Does God show partiality?

Another way to ask this question is, “Does God treat everyone the same way?” The answer to the question is no. The opponent of that statement  would say, “God is partial then isn’t He?” The first thing we to do is define the word partiality which means to  show favor to someone or something over something or someone else.

We show partiality to a particular person when we are fond of them. That means that person will receive benefits from us that others will not receive because of the importance of the relationship.  The person we favor has said or done something to merit or earn our favor. But God is not that way. Whoever we are, God rewards obedience and punishes disobedience as a universal rule. There are several passages that tell us that God is no respecter of persons:

"Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour." (Leviticus 19: 15 KJV)

"Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous." (Deuteronomy 16: 19 KJV)

"For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, 
that his banished be not expelled from him." (II Samuel 14: 14 KJV)

"Wherefore now let the fear of the LORD be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts." (II Chronicles 19: 7 KJV)

"These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment." (Proverbs 24: 23 KJV)

"To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread that man will transgress." (Proverbs 28: 21 KJV)

"And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear." (I Peter 1: 17 KJV)

"God is no respecter of persons." (Acts 10: 34)"For there is no respect of persons with God." (Romans 2: 11)"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors." (James 2: 1-9 KJV)

The verses in James says it all.  We are not to treat a rich man with honor just because he’s rich and a poor man with contempt and disrespect just because he’s poor. Both should be respected the same. That is being impartial – no respect of persons based on socio-economic status, gender, education, pedigree, popularity, ethnicity, etc.

When God chooses someone like for instance Abraham over all the other people in the earth at that time, it wasn’t because of Abraham’s good looks, education, money or anything else. God did not need Abraham. Abraham discovered he needed God after God revealed Himself to him in a mighty way (Genesis 15:1). God does not choose someone because of what they have, He chooses them because of what they do not have; The Lord God Almighty.

That is clearly why God is not a respecter of persons or shows partiality for if He did, no one would receive grace or mercy. Everyone would only receive benefit from God based on something virtuous in them and/or something they did which would give them reason to boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

   Since God chooses those who are saved does that mean He is showing respect of persons?

That is a valid question. The answer is no. Why? Salvation is unconditional by nature. God created it that way. We must remember every human being born is a sinner and under the wrath of God as His enemies (John 3:36; Romans 5:10). The reason for this is because of the original sin of Adam (Romans 5:12).

God chooses some for salvation with no pre-condition. We see this clearly in Romans 9:10-16 where God sovereignly chooses Jacob and not Esau, twins before they are born. This account clearly proves God is not a respecter of persons because neither one of them had committed any good or evil because neither one had been born. Once again, God would have been a respecter of persons had he chosen let’s say Esau over Jacob after they had been born because Esau was a mighty hunter and Jacob was not. That type of salvation would be based on man’s ability, intelligence or skill. In other words conditional.

Another account of sovereign election is when Peter preaches to the Gentiles at Cornelius’

house. We read in Acts 10:34 that God is not a respecter of persons. In what sense in this passage? What God did for the Hebrews in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit fell and they spoke with different languages or tongues, He also did for the Gentiles in Acts 10:34. God was declaring that whether you’re a Jew or a Gentile, we are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28). God does not favor the Jew over the Gentile in salvation.

                                  Jesus did not heal all oppressed of the devil, why?

When we read in John 5:5-9 that Jesus healed a paralyzed man that had been in that condition for thirty eight years. We also read in verse 3 that there were a multitude sick people, blind, lame, and paralyzed. Yet Jesus healed only one man. Why? Did this man have something that compelled the Lord’s choice to have mercy on him and heal him and leave the rest sick? No he didn’t. It was Jesus divine initiative to do so to extend a miraculous benefit to him. Notice the man didn’t ask for a healing because he had been in that condition for a long time and was not expecting to receive anything. Tremendous divine favor was granted to him, nothing more.

This explains another case of God through Christ not being a respecter of persons or showing partiality. God never chooses anyone because they choose Him first.  As a matter of fact, we CAN NOT choose God unless He chooses us first (John 15:16a; Rom 3:11). We do not have the ability or the willingness to come to God of our own initiative for prior to coming to Jesus we are dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1; Col 2:13; Titus 3:2-5). God has to bring us back from the dead spiritually speaking.

       

                                                                  Conclusion

Anyone that believes God will do for all what He does for one assume God is under obligation to bless everyone the same way. The truth of the matter is God is not obligated to bless anybody. God blesses undeserving sinners because He is good beyond comprehension and comparison. It’s a lack of understanding of the character of God and the scripture to have the audacity to say God is unfair if He chooses to save some wretched sinners and leave others in their depravity for all of us deserve eternal damnation for all have sinned and keep on sinning (Romans 3:23). If one does not believe they deserve hell they are terribly deceived. They think of themselves more highly than they should  and really need to take a careful look at their lives and compare it against scripture. I have said it before but it bears repeating. It is amazing that God chooses anyone; an innumerable amount of souls. Certainly He is under no compulsion to choose and save all for that would make God a Universalist and there would be no hell.

For God to show respect of persons actually humanizes God and deifies man. In what way you might say? Partially by it’s very nature demands that there is something virtuous in the person to compel God to choose them; it’s based on condition. It is what theologians called synergism. What that means is man and God are co-participants in the salvation process. The sad part of synergism is that man is the initiator because he has something that God needs (e.g. faith, wisdom). As a result, God chooses him, but man can still exercise his “sovereign right” to reject God once the gospel is preached to him. So God’s choice of man is rendered null and void unless God comes on man’s terms. That is the Arminian’s view of salvation which is conditional.

If one believes salvation this way, then God is no longer sovereign. If God is no longer sovereign, then He is no longer God.

What the Bible actually teaches is that salvation is monergistic – a work of God, alone.  Since God is not a respecter of persons, He chose before the foundation of the world who He would save (Ephesians 1:4; I Peter 1:20). Salvation as I mentioned earlier is unconditional. In this way God is praised for the loving sovereign that He is.

So in the final analysis, partiality is synergistic. Meaning salvation is based on what man has to contribute to salvation. A man centered salvation is no salvation at all. God operates on impartiality which is monergistic. He chooses those He wants to bless based solely on his sovereign divine initiative. It is always based on His unconditional love.