Date
5-2022
Department
Rawlings School of Divinity
Degree
Master of Arts in Christian Apologetics (MA)
Chair
Robert Wayne Stacy
Keywords
Apologetics, Slavery, First Century, Corporate America, CEO, Ephesians, Exegesis, Household Code, Paul
Disciplines
Christianity
Recommended Citation
Smith, William D., "Understanding Paul’s Approach to Slavery in Ephesians 6:5 – 9" (2022). Masters Theses. 857.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/857
Abstract
Slavery passages in the New Testament continue to raise questions for some modern readers. This thesis presents an alternative approach to assist Christians in explaining and defending Paul’s command to slaves and masters in Ephesians 6:5-9. It demonstrates how radical Paul’s command was to his first-century audience and their culture and how his command, when faithfully practiced, would have positively affected the perception of slavery and moved toward its abolition. Paul’s command to the first-century household leader is compared with corporate American CEOs and how the CEO’s leadership style affects their organization. This thesis demonstrates that a leadership style change in the first-century household leader would positively change behavior and ethics in the household concerning the practice of slavery in the first century and beyond.
