There are obvious examples of God’s partiality to Israel in the Old Testament. Surely God was partial when he led Israel through the Red Sea unharmed but then destroyed the Egyptian chariots that tried to follow. Surely God was partial when he dropped food (manna) upon Israel in the wilderness, something no other people had ever experienced. Surely God is partial with us when we learn about “Election” in Romans 9, through the teaching that He loved Jacob but hated Esau.
Yet the statement that there is no partiality with God is surprisingly spread throughout the Bible, mostly contained in warnings. I found such warnings in Deuteronomy, II Chronicles, Job, Psalms. Proverbs and Malachi in the Old Testament and Acts, Romans. Galatians. Ephesians, Colossians. I Timothy, and James in the New Testament.
We all, like Israel before us, have a tendency to relax in our vigilance against sin. This is so because we enjoy a special relationship with God as a result of the love shown by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
But this is one of the biggest mistakes that we (and Israel before us) make in our assumptions about God’s love. The Bible warns us that there is one thing that God is not partial with, and that is His attitude toward sin.
In the case of sin and rebellion, God’s Holiness trumps everything, including His own love. If we take any lesson from the Old Testament, we should see that it is a trap to think that the relationship we enjoy with God through the work of Jesus negates God’s Justice against sin. It does not, never has, and never will.
All of us are suckers for favoritism. I know I lapped it up when my mother showed it to me, or when I knew my boss especially liked my past performance at work. It allowed me to get away with more and pay less for my shortcomings.
Not so with God, and the Bible warns us repeatedly with the oft-seen phrase, “There is no partiality with God” (Rom 2:11). Walt Henrichsen put it in a stark manner: “The death of Christ does not ameliorate the consequences of sin”. Just because you do not see it in this life, it does not mean you will not see it in the next. One of the biggest shocks in eternity for those of us who are favored by God will be the fact that the cross did not wipe away the deleterious effects of our sins on earth.
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