WAS PAUL BORN INTO SLAVERY?

There is a very intriguing article in the May/June Issue of CT magazine authored by Mark Fairchild and Jordan Monson titled “Paul Unchained.” Since it is rather lengthy, I will just summarize their arguments briefly below.

Thesis

It is their contention that Paul was born to parents living in the tiny region of Gischala in Judea. But due to rebellions against Rome centered in that area, his parents were captured and sold into slavery. Paul was either born in Gischala or afterward when his parents were taken to Tarsus, and thus he was also a slave. But when eventually freed as a young man, he received his Roman citizenship and took the name of his Roman master, Paulus, as was the usual custom.

The authors note that the liberal scholar von Harnack and the conservative Zahn both agreed with this scenario regarding Paul's upbringing when “They did not even agree on the Resurrection.”

It should be pointed out here that slavery at this time should not be thought of as slavery was in America since most of those enslaved were set free before they reached old age. Bond-servant is perhaps a more accurate term.

Historical Evidence Outside the Bible

Josephus: This early Jewish historian records that Israelite cities who were rebellious against Roman authority were punished by the inhabitants being sold into slavery. One of these villages was Gischala, located in the far north of Galilee. This persecution occurred especially in 4 BC under Varus, governor of Syria.

Jerome: In his commentary on Philemon, he states that Paul's parents were “taken” (i.e. against their will) to Tarsus. Although Jerome was writing this around AD 387, it is highly suspected that much of this commentary was borrowed from an earlier, but now lost, commentary by Origen (AD 185-253). And Origen lived in Caesarea adjacent to Galilee and where Paul had spent two years of his life earlier on.

Pholios I, bishop of Constantinople, records that he found an historical manuscript in the extensive library there (since vanished) which stated: “Paul, the divine apostle...had also as his portion the fatherland of his ancient ancestors and physical race, namely Gischala...But because his parents, together with many others of his race, were taken captive by the Roman spear and Tarsus fell to his lot where he was also born, he gives it as his fatherland.”

New Testament Evidence

Acts 22:28 – Paul tells the Roman commander in Acts 22:28 that he was 'born' (gennao) a Roman citizen. But gennao can refer to either natural birth or adoption, and it was the common procedure for freed Roman slaves to be adopted into their former master's family. Paul is a Roman name, and not one that a Pharisee would have given to a boy. (See Paul's statement in Acts 23:6 – “I am a Pharisee born of a Pharisee.”)

Acts 22:2 – If Paul were a Hellenized Jew born in Tarsus, he would not have been fluent in Aramaic.

Acts 5:34; 22:3 – These passages make it clear that Paul studied under the famous teacher Gamaliel, an honor seldom given to Hellenistic Jews. But it would have been plausible if Paul's parents had been zealots when they lived in Galilee.

Thus, Paul would have been in the rare position of being fully accepted in both Roman and Jewish circles. But when he became a Christian, he ended up being distrusted by both groups as well as, at first, by Christians also.

In Acts 6:9, we find Paul closely associated with members of the Freedmen Synagogue, which would be quite natural if Paul were a freedman himself.

Galatians 1:14 – Paul identifies himself as a zealot, which fits the proposed scenario regarding the feelings of Paul's parents.

Paul's most common ways of opening his letters is to identify himself as either “an apostle of Christ” or “a slave of Christ.”

Paul employs language associated with slavery and freedom more than any other NT author. As one example, of the 43 times in the NT that words derived from the verb eleutheroo (“to free”) appear, 33 concern Paul or are written by him.

Galatians 6:17 – Paul's comment “I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” predates, according to many scholars, the physical persecutions which he would run into later in his ministry. The Greek word stigmata originally meant “a permanent mark or scar on the body, especially the type of brand used to mark ownership of slaves.” (Louw and Nida) Fairchild and Monson deduce that “Paul's identity is still that of a bond-servant. Only now, he knows who his true master is.”

Book of Philemon – The authors speculate that perhaps it was no accident that Onesimus, the bond-servant of a Christian master, traveled over 1,000 miles to seek out a former bond-servant, Paul, for help. Perhaps Onesimus knew Paul's early history. Also, it was unheard of for a person to welcome a runaway slave as Paul did and go to bat for him by writing to his master.

All of the above certainly gives us much food for thought and shines a whole new light on Paul's varied career and writings.