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The law made kidnapping a person, to sell him or to keep him, a crime punished by death. Paul names “menstealers” beside murderers and liars as things “contrary to sound doctrine”. Both Testaments condemn taking people by force.

And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

Exodus 21:16

If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or selleth him; then that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil away from among you.

Deuteronomy 24:7

For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

1 Timothy 1:10

Among Israelites, being sold was mostly the way out of poverty and debt. A Hebrew servant went free in the seventh year and was sent off with gifts from the flock and the harvest. A brother who sold himself was to be treated “as an hired servant”, not ruled “with rigour”. The reason given is Israel's own story: they had been slaves in Egypt, and the LORD redeemed them.

If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

Exodus 21:2

¹²And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. ¹³And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: ¹⁴Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. ¹⁵And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.

Deuteronomy 15:12-15

³⁹And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant: ⁴⁰But as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubile: ⁴¹And then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return. ⁴²For they are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen. ⁴³Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God.

Leviticus 25:39-43

A master who struck a servant and lost him an eye or a tooth had to set him free. A runaway servant was not to be handed back to his master, and the town that took him in was not to oppress him. Job grounds the care of servants in creation itself: the God who made the master made the servant too.

²⁶And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake. ²⁷And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.

Exodus 21:26-27

¹⁵Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee: ¹⁶He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him.

Deuteronomy 23:15-16

¹³If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me; ¹⁴What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? ¹⁵Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?

Job 31:13-15

The law also let Israel buy bondmen from the nations around them and keep them for life. It still treated a bought servant as his master's property (“he is his money”). The protections above applied to these servants as well, and Israel was told not to oppress the stranger, because they had been strangers in Egypt.

⁴⁴Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. ⁴⁵Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession. ⁴⁶And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.

Leviticus 25:44-46

²⁰And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. ²¹Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.

Exodus 21:20-21

Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 22:21

The New Testament speaks to servants and masters where they were, but it does not leave them there. In Christ there is “neither bond nor free”. Masters must give what is “just and equal” and stop threatening, because they answer to the same Master, who has no favourites. A servant who can be made free should “use it rather”. Paul sends Onesimus back “not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved”.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:28

And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.

Ephesians 6:9

Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.

Colossians 4:1

Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.

1 Corinthians 7:21

Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?

Philemon 1:16

Jesus says that whoever commits sin is the servant of sin, and that only the Son can make a person “free indeed”. Paul thanks God that the Romans, once servants of sin, were made free. He tells the Galatians not to be “entangled again with the yoke of bondage”. Every bondage in Scripture points to this one, and to the redemption that answers it.

³⁴Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. ³⁵And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. ³⁶If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

John 8:34-36

¹⁷But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. ¹⁸Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Romans 6:17-18

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Galatians 5:1