This world runs on favoritism. Special treatment is given to those who are wealthy, attractive, famous, politically connected, or of a particular race. But with God, there is no preferential treatment. And God calls his people to follow him in not showing partiality.
- and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit. (Exod 23:3 NIV)
- Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. (Lev 19:15)
- Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism (Acts 10:34)
- For God does not show favoritism. (Rom 2:11)
- As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing to my message. (Gal 2:6)
- And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. (Eph 6:9)
- Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism. (Col 3:25)
- I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism. (1 Tim 5:21)
- My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. (Jam 2:1)
- But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. (Jam 2:9)
In this world people get away with all kinds of evil, but in the end no one will escape God’s perfect judgment because “God does not show favoritism.” Imagine a world where everyone is judged fairly, where no bribes are accepted, where ethnicity and appearance make no difference. Peter told the Gentiles in Cornelius’s house:
“I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right” (Acts 10:34-35).
Favoritism is such a strong human tendency that it easily creeps into the church so Paul charges Timothy “to do nothing out of favoritism” and James explains that believers in the Lord Jesus Christ “must not show favoritism.” Following his admonition, James gives an example:
My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (2:1-4)
We give more esteem to someone wearing a nice suit than someone in shorts and a t-shirt. We give more honor to someone with a fancy car than someone driving a jalopy. And that esteem leads to special treatment. I think the root of the issue is that we are focused on outward appearances while God is focused on the heart. Even the prophet Samuel was impressed with Saul’s appearance, but the Lord said, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The
LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the
LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sam 16:7).
But why do we care that someone is wealthy? Are we secretly thinking that if we are especially nice to wealthy people, they may give us some of their money? To boil it down more: Are we actually just in love with money?
After Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money,” Luke continues:
The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.” (Lk 16:13-15)
If we could see the way God sees favoritism would not exist.
After graduating from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, I served as a Bible and theology teacher in Asia and the U.S. My new book explores the amazing doctrine of the Trinity.
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