Does the Bible support slavery? Skeptics of the Bible often claim that it does. For instance, in their book What the Bible Really Says, skeptics Morton Smith and R. Joseph Hoffman write,

There is no reasonable doubt that the New Testament, like the Old, not only tolerated chattel slavery (the form prevalent in the Greco-Roman world of Paul’s time) but helped to perpetuate it by making the slaves’ obedience to their masters a religious duty. This biblical morality was one of the greatest handicaps that the emancipation movement in the United States had to overcome.[1]
How should believers respond to such claims? Does the Bible support slavery?
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Problem: Paul writes, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception.” This is the only use of the term “philosophy” in the entire Bible, and here, philosophy is given negative connotations. Some fideistic interpreters argue that this implies that reason should not be pursued alongside faith. Does this mean that it is wrong for Christians to study philosophy?

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Problem: Paul warned here, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit.” Does this mean that Christians should not study philosophy? If so, then why did God give us a mind and command us to think (Matt. 22:37) and reason (1 Peter 3:15)?
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Problem: Paul writes, “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church” (Col. 1:24). Do believers need to finish the work of Christ on Earth?

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Problem: The Bible declares that Jesus’ death on the cross was both sufficient and final for our salvation (John 19:30; Heb. 1:3). Yet Paul states that we are to fill up what is “lacking in the afflictions of Christ.” But if the Cross is all-sufficient, then how can anything be lacking in Christ’s suffering for us?
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