The Bible in the New Testament neither advocates slavery as a positive good nor opposes it as an evil. It merely takes it for granted as a fact of life.
In the Old Testament slavery is also treated as a fact of life, and in fact its position on the subject is very nearly identical to that of the Koran. Except for the sabbath year and Jubilee laws, which did not apply to slaves except those of Hebrew birth, and were probably never really applied anyway.
The principles of human equality and all of us being children of God lead by logical extrapolation to abolitionism, but that principle as such is just not found explicitly in the Book.
So, IMO, it is not possible to say that slavery is a sin per the Bible. But then if we take all parts of the Bible literally we can’t wear clothes of blended fibers or eat lobster, and we must not suffer a witch to live.
The principle being shattered wasn’t equality, the principle was theft. The Southern aristocracy was wallowing in it.
I'd suppose that is "common wisdom", because I've read similar things often before.
Nor have I ever read a really serious explanation of the Bible's views toward slavery.
Perhaps its out there, somewhere, but I haven't seen it.
So here goes:
To claim the Bible has "no opinion" on slavery is to miss the entire forest on account of so many trees!
In fact, God hates slavery for His chosen people, it's why he brought them out of Egypt, it's what most of the Old Testament is all about -- Israel's struggles to first escape slavery, and then to eradicate their love of slavery from their own hearts.
Over and over, throughout the Old Testament, God and His prophets remind Israel that their allegiance is owed to Him because He freed them from bondage to humans.
So there could not be a stronger Biblical condemnation of slavery for God's people.
And what is the New Testament all about, if not to make all people who accept Christ into God's chosen people?
The simple fact is that God does not want His people to be slaves to other men, or to sin (note Romans 6:6, Galatians 4:7 & 24).
And the New Testament is also quite clear that God does want His people to be "slaves" to God's law (i.e., Romans 6:18 & 7:25)), to Christ's love, and for those who wish to become leaders: slaves to each other (Matthew 20:27, Mark 10:44).
The New Testament is also clear in condemning slave traders as amongst the worst law breakers.
For that particular gem, I'd invite you to begin reading at 1 Timothy 1:8.
2 Peter 2:19 "people are slaves to whatever has mastered them."
Could there be a stronger condemnation of slavery?
“So, IMO, it is not possible to say that slavery is a sin per the Bible.”
That’s really all that I was arguing. The modern conceit is that slavery is an obvious evil and a sin.
But that view is a modern conceit, nothing more than moral posturing that ignores the moral world of the past. The moral world of the Founders had a greater familiarity with the Bible than most people possess today.
Deuteronomy was the work most cited by the American founders according to Bernard Bailyn in his ‘The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution’. They certainly knew what the Bible had to say, or failed to say, on the issue of slavery. Moderns assume that it contains a clear denunciation of the practice until they are challenged to produce one.
The Founders would also have been familiar with Aristotle’s defense of slavery, which while it wouldn’t carry the moral weight of the Bible would have carried some intellectual regard.
“But then if we take all parts of the Bible literally we can’t wear clothes of blended fibers or eat lobster, and we must not suffer a witch to live.”
I think that you’ll find mentioned in the New Testament that the dietary laws in particular were no longer in effect. But that’s a whole other discussion.