One of the most amazing affirmations in the Bible is this statement—“God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34). What a thought! What a wonderful and yet perplexing thought! This truth was not isolated to one time or one event in Scripture, but it is found throughout the Old and New Testaments (Deut. 10:17; 2 Chron. 19:7; Eph. 6:9; 1 Pet. 1:17). Paul not only affirms that “God shows personal favoritism to no man” (Gal. 2:6), but he reveals that it is against God’s very nature—“There is no partiality with God” (Rom. 2:11).
God accepts all genders and all races equally. Are there any “other religions” or “other gods” who do that? Galatians 3:28 declares, “There is neither Jew nor Greek…there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” “Whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him” (Acts 10:35)!
God accepts the “haves” and the “have-nots.” Who does that? Who accepts both? In Christ, “there is neither… barbarian, Scythia, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all” without partiality (Col. 3:11). “Whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him” (Acts 10:35)!
God accepts all sinners (Luke 5:32). This includes ones who we might even label “the chief of sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15), “ungodly sinners” (Jude 15) and “worse sinners” (Luke 13:2). He wants all sinners “to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). “Whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him” (Acts 10:35)!
God even accepts you! Even with all of your flaws, all of your problems, all of your sins, God still wants you! Despite the fact that you were once “ungodly,” a “sinner” and an “enemy” of God, He still sent His Son to die for you, that you might be reconciled back to Him (Rom. 5:6-10). “Whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him” (Acts 10:35)!
The fact that God shows no partiality, when we struggle so mightily with that weakness ourselves, is so amazing, so refreshing, so illustrative. Therefore, it should not surprise us that God calls upon us to follow His lead! “You shall not show partiality in judgment” (Deut. 1:17; 16:19). “To show partiality is not good” (Prov. 28:21; 24:23). “Do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality…But if you show partiality, you commit sin” (Jas. 2:1, 9).
We must not show personal favoritism to certain genders, certain races, certain “haves” (or “have-nots”), certain types of sinners, etc. Our responsibility is to take the gospel to ALL men and do good to ALL men (Mark 16:15; Gal. 6:10), following the supreme example of our Savior!