Is Christianity Bad for Business?

 Third Tuesday of Lent

Lectionary text for today:

Ephesians 2:1-10

Thanks to April for her comments. I would love to have more comments from more of you. I will write a blog about the Susan Howatch novels at some time in the not too distant future. 

My functioning email address now is:  jchristianwilson401@gmail.com  Please send prayer requests to that address, as well as any other comments you have for me personally.

It's Tuesday Bible Study day. Please read Acts 16:16-19.

Issues both ancient and modern fill these three verses. The slave girl has a "spirit of divination," which compels her to tell fortunes. Slaves, both in antiquity and the 17-19th centuries America could receive better treatment if they had special skills that helped their owners make more money. The slaves never get to enjoy monetary rewards of their skills. All proceeds go to the owners. The institution of slavery was an unquestioningly accepted part of life in antiquity. Nowhere is the Bible is slavery condemned. 

 

The difference between slaves and free was not a part of early Christianity. Slaves are full accepted as equals to the free in the church (cf. Galatians 3:27-28). In the book of Philemon in the NT Paul is returning Onesimus, a slave, to his owners, Philemon and his wife Apphia and their friend Archippus. Paul subtly urges them to free Onesimus. 

 

I should note that ancient slavery was not based on race. Only a very small percentage of slaves in Europe were African. The vast majority were European or Middle Eastern. Onesimus is also mentioned in Paul's final greetings in Colossians 4:9 as "a faithful and berloved brother.

Fortune telling was consistently condemned by both Jews and early Christians (cf. 1 Samuel 28). Fortune telling is different from prophecy. Prophecy concerns the whole nation of Israel. Prophetic judgment comes from God. Fortune telling is for individual people. Spirits, not God, are the source for fortune telling. 

The slave girl in our text is apparently good at her task and is providing substantial prophets for her owners. She says nice things about Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke, but she keeps following them around saying the same thing. She says that they are proclaiming "a way of salvation." Salvation is not rrally even a concept in Greco-Roman religions. She becomes an annoyance to Paul. 

Paul treats her "spirit of divination" as a demon. He casts it out. The girl's mental health is dramatically improved, but she no longer has her skill in fortune telling. She is no longer a money maker for her owners. Her owners seem to recognize that Paul and company are not going to be good for other businesses as well. They arrest Paul and Silas and take them to the magistrate for judgment. 

 

I find little in earliest Christianity that indicates Christians want to change the entire social and economic structure of the Roman Empire.Their message may be revolutionary but their politics aren't. But for good or ill their they will find themselves coming into to conflict Roman law and customs. The chief point of conflict is equality. Roman society is hierarchical. The hierarchy is determined largely by family rather than skill. People are not in any way considered to be equal. You are born into a social class based on your family. You cannot rise above that class nor fall below it. The one exception is that slaves can be freed. Even when slaves are freed, they belong to the lowest social class of "freedmen" and rarely advance. 

Christian equality does not fit well with Roman society, nor for that matter, with Jewish society. Christianity appeals to women, even some wealthy women, like Lydia, because it allows them to be equal. It appeals to slaves and the lower classes of the free for that same reason, to the physically and emotionally handicapped for that same reason. When business is based on exploiting people, like this slave girl, Christianity proves to be a severe challenge for the Roman way of doing things. Being, on many occasions, bad for business is one of the things that will lead Romans to persecution of Christians. 

Lord Jesus,

We give you thanks for the fearless apostles who stood up to the exploiters, who stood against the culture, and who treated all people equally and lovingly. Amen.

 

Faithfully

Christian