Why Did God Allow Slavery in the Old Testament and Barely Says Anything About It in the New Testament?
1) Direct answer
God never endorsed cruel, man-stealing slavery. In the Old Testament He stepped into a fallen world and put strict limits, mercy, and release into a system already present, pointing Israel toward redemption and brotherly love. In the New Testament He went to the root—changing the heart by the new birth—so the gospel dissolves slavery from the inside by making master and slave brothers in Christ. The Scriptures address it, but the aim is salvation and holy conduct, not political revolt.
2) Scriptural explanation
- God forbids man‑stealing and trafficking:
- “He that stealeth a man…shall surely be put to death” (Exodus 21:16; cf. 1 Timothy 1:10).
- Israel’s servitude was tightly regulated and tempered with mercy:
- Release for Hebrew servants in the seventh year with generosity (Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12-15).
- “You shall not rule over him with rigor; but shall fear your God” (Leviticus 25:43).
- Protection for the vulnerable and the stranger; do not oppress, love him as yourself (Leviticus 19:33-34; Deuteronomy 10:19).
- An escaped slave was not to be returned or oppressed (Deuteronomy 23:15-16).
- When Israel refused to release servants, God rebuked and judged them (Jeremiah 34:13-17).
- God’s purpose was redemption, not bondage:
- Israel was redeemed from Egypt’s slavery (Exodus 20:2), and God says, “They are my servants…you shall not rule over him with rigor” (Leviticus 25:42-43).
- The New Testament plants the freedom principle in Christ:
- “There is neither bond nor free…all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
- If you can be made free, rather use it (1 Corinthians 7:21-22).
- Masters must give what is just and equal, knowing they have a Master in heaven (Colossians 4:1; Ephesians 6:9).
- A slave is received “no longer as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved” (Philemon 15-16).
- The Lord’s program is liberty: “He hath sent me to preach deliverance to the captives” (Luke 4:18). “If the Son…make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).
3) Simple clarifying logic
- Now notice: God met people where they were, in a hard world, and fenced in the existing system with justice, time limits, generosity, and protection. That is not approval of oppression; it is restraint and guidance toward mercy.
- You see, the law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). As with divorce, certain concessions existed “because of the hardness of your hearts,” but from the beginning it was not so. God’s heart is redemption and brotherhood.
- In the New Testament, the Church does not wield the sword of the state; it wields the Word and the Spirit. So the Lord dealt with the root—sin in the heart. When a master and a servant are both born again, fear and force give way to love and equality in Christ. You cannot rightly enslave the one you now recognize as your brother for whom Christ died.
- If God approved of cruel slavery, why is man‑stealing a capital crime (Exodus 21:16)? Why command love to the stranger (Leviticus 19:34)? Why require release and generosity (Deuteronomy 15:13-15)? The answer is clear: God was moving His people from bondage to freedom, both naturally and spiritually.
4) Reinforcing statement
The Old Testament restrained a fallen practice; the New Testament removes its roots. The gospel sets men free—first in the soul, then in their relations—until love fulfills the law.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Things that are to be
65-1205 §34
look at St. Peter and judge him by Andrew. See, Andrew is that prayer warrior, just stayed on his knees all the time. And the apostle Peter was one of those fire brands that preached, and so forth. And Paul was more scholarly like, more of the ... like the prophet or something, and set back and... See, Moses wrote the first four books of the Old ... which he wrote the Old Testament. The rest of it was the laws, and Kings, and Psalms, and so forth, and what someone wrote of the prophets. But Moses wrote the laws, th...
The Calling of Abraham
55-1116 §8
Now, I'm going to try to go just quickly as I can, getting on the way now. And I thought maybe, tonight, we would run a little series of this subject, speaking out of the Old Testament. Last week, we've spoke now the eight nights on the New Testament, and tonight, I thought, we'd turn over in the Old Testament and speak a while. I love the Old Testament. Don't you? I'm kind of a typologist. The Old Testament is just full of nuggets, buried down in there. And I like to go prospecting, don't you? And dig out those nu...
He swore by Himself
54-1212 §18
That's how I believe in divine healing so strongly, because that in the Old Testament, divine healing was then. And we have something much better. If the Old Testament produced divine healing under that little thing, and only thing the New Testament is is something way more, and far better, what has the New Testament got in divine healing? Oh, it's got much more, see. For, the New Testament is "better things," says Paul here in the Hebrews. The Old Testament produced... Oh, it was all right. Like if I'm walking out...
Israel and the Church: Israel in Egypt
53-0325 §18
And now you say, "Well, don't you think if God did a certain thing here, even though His Word does say...?" I said, "No. The Bible said, 'He that takes away or adds to anything that's in this Book, will be taken out of the Book of Life, for him.'" So, there's the reason. Always, by everything (not by experience, or not by what it looks like) but by what God's Word says. Now, the New Testament, Paul said, "Though we or an Angel from Heaven would come and teach any other thing than that which you have heard," that's...
He swore by Himself
54-1212 §17
Now, there is some of the folks sitting here, three or four of them, that's been here since the church has, I suppose, twenty something years, when I was first ordained. And then, all along, I've always tried to watch the types. In other words, if I never did see the sun, and I seen what the moon did, throwed light on the earth, and so forth like that, and it shined down from the heavens, I'd have some conception of what the sun would be when it did go to shining, because I've looked at the moon; it's a reflection...