“I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him” (Acts 10:34–35, NASB).
(See also Leviticus 19:15; Deuteronomy 1:17; 10:17; 2 Chronicles 19:7; Job 13:10; 34:19; Proverbs 24:23; Malachi 2:9; Luke 20:21; Romans 2:11; Galatians 2:6; Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 3:25; 1 Timothy 5:21; James 2:1, 9; 1 Peter 1:17.)
I, Trenton, had once been an angry atheist myself. At some point in that season of unbelief, I remember hearing a Christian tell someone, “God is love. God loves everyone.”
The Christian’s claim made me angry, and so I wanted to confront the Christian with the following challenging questions: “If there is a God who loved everyone, why would this deity create disfigured, disabled, or retarded people? How is that loving? Or is your God still practicing? Has He not yet perfected how to make people? Has He not yet graduated from Human Creation School? Did He lose His blueprints? Was He drunk or on drugs when He made some of them? Did He not have enough workers to double-check for defects before they left the factory line and got shipped to Earth? You say that God is no respecter of persons, His judgment is fair, and He loves everyone. But to me, it seems obvious that your God plays favorites. How can you look at a retarded person who is drooling all over herself, unable to communicate, unable to enjoy life, and tell her that your God loves her? How is it loving?”
However, I never did confront that Christian. I kept my mouth shut and stewed in silence. Instead, confined within my own thoughts, I reasoned with myself, Let it go, Trent. At least this person is spreading a message of love and not hate. Just look at how joyful that person seems to be. That’s the joy you wish you had. Don’t take that away from somebody else just because you don’t have it. Oh, how ignorance is bliss. It must be nice.
I then walked away. I never asked those challenging questions to that Christian, so I don’t know how that Christian would have responded to my questions. But what about you? How would you respond to those questions? Before continuing this investigative study, take some time right now to answer the questions of why God created disfigured, disabled, or retarded people and how it could be a loving thing to do. After you have written your reasoned response, continue this study. At the end of this study, I’ll respond to my past self, and then you can compare your response with my response. Are you ready to begin our next Quest for Truth?
In Acts 10:34, the phrase indicating that God does not show partiality comes from the Greek word προσωπολήπτης [G4381] prosōpolēmptēs (pros-o-pol-ape’-tace), which is a compound of the words πρόσωπον [G4383] prosōpon (pros’-o-pon) and λαμβάνω [G2983] lambanō (lam-ban’-o). The word prosōpon literally means “towards the eye” and means the front, surface, exterior appearance, and implies a person’s face or physical appearance as a whole. The word lambanō means to take, seize, or lay hold of someone or something. Thus, the compounded word prosōpolēmptēs means to take hold of the physical exterior appearance. Therefore, God does not take hold of anyone’s physical exterior appearance; He is not captivated, amazed, enamored, or beguiled by any human being’s physical beauty. Rather, God is exactly as it is written in 1 Samuel 16:7 (NASB), “God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” The word “heart” is the English translation of the Hebrew word לֵבָב [H3824] lēḇāḇ (lay-bawb’), which means the inner self, mind, will, heart, and purpose, which implies the most interior of a place. In Exodus 15:8, this word describes the middle or center of the sea. Essentially, God examines the depth beyond the surface to the very core. In fact, lēḇāḇ is often compounded with the word נֶפֶשׁ [H5315] nephesh (neh’-fesh) which translates as “soul” to emphasize the very center or core of a person’s being (2 Chronicles 15:12). The Lord searches us thoroughly, examining the intent of our thoughts, the reasons behind our motives, and weighs our actions (1 Samuel 2:3; 1 Kings 8:39; 1 Chronicles 28:9; Luke 16:15). And that word lēḇāḇ was first used in Genesis 6:5 (NASB), “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his [lēḇāḇ] heart was only evil continually.” And this is why God shows no partiality. It’s as if God doesn’t even see our physical exterior attributes, but our appearance to Him is the very essence of who we are. Ponder: an X-ray machine looks beyond our physical exterior presence to reveal the bones (or structure) within, but God’s omniscient vision sees our very soul, the innermost of who we are, and thoroughly examines why we do what we do.
But if God shows no partiality, why did the Lord reveal Himself to me when I had been an angry, depressed, nihilistic, and suicidal atheist? Because the Lord knew my heart, and He knew that if I knew He truly existed, I would not harden my heart as so many others have done (Exodus 7:13; 2 Chronicles 36:13; Psalm 95:8; Hebrews 3:8, 15), but I would humble myself and seek understanding so as to be in alignment with the Truth. God knew me better than I knew myself and knew who I would become, that I would be like David—a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; 1 Kings 9:4; 11:4; Acts 13:22). God knew that by revealing Himself to me, by Him knocking on the door of my heart (Revelation 3:20), I would invite the Lord in and permit the Lord to change my heart of stone into a heart of flesh, just as the prophet described in Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26. And when I became a new creation in Christ (Romans 13:14; Colossians 3:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17), His Law was truly written on my heart (Psalm 40:8; 119:34; Isaiah 51:7; Jeremiah 31:33; 2 Corinthians 3:3; Hebrews 8:10; 10:16).
But if God shows no partiality, then why doesn’t God draw all people to Himself in the same way He pulled me to Him? Well, like Pharaoh and Pharisees, many people—out of their free will—harden their hearts, reject the Lord, and rebel against God’s will. All people are equal in both creation and the opportunity for salvation. All people have been born into sin and are sinners (Genesis 6:5; Psalm 51:5; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:9–18, 23; 5:12; Ephesians 2:3). And because of sin, no human possesses the ability to secure salvation apart from God’s provision (Romans 3:23–26; Ephesians 2:8–9). It is for this reason that we are saved by God’s grace through our faith in the finished work of Christ Jesus. Salvation is a gift, and God offers this gift to all people (John 3:16–17). In fact, God does not show favoritism in salvation, for it is written in Matthew 5:45 (NASB) that “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Further, it is written that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked; rather, He desires for them to repent so they may live (Ezekiel 18:23, 32; 33:11). So much so, in fact, that Jesus willingly sacrificed Himself on the cross even for sinners (John 10:18; Romans 5:8). As it is written in 2 Peter 3:9, God is patient with all people—including the wicked—not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. Therefore, Scripture is true in that God shows no partiality. All people have been given the gift of free will and are offered the free gift of salvation. But think of the Holy Spirit as a magnet. Those who desire to do good and live right will naturally be drawn toward the Holy Spirit, who convicts us of our sins (John 16:8–11). However, all people who desire to do evil will be repelled by the Holy Spirit, and they will go in the opposite direction. And so the simple truth is just as it is written in John 3:19–21 (NASB):
This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.
Certainly, Scripture makes it evident that God does not show partiality when it comes to salvation; however, isn’t it also evident in Scripture that God does, in fact, show favoritism to certain people over others? For example, Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8), Abraham was favored and blessed (Genesis 18:18), Joseph was favored and blessed above all (Genesis 39:2–6, 21–23), and the Israelites were favored in comparison with the other nations (Deuteronomy 14:2; Psalm 44:3). Also, certain people, such as the Lord’s prophets, stand out as favored compared to others (Deuteronomy 34:10; 1 Samuel 3:19), and David was chosen by God to be blessed, and he transitioned from an unimportant shepherd to the king of Israel (1 Samuel 16:13; 18:14). In addition to Old Testament examples, the New Testament reveals that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was highly blessed and favored among all other women (Luke 1:28, 30, 42), and certain people were specifically chosen by Jesus to be apostles (John 15:16). Even after Jesus resurrected and ascended into Heaven, God chose Matthias over Barsabbas to replace Judas as the twelfth apostle (Acts 1:23–26). Not only does Scripture make God’s favoritism known, but an honest examination of life seems to call attention to the fact that some people are highly blessed and favored, whereas other people are born blind, deaf, mute, lame, and in poverty. In fact, Scripture attests to the fact that some people were born blind (John 9:1), whereas others were blessed with eyesight. But if Scripture reveals that God shows no partiality, is it a contradiction for Scripture to also reveal that God clearly shows favoritism? No. Whereas God shows no partiality for salvation, God does strategically select specific people as instruments (or chosen vessels) in His salvation story.
Under examination, we need to understand why certain people were selected and blessed even though God shows no partiality. In proper context, God’s favoritism is an apparent contradiction but not an actual contradiction. Noah was chosen because he lived obediently by faith to God’s will (Hebrews 11:7), and it was God’s will that the flood be a part of our salvation story because it symbolized baptism and the cleansing of sins. Abraham was favored and blessed because he lived obediently by faith to God’s will (Genesis 22:18; Romans 4:9; Galatians 3:6–14; Hebrews 11:8), and it was God’s will for salvation to come from his seed and through faith (Matthew 1:1–17; Galatians 3:8; Hebrews 11:17–19). Joseph gave God the glory (Genesis 41:16), lived an obedient life by faith (Hebrews 11:22), and is a type of Christ who foreshadowed a future suffering servant who would end up saving the nations (Genesis 50:20). The Lord’s prophets lived by faith (Hebrews 11:24–29) and announced God’s messages to the people so that fulfilled prophecy could act as proof of precision to the salvation story. David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; 1 Kings 9:4; 11:4; Acts 13:22) and showed us that blessed kings of the earth still serve the real King, who is Lord Jesus (Psalm 2:6; 1 Timothy 6:14–16; Revelation 17:14; 19:11–16). Mary was favored as a chosen vessel so that Immanuel (God with us) could bring about the plan for salvation for all people who come to the Lord in faith (Matthew 1:23; John 1:1, 14; 3:16–17). And finally, we must realize that even though Jesus favored specific people and chose them to be apostles, they all suffered persecution in order to live obediently in faith to God’s will to share the Gospel (John 15:18–20; 16:33; Romans 8:36; 2 Timothy 3:12). However, all people who were chosen vessels had the same thing in common: they were finite and fallible beings who were no better than all other human beings. Simply put, they were not chosen based on their greatness; rather, they were chosen based on God’s perfect plan. And God’s perfect plan is all about Christ Jesus and the salvation of the Lord’s children. So in this sense, all humans can be likened to chess pieces. Some clay (humans) were molded to be prominent positions (president, CEO, manager, captain, etc.); likewise, some plastic (chess pieces) were molded to be prominent positions (king, queen, knight, rook). However, all humans are clay, and all chess pieces are plastic. God shows no partiality; rather, God has a specific use for specific pieces at specific times in order to accomplish His victorious goal (restoration of relationship with all humans).
In prayer, I asked God to grant me wisdom and help me understand why He showed favoritism to some but not all and how His favoritism could still be compatible with His impartial love. I received an immediate word, or ῥῆμα [G4487] rhēma (hray’-mah) from the Holy Spirit, who called to my mind 1 Corinthians 12:12–31, which informs us that every individual believer is a part of the one unified body. Specifically, the Holy Spirit called to mind 12:15 (NASB), which says, “If the foot says, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,’ it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.”
Humans tend to place priority on positions or titles with a nearsighted view of this temporal life on this earth. However, God views the body as being all equal and necessary parts of the whole in Jesus, who is the head (Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:18; 2:19). Moreover, God views the body from the beginning to the end in eternity on the New Earth under the New Heavens in its glorified and completely perfect state (Ecclesiastes 3:11; 7:8; Isaiah 46:10; 55:11; Romans 8:17; 1 Corinthians 15:42–58; Philippians 3:20–21; Hebrews 3:14; Revelation 21–22).
Conceding to the image of the perfectly glorified body, I thanked the Lord that I am included to be a part of the glorious body. However, I confided in the Lord: “Due to my ever-changing emotions, I feel like I am but a pinky toe on the foot, which gets injured all the time, carries a lot of weight, gets covered up by the shoe that receives more attention and praise, and at the end of the day I stink, and no one wants to be around me. Or, during my worst emotional breakdowns, I feel like the anus, and all I ever do is deal with the crap no one else wants to deal with, and it’s a very thankless job. On the one hand, I am extremely grateful because I know I have been grafted in by grace, just as Your Word says in Romans 11:17–24. On the other hand, I am saddened by my perception that I’ll never be chosen for anything else I consider to be more significant and purposeful. But then I remember how You washed feet in John 13:5–20. If I am a foot, I certainly don’t deserve to be washed by Your hands. My unstable emotions of how I feel conflict with my reliable knowledge of who You are! Lord, I have dedicated my life to You. Like Isaiah 6:8, I shout out, ‘Here I am! Send me!’ Yet I feel like You never choose me for the missions that have any significant purpose. I feel like the horrible basketball player who was allowed on the team merely to fill the quota yet has to sit on the bench the whole game because the coach doesn’t want to put him in. I notice all the people You have shown Your favoritism toward, and it makes me feel like I’m not good enough and I’ll never be good enough for You to choose me for Your meaningful missions. Lord, how am I supposed to reconcile my feelings of You rejecting me for the important works with my knowledge of Your goodness? I feel like You loved me enough to save me, yet You’ll never consider me for Your meaningful ministry work. I want You to send me out sailing, yet I feel like You have me docked in Hinder Harbor. I am in a battle within myself! How am I supposed to understand Your favoritism which is clearly evident in both Scripture and life experiences?”
After my prayer, the Holy Spirit answered me with a vision of an extremely talented musician playing the piano. The hands playing the piano were moving all over the different keys. While I was watching, the Holy Spirit pointed out to me that some keys were in prominent positions and were played often, whereas some keys never got played at all. The Holy Spirit asked me, “What do you think about that song?”
I answered, “It was a masterpiece! It sounded awesome! I’ve never heard anything like that before!”
The Holy Spirit asked, “Did you notice the keys that never got played?”
I answered, “Yes.”
The Holy Spirit asked, “What if those keys had been played during the song? What would you think of the song then?”
I answered, “Well, I suppose it would have sounded awful and taken away from the beauty because they would have been the wrong keys. It would have been a distraction.”
The Holy Spirit asked, “What if one of the keys not being played was you? Did you not say the song sounded beautiful? Would you still ask Me to play you even though you said it would be a distraction, take away from the beauty, and would sound awful?”
I answered, “No. I suppose not.”
The Holy Spirit asked, “Why not?”
I answered, “Because I realize I don’t belong in that song. It would be better for the song and everyone else listening to the song if I weren’t played.”
The Holy Spirit asked, “How many different songs exist throughout all of time?”
I answered, “Only You know, but I’d imagine more songs than I can count.”
The Holy Spirit asked, “If certain keys do not belong in some songs, does it mean that those same keys don’t belong in all songs?”
I answered, “Well…I’d imagine the unused keys would belong in at least one song, right?”
The Holy Spirit asked, “Would you like to be played in the right song even if it is played later on, or would you rather be played in the song right now even if it’s the wrong song?”
I answered, “I’d rather be played in the right song even if it is played later on.”
The Holy Spirit asked, “Every key is unique and was created for its specific purpose. The Lord’s purpose involves many songs. One song will require the use of some keys, while a different song will require the use of other keys. One particular song might not use all the available keys, but how many of the available keys do you believe are used in all songs?”
I answered, “I don’t know. But I hope that with there being so many songs, every key would eventually be played and be a reason for the song sounding beautiful.”
The Holy Spirit asked, “Are all keys equal in creation?”
I answered, “I believe so, yes.”
The Holy Spirit asked, “Are all individual keys a part of the one piano body?”
I answered, “Yes.”
The Holy Spirit asked, “Would you like to hear the next song?”
I answered, “Yes! Am I in this one?”
The next song began to play, but I did not receive an answer to my question. At first, I became frustrated because I didn’t receive an answer. But then, I received another rhēma, and I was reminded of four different scriptures. The first was when Jesus told His disciples, “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12, NASB). The second was that “many who are first will be last; and the last, first” (Matthew 19:30, NASB). The third was that “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7, NASB). And the fourth was, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5–6, NASB).
In conclusion, I was reminded that I might feel a certain way right now, and it might be true that I’m feeling that way; however, it is also true that I do not see the whole picture right now. If the Lord revealed to me the entire plan right now, I might be too overwhelmed to even take the next step. The truth is that this life here on this earth is not our reward and does not accurately reflect our true treasure in Heaven. There’s no partiality with God. Those who feel like they are last right now will not feel that way in the life to come because they will be first. It is for this reason we keep our eyes on the prize, just as Paul said in Philippians 3:12–14 (NASB),
I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
So, if I were to respond to my old atheist self, how would I answer the questions I wanted to ask the Christian? Well, I would say, “Ignorance is not bliss, and this is why you are depressed and don’t possess the joy you desire. You don’t even know where life comes from, why life exists, or where life goes when life leaves the body, so how can you claim that anyone possessing life is experiencing an unloving act? And how do you know what is unloving unless you first know the standard of love? And by whose standard of love are you comparing the acts you determine to be unloving? What you are blind to see right now is how those you consider to be last and most unfortunate will actually be first and most blessed in the life to come. Why do you feel qualified to speak on their behalf? You pity them because you believe they only smile and laugh because they’re unaware of who they are and what’s going on around them. But you don’t know their thoughts. You feel sorry for someone who is blind because that person cannot see with his physical eyes, yet many of them feel sorry for you because you are spiritually blind and cannot see the evidence for life that God created or the love of God in that life. You feel sorry for someone who is unable to verbally communicate their thoughts, yet many of them feel sorry for you because you use the gift you’ve been given to express wrong thoughts about them and the God who loves both you and them. Through these most blessed individuals—who, by the way, will be restored in a perfectly glorified body in the life to come—we learn how to love those who need love the most and how to be grateful for all that we have in this life here on this earth. How can you be thankful for all the good unless you know about the bad you’re thankful not to experience? Do you believe that training in this life is necessary, yet you don’t believe that training for the life to come is necessary? If you don’t think God knows what He’s doing, perhaps you should ask Nick Vujicic what he thinks. He was born with tetra-amelia syndrome. And even though he has no arms and no legs, he has managed to help millions of people all over the world—because he has no arms or legs. In fact, he would not have his platform to reach millions of people had he not been born without arms and legs because he would have been just like you. His faith in God and his ability to seek solutions beyond perceived problems inspire millions of people. You, however, have Aperture Appetite, and you don’t see the bigger picture. You’re so focused on perceived problems that you don’t even see the Savior’s solutions in the blurred background. God wants to speak to you, but you’re unwilling to listen. So how are you any better than the deaf people you feel sorry for? Certainly, many of them feel sorry for you because you do not have ears to hear. But please open your ears and hear the advice I’m about to give you: read and study the Bible with the goal of seeing the depth beyond the surface and understanding what God is actually saying. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened. God desires to have a genuine relationship with you. Don’t bring your arguments to me. Seek God and listen to what the Lord wants to tell you. And when I tell you to seek God, I mean that you need to do this as if your life depends on it—because it does.”
Thoughts from The Artist J
Scripture tells us that God shows no partiality or favoritism. Yet what does it mean to be impartial? Impartial, by definition, means “treating all rivals or disputants equally; fair and just.” Partiality is a term for showing favor to one side over another when passing judgment due to a personal bias or the person’s prestige. So when Scripture says that God is impartial, it means He will not show anyone more favor in His judgments due to that person perhaps being wealthier or being of a higher status any more than another who may be poor or of lower status, for example. God is fair in His judgments and is not swayed by a person’s appearance, strength, or status. That is why the symbol for the justice system is typically a person with a blindfold on because a fair assessment is supposed to determine the verdict of the incident at hand and not appearances or how much power that person may have. And where we as humans may be swayed by that, God is not.
Look at what Jesus says to Pilate in John 19:10–11 (ESV) when Jesus was standing on trial and remaining silent.
So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
Pilate’s appeal to his authority meant nothing to Jesus. Jesus is God. It wasn’t Pilate that would decide Jesus’ fate on the cross but the will of God, and God had already decided in Isaiah 53:9–10 (ESV),
And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt.
The point being is that God cannot be swayed because of our earthly status or position because, in God’s sight, we all have the same status in judgment, that being “dead in sin” or “alive in Christ.” Romans 3:23 (ESV) says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and so no amount of wealth and prosperity, or whatever position you may hold, will have any benefit in your standing before God. The things that you’ve achieved or accomplished on this earth will not declare your innocence in God’s court of law because God shows no partiality in judgment. God sets up and throws down kings, and causes nations to rise and fall, so He cannot be bribed or swayed by whatever status people may think they hold, but instead judges fairly and equally based solely on whether or not you have had your sins forgiven through the atonement of Jesus Christ.
Thankfully, because of that atonement of Jesus Christ, all who believe can impartiality be declared innocent as well. Jesus’ ministry showed His impartiality in that Jesus helped and healed lepers, prostitutes, and Roman soldiers—people who the religious leaders of Israel considered outcasts or enemies. You see, Israel is God’s chosen nation, but because God so loved the world, Jesus showed God’s attribute of being impartial by taking the sin of not only Israel but of everyone. First John 2:2 (ESV) says, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”
Through Jesus’ death and resurrection—though not all will be saved and trust in Christ—Jesus did extend salvation to all nations and races, even outside of Israel. This is why, when Jesus’ disciple Peter first saw that God had chosen to impart a Roman with the Holy Spirit, sealing him for the day of redemption, Peter said, “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34–35, ESV).
Paul talks about this in Ephesians as well whenever he mentions the mystery of God’s will. He writes,
Making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.
Ephesians 1:9–11 (ESV)
Paul talks about how the mystery of God’s will was breaking down the wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles, how Jesus preached peace to those who were afar off and near, and how, through the Holy Spirit, both now have access to the Father. Now Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow saints adopted into the household of God (Ephesians 2:14–18). How Gentiles are now fellow heirs and of the same body as that of the Israelites believers of the Gospel. Partakers in the promise of Christ (Ephesians 3:6). So Gentiles should be considerably thankful for God’s impartiality.
God also gives us, as Christians and followers of God, the command to likewise be impartial and show no favoritism in judgment. Deuteronomy 1:17 (ESV) says, “You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God’s.”
God told the judges of Israel in 2 Chronicles 19:6–7 (ESV) saying,
Consider what you do, for you judge not for man but for the Lord. He is with you in giving judgment. Now then, let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the Lord our God, or partiality or taking bribes.
So as Christians, we are not to show partiality or favoritism in judgment, but we are also not to give more attention to one of our brothers or sisters over the other due to position, influence, or wealth. James 2:1–4 (ESV) says,
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
So, when we show partiality or favoritism and pay more attention to one person, we are actually declaring an unfair judgment over the other person. Thinking of them as lesser than the other person and less than ourselves. When in actuality, all of us were once sinners and needing of a Savior all the same.
Paul actually had to correct Peter in this while in Antioch. Peter chose to sit with Jewish Christians over the Gentile Christians, which in turn was placing an unfair judgment upon the Gentile believers even though they had done nothing wrong. Paul showed what proper impartiality in judgment looked like by directly addressing Peter with this issue, even though Peter had much authority within the church as a handpicked disciple and apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul didn’t allow Peter’s position within the church to sway his need for correction. This incident was a great example to us of how to be impartial.
Galatians 2:11–16 (ESV) says,
But when Cephas [Peter] came to Antioch, I [Paul] opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel [that Gentiles have also been made coheirs with Christ as well as the Jewish believers], I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified [declared as righteous] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
Paul was saying that the only way that either Jews or Gentiles can be cleared of their debt of sin and be declared innocent by God is by God’s grace through faith alone, and so we have no reason to treat each other any differently because we have both become equals through Christ.
That being said, what impartiality does not mean is that God never gives grace or chooses someone over another. Clearly, Scripture shows that God does choose particular people and nations, even from before the foundation of the world. Yet even when God does this, it is still not because of an aspect of who that person is. The choice is not influenced by appearance, strength, status, or position, so it’s not partiality. In fact, God many times chooses the least likely person. The weak, the low, the foolish, and the despised of the world, as He does with Christians (1 Corinthians 1:26–31). This becomes evident by looking at some of the people whom God has chosen to use throughout Scripture. It should prove that His decisions in choosing and using a particular person are not based on the appearances, status, wealth, or physical capabilities of that person but solely on God’s sovereign decision to give grace to whoever He might receive the most glory from. God’s decision is not influenced by the person but only His own will.
Look at Abraham. God chose a man whose own father was an idol maker to be the father of His chosen people, Israel, and the lineage of His promised Messiah to come. God picked Abraham’s son, Isaac, to be the promised offspring over his older brother Ishmael, and Isaac’s youngest son, Jacob, over his elder brother, Esau. God picked Jacob’s younger son, Judah, over Reuben. All of these elder sons should have been the chosen heir, but God decided differently.
God chose Moses, who had a speech impediment, to lead a people and speak the words of God to the nation of Israel when bringing them out of slavery. Israel itself was chosen and made by God because they were to be small and be the ones who could best display God’s glory, and He loved them. Saying in Deuteronomy 7:6–8 (ESV),
For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
God chose Gideon to be a judge over His people, Israel, and to wage war against Midian, who was oppressing them. Yet Gideon was the youngest and weakest in all of Manasseh, which was his family’s tribe. The Lord simply said, “I will be with you” (Judges 6:16, ESV).
After God picked all the judges, God would eventually choose David, the youngest, smallest, and weakest of all his brothers, to be king over Israel. God would go on to pick prophets who were depressed and bitter, one who would try to run from God, but all would be God’s chosen men who would speak on His behalf.
Many other people throughout Scripture had a variety of other problems, but all prove God to be no respecter of persons in His choices. These people didn’t earn God’s decision to choose them because many would be the least likely candidates. God gave them grace because He wanted to, not because He was influenced to.
In the New Testament, Jesus’ own chosen disciples were not biblical scholars but were instead made up of fishermen, and tax collectors, which was a position hated by his own people because they worked with the Romans. The first man that God used to preach a sermon after Jesus’ ascension and that saw 3,000 souls saved was the same person who had denied Jesus three times the night of Jesus’ arrest (Matthew 26:69–75; Acts 2:41).
God chose Saul of Tarsus (who was later known as Paul)—a persecutor of the Christian faith—to write the majority of the New Testament. Paul even referred to himself as the chief of sinners before Christ (1 Timothy 1:15), and yet Paul’s opening line in his letter to the Ephesians is on how God chose Paul to be a Christian and a minister of the Gospel. Paul says in Ephesians 1:1 (ESV), “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,” and goes on to say in 1:3–5 (ESV),
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.
Jesus chooses people according to His will. Jesus says in John 15:16, 19 (ESV),
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you …If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
God showing favor or giving grace to someone is different than showing partiality. Being partial means that you can be swayed in your decision by something that the person has to offer, but the thing is, people have nothing to offer God, so He cannot be influenced by them. God doesn’t show partiality because He is not swayed and cannot be bribed by the merits, wealth, or social status of man. People have nothing to bribe Him with because He’s God. The God who knows that the thing that would actually be just and what all people actually deserve is wrath. Yet God, in His goodness, and not because of any inherent goodness in us, through His own will, chose to show some people grace. And we as Christians are saved thanks to this grace given to us by Christ. Ephesians 2:8 (NASB) says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
God cannot show partiality, but He does show grace to whom He wills. Nobody deserves God’s grace because grace is, by definition, undeserving and something that cannot be earned. So God giving grace is not based on partiality because it’s not based on that person’s appearance, wealth, strengths, status, or position. It’s simply a decision from God to give that person a gift because God is good. It has nothing to do with what that person has to offer to influence His choice. God chooses because it is His fair choice to do so. God simply gives grace because He wills to, and He does so for His own glory.
God, in His grace, also impartially gives other gifts, talents, and abilities to His church as well, not because they deserve them but because God is gracious. There are varieties of gifts, but all of them are of importance because they come from the same Spirit. Gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, and we, as stewards of these gifts, are called to exercise the gift we have to build up the body of Christ and serve others. Jesus says in Mark 9:35 (ESV), “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and the servant of all.”
First Corinthians 12:18–19, 24–27 (ESV) says how each of the gifts that God has given to you is just as important as the gifts He has given to another Christian:
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? …But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
So in closing, we see that God is completely impartial and is never swayed in His judgments due to the prestige of the individual, but God does still choose to give grace and gifts to whomever He wills, and those people are called to use those gifts to impartially serve others for the glory of God.
Quest For Truth 