John MacArthur spoke about slavery in a “Grace to you” talk in 2012, a talk that has been raised in a lot of discussion following his death. The Other Cheek has verified that it is on the Grace to You YouTube channel.
Perhaps this excerpt of a longer sermon is illustrative of someone who takes the Bible seriously, preaches expositionally, has insights into living as a Christian, but but has difficulty relating the Bible text to the history of his own nation. Here is a transcript.
“It is a little strange that we have such an aversion to slavery because historically there have been abuses, there have been abuses in marriage. We don’t have an aversion to marriage, particularly because there have been abuses. There are parents who abuse their children. We don’t have an aversion to having children because some parents have been abusive. Of course, it can have any kind of situation where abuse can be involved.
“The reason unions grew up in America was not to free slaves. The reason unions grew up in America was because there were people who had businesses and they were abusing their employees. So to throw out slavery as a concept, simply because there have been abuses, I think is to miss the point. In any kind of human relationship, there can be abuses. There can also be benefits for many people, poor people, perhaps people who weren’t educated, perhaps people who had no other opportunity.
“Working for a gentle, caring, loving master was the best of all possible worlds. If you had the right master, everything was taken care of. So we have to go back and take a more honest look at slavery and understand that God has, in a sense, legitimised it when it’s handled correctly by saying, this is the way you’re to view your relationship to Jesus Christ, the perfect, all wise, all loving, all compassionate, all beneficent Lord, and you willing to be his slave because of such unique care provided by him.
“If you ask me to be a slave, I will simply ask you one question. Who is my master? If you tell me that my master loves me with a perfect love from which I can never be separated, if you tell me that my master will pour out all his riches on my behalf and hold nothing back, if you tell me that my master knows me and knows what is best for me, and in every case will provide everything that is best for me.
“If you tell me that my master will use me in the advancement of his own enterprises and that I will share in his reward, if you tell me that my master will make me as a son and give me all that he possesses as an heir of his own true son, if you tell me that my master will forgive all my sins and reward me for, I can’t sign up fast enough to be a slave of that master, and that is the issue. Slavery is not objectionable. If you have the right master, it’s the perfect scenario. Everything you need is met and more in a caring, loving environment where God provides all that we need through Christ. That’s what it means to be a Christian.”