We have been looking at Micah chapter 6 verse 8 which says, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” We have already discussed acting justly and loving mercy. In this episode we will dive into walking humbly with your God, or righteousness.

What does it mean to be righteous? Most theologians would say it means being in right standing with God. But what does this mean? Being in right standing with God and walking with God are relational terms. They mean that a person is relationally in a good place with God. A person who is righteous understands that God loves them, and they love God. They have freely accepted the mercy provided to them by God through Jesus. 

The Hebrew prophet Micah records this message in his writing, chapter 6 verse 8 says, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” These actions are very important to God. In the previous episode we looked at justice and how to live justly. In this episode we are going to look at mercy and how God can be both just and merciful at the same time. This will allow us to understand how we can love mercy.
God is the source of justice. In God’s view of justice, the goal is repentance by the person. The root of justice is love, not God's holiness. How can mercy be a part of true justice? How can we love mercy?

The Hebrew prophet Micah records this message in his writing, chapter 6 verse 8 says, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” These actions are very important to God. Over the next few episodes we will unpack this verse by looking deeper at what each action entails. In this episode we are going to look at living justly, which means we need to understand what justice really involves. We will begin by getting an overview of what the Bible says about justice, and then move on to the important foundational properties of justice, which are morality, truth, and righteousness.

In this episode we will examine the works of the Apostle Paul found in the New Testament, including his letter to Philemon, to see what his view of slavery was. You might be surprised.

In this episode we will begin looking at the New Testament and what it has to say about slavery. We will start with Jesus and then quickly look at the book of Acts.

I believe the best summary for the New Testament concerning slavery is found in Galatians chapter 3 verse 28: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Equality is the focus for human relationships. This equality is punctuated by love for one another, which is where we begin as we look at Jesus.

There are three scenes in the Gospels that I believe state emphatically the position God has toward slavery. The first is found in Matthew chapter 22 verses 34 through 40. 

But maybe the slave isn’t your “neighbor” that is meant in Leviticus? This question leads us to the second scene that we find in Luke chapter 10 verses 25 through 37. 

There is one more scene in which Jesus is answering questions from His disciples about the end of everything. Matthew chapter 25 verses 31 through 46 is usually titled, “The Judgment of the Sheep and the Goats.” 

Jesus tells a parable beginning with chapter 19 verse 30 and ending in chapter 20 verse 16 in which He explains the phrase, "The last shall be first and the first last."

Acts chapters 4 and 6 show us examples of the early church putting in place systems to prevent slavery among its members.

In this episode, we want to look at what God told the people about slavery and its causes through the Hebrew prophets. We will look at prophetic words to Israel and other countries spoken through the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and Joel. We will see the condemnation and punishment God announces for those who are involved in slavery. 

In this episode we will look at some of the prohibitions to stop institutional slavery, and some of the laws designed to prevent slavery by stopping poverty and injustice.
Concerning foreigners, God does ban institutional slavery within Israel. The first thing that is to keep Israel from making slaves out of those who are permanent residents of Israel but not of the family of Abraham is the command to love them. The second thing that is to keep Israel from institutional slavery is that the stranger is under the same law as the Israeli. 
There are some passages of Scripture that we might not think pertain to slavery, but they do. Within each society there are moral deficiencies and practices that help to feed the need or desire for the behavior of slavery. There are also peripheral actions to these main practices that exacerbate the problem of slavery. Whenever we try to combat any negative moral actions, there are always these side issues that feed the main practices. God made laws that targeted the moral deficiencies and practices, along with the peripheral actions and attitudes that feed them. 

In this episode we want to look at the laws God gave to Moses for Israel to follow and how they relate to slavery. In Exodus chapter 20 God gives the Ten Commandments to Moses, beginning in verse 2 with the words, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” From the very beginning of the Law, God attaches the idea of freedom from slavery to that Law. It is extremely telling that the first specific issue God addresses in Exodus chapter 21, right after the Ten Commandments, is slavery. I believe this strengthens the idea that the prohibition of slavery is a key value within the Kingdom of God.