Does God play favourites?
Posted on 8th February 2025 by Joshua Eden No comments
When I was in primary school, it was a rare occasion for me to put down the football, sit and have a discussion in the playground. When it did happen, the most popular topic of discussion was, “What’s your favourite…?” We all took turns in telling each other what our favourite football team was; our favourite song, chocolate and friend. There was no profound thinking or analysis behind it; we just liked whatever felt right to us. Unfortunately, not much has changed for many in adulthood. People blindly follow their favourite preacher, a favourite friend or favourite political party and won’t consider whether it is even wise to do so. It can lead to a blind allegiance, even in the face of clear error, which some call “loyalty”. Does loyalty ignore truth? Does God have spiritual favouritism for a certain people group?
In Acts 10:34, Peter grasps the full scale and power of the gospel and proclaims that, ‘God shows no partiality’. At this point he understood that the gospel is the power of salvation for all who believe, and that God’s Kingdom will be made up of redeemed souls from every tribe, nation and tongue. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus(Galatians 3:28). This means that with God and salvation, there is no inherent privilege. All are born in sin, and salvation is only possible by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
There are some who say that we are Christians because we were born in the West. To which I reply, Christianity started in the Middle East! Others say, Christianity is a white man’s religion and was forced on people in Africa who otherwise wouldn’t be Christian. However, the oldest church in the world is in Africa and the gospel penetrated vast parts of Africa a long time before Europe and the Americas. Just as we see in Acts 8, the Ethiopian Eunuch being baptised and possessing a scroll of Isaiah.
Others will say, you are a Christian because of your Christian parents. The Jews had a similar reasoning and thought that they would be favoured because they were descendants of Abraham. In Matthew 3:9, Jesus says, ‘do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father,” for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.’ In Romans 2:28 – 29, Paul describes a true Jew as one who is circumcised by the heart. Therefore, having a God-fearing parent or living in a so-called Christian nation is no guarantee of spiritual favour.
There are promises of a remnant of Israel coming to the Lord in Romans 11. Their salvation can only occur if they are repentant of their sin and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. This is the only way for people to be saved.
There are some who would think that everything the nation of Israel does is good and favoured by God. If you read almost any narrative about the Israelites in the Old Testament, you will find the complete opposite! Even though they had: the Law; the Ark of the Covenant; a Levitical priesthood; living eyewitness of divine miracles and a promised land, they continued to sin and none of it was enough to atone for their sins. The people of Israel need what we all need – a Messiah! Praise the Lord for He has come and made a way for a sinful man to be made clean. Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6) and our trust and loyalty must be to Him alone and no one else.
God shows no partiality with man and neither should we. We should only favour the one who graciously favoured us – our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.