FROM SLAVERY TO BONDAGE

By: Valdemir Mota de Menezes

We read the letter from the Apostle Paul to Philemon that Christianity came not change the structure of society , but the essence of individuals who accept Jesus as their guide and teacher . Accordingly , Paul does not require or even ask Philemon to release his slave Onesimus . Paul invokes Christian love , to Philemon accepts the runaway slave and to forgive and now receives not only as a slave but as a brother .
The influence of this letter was one of the foundations for Christianity in the centuries so that Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the church forced to change the social structure , and gradually in the Middle Ages , slavery was yielding place to new social system based on serfdom. In the history books we learn about feudalism , a relationship of lords and vassals who became labor , more balanced relationship . The leaders of the Catholic Church said it was not appropriate to treat a brother in Christ as a slave