Partiality is the unfair bias in favor of one thing or person compared with another.
Partiality requires judgment where a decision is made based on that particular bias. Partiality becomes unfair when those decisions discriminate in favor of one group to the detriment of all other groups. We are told by God that He is not partial. He does not show favoritism and neither should we. What does this look like in practical terms of life in 2023?
Very simply, God is love. He does not love one person or group of persons more or less than another. He loves everyone perfectly and unconditionally. God created every single person and we are made in His image and likeness. That fact alone explains why we have “sanctity of life”. Every person has a soul and God placed that soul in every human being. He loves everyone so much that He sent Jesus Christ into this world to save souls for eternal life. For God so loved the world that He sent His only Son into the world so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Question: Does God want every single person to be saved? Of course He does because He is impartial. He loves every single person and if anyone (whosoever) comes to believe in the sacrifice of Christ for sins, he or she will be saved. It matters not what color of skin, what race, what gender, what age, God’s love is perfect toward all. Now, if we are to love others as Christ loves, how are we doing? Do we love others without judging them based on some human standard? Treating others with partiality is a sin and it harms both parties. God says that we are to love even our enemies and bless those who persecute us. Jesus said that He did not come into the world to condemn the world but to save it. Here is the hard part. Our love is not to be tied to the performance of others. It is to be a gift. It is to be grace. It is to be unconditional. How wonderful is that kind of love? It is supernatural and we human beings are unable to love this way without the power of God working in us to love all other people the same way God does. Every day, we are very likely to fall short of this divine standard. Every day we will need to lean on God for the power to do what we cann ot do in our own strength. Every day, we will need to ask God to forgive us if we do not love as He loves.
Want to make a New Year’ resolution? First, resolve to follow Jesus Christ. If you are not a believer, you need to have your sins forgiven through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and you need the Holy Spirit to come into your heart. Outside of Christ, you are on your own and you will love in the natural but not in the supernatural. The Bible puts it this way. Do not walk in the flesh (natural) but walk in the Spirit (supernatural). You and I can only do this by faith in the Word of God and obedience to the Spirit of God.
If we as individuals or if we as a nation determine to live without God, we will destroy one another through partiality.
For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. Deuteronomy 10:17
Now let the fear of the Lord be on you. Judge carefully, for with the Lord our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery.” 2 Chronicles 9:17
He would surely call you to account if you secretly showed partiality. Job 13:10
To show partiality is not good— yet a person will do wrong for a piece of bread. Proverbs 28:21
So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Luke 20:21
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 Timothy 5:21
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
GALATIANS 5:13-18
