inconsistent with Jesus, don’t do it.

Whenever I tell people there are such things as biblical principles which aren’t of God, they’re often very surprised. The preachers who first taught ’em about biblical principles, who still refer to biblical principles on a frequent basis, have never told them any such thing. Have never even suggested such an idea.

In fact, whenever they discovered a biblical principle which their preachers don’t approve of, they’re actually taught it’s not a biblical principle. If the pastor doesn’t approve of sexism, he’ll tell ’em, “Oh no; patriarchy isn’t a biblical principle.” Because they’re trying to perpetuate the idea every biblical principle is a God-principle; so if it’s not of God it must not be a proper biblical principle.

Except patriarchy is most definitely a biblical principle. It’s in the bible, found all over the bible, and is used as the foundation of a whole lot of practices we see throughout the bible. And biblical teachings!—like when Paul points out every πατριὰ/patriá, “fatherland” (KJV “family”) is named for our Father. Ep 3.14-15 Plenty of teachings, bad and good, are derived from these principles. Claiming they’re not principles just because we don’t like ’em, or God doesn’t approve of ’em, is simply bad bible interpretation.

See, the problem is Christians keep trying to uplift the wrong thing. To their minds, “biblical principle” must by definition be a good thing which we Christians must perpetuate. And if it’s not something we should perpetuate, like slavery, they’ll try to claim it’s not a biblical principle, despite the rather obvious evidence it is.

And if it’s an evil practice they wanna perpetuate, you’ll notice they have no problem pointing out it’s a biblical principle. Are you a man who wants to create your own personal fiefdom, where all the womenfolk and children obey you like you’re an absolute monarch? Well, patriarchy is in the bible. Which is why patriarchy is found all over American churches, and even defended from the pulpit.

Of course, promoting the paterfamilias as king of his household, runs entirely counter to the biblical principle of Jesus as Lord, and anyone who upholds patriarchy is promoting treason against our Lord. But when you don’t realize not all biblical principles are of God, you’ll easily fall for that sort of ungodly teaching.

Anyway, that’s how we can tell whether a biblical principle is of God or not: Does Jesus teach otherwise? Then follow Jesus.

Doesn’t matter if the culture teaches it; doesn’t matter if your pastor teaches it; doesn’t matter if he’s published a dozen books on the subject and can defend it with thousands of proof texts. He may be entirely right about it being a biblical principle! But again: If Jesus teaches otherwise, follow Jesus.

It’s just that simple. But people are sinners, and selfish, and defend ourselves, and try to overcomplicate things despite them being simple, in order to hide the fact they’re simple. Don’t fall for that. Follow Jesus.