Page 66 - Pastoral Epistles student textbook

Study Section 10: I Timothy 6 - Slavery

10.1 Connect

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries people were kidnapped from the
continent of Africa, forced into slavery in the American colonies and exploited to work as
indentured servants and labor in the production of crops such as tobacco and cotton. By
the mid-19th century, America’s westward expansion and the abolition movement
provoked a great debate over slavery that would tear the nation apart in the bloody Civil
War. Approximately 620,000 soldiers died from combat, accident, starvation, and disease during the
Civil War. Though the Union victory freed the nation’s four million enslaved people, the legacy of
slavery continued to influence American history, from the Reconstruction era to the civil rights
movement that emerged a century after emancipation.

When I was in High School, our family moved to the deep South in America in 1960’s. Even though
this was almost 100 years after the Civil War was fought, there still were deep feelings about
segregation between white and black people. I experienced the civil rights movement first-hand as
our school was integrated with six black students who were badly treated. I could not believe the
animosity that existed at the school!

Back when Paul was writing these letters, slavery was an integral part of the Roman culture.
Thousands of believers came to Christ that were slaves or masters. They needed instruction on how to
interface with one another within this environment. Let’s see what Paul has to say about living as a
slave…

10.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to describe how a slave or master are to interact within that
economy.

2. The student should be able to explain principles for today that relate to the way a slave
was to behave toward his master in the Roman culture.

3. The student should be able to explain how important contentment is in God’s economy.

10.3 1 Timothy 6

1 Timothy 6:1-21.

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