I was studying Acts 10:34,35 where the Bible says that God is no respecter of persons, but now accepts all nations who fear him (also Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9; James 2:1-4,9). Is it safe to say that God at one time was a respecter of persons by only accepting the Jewish nation, or am I wrong in making that statement?<\/p>\n
Thank you for your time.<\/p>\n\t
“Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him<\/em>” (Acts 10:34-35).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Look again. “But\u00a0now<\/strong>” does not appear in this text. Peter is not stating there has been a change in who is accepted by God. He is stating a truth that has always existed. “For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe<\/em>” (Deuteronomy 10:17). Or as Elihu earlier noted that God “shows no partiality to princes nor regards the rich above the poor, for they all are the work of His hands<\/em>” (Job 34:19).<\/p>\n
Consider that Job was not an Israelite or even closely related to Abraham. The same is true of Melchizedek. For that matter, Abraham founded the Israelite nation, but he was considered righteous before God made a covenant with him. “Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them<\/em>” (Romans 4:9-11).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I was studying Acts 10:34,35 where the Bible says that God is no respecter of persons, but now accepts all nations who fear him (also Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9; James 2:1-4,9). Is it safe to say that God at one time was a respecter of persons by only accepting the Jewish nation, or am…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[90,1208,1460],"class_list":["post-51167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-god","tag-impartiality","tag-partiality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":29958,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-god-gave-one-person-a-gift-of-healing-but-not-another-does-that-make-him-a-respecter-of-persons\/","url_meta":{"origin":51167,"position":0},"title":"If God gave one person a gift of healing but not another, does that make Him a respecter of persons?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If God gave someone the gift of healing but to another person he did not, would that make Him a respecter of persons? Answer: \"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69714,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/without-respect-of-persons\/","url_meta":{"origin":51167,"position":1},"title":"Without Respect of Persons","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 8, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kyle Pope via Biblical Insights, Vol. 14, No. 9, September 2014 James 2:1 declares, \"My brethren,\u00a0do not hold the faith of our Lord\u00a0Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality\" (NKJV). The King James Version and the American Standard Version use the phrase \"with respect of persons\" rather than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15068,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-miracles-cease-if-god-is-the-same-yesterday-today-and-tomorrow\/","url_meta":{"origin":51167,"position":2},"title":"How can miracles cease if God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Acts 9:40-41 it states that Peter kneeled down and prayed and turning him to the body said; Tabitha, arise\u00a0 [ exactly the same as that said by Jesus when He raised the daughter of\u00a0 Jairus from the dead. (Mark 5.41)]\u00a0 And she opened her eyes and when she\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23062,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-the-holy-spirit-operated-directly-on-mankind\/","url_meta":{"origin":51167,"position":3},"title":"If the Holy Spirit Operated Directly on Mankind …","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Douglas Hoff Many people's concept of Christianity includes some mysterious work of the Holy Spirit to change one's life. The Bible does teach the Spirit operates upon man to create faith, convict of sin, and covert the soul. Does he operate directly on man or does he work through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/Sword-216x300.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5233,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-bible-support-the-idea-that-all-men-are-created-equal\/","url_meta":{"origin":51167,"position":4},"title":"Does the Bible support the idea that all men are created equal?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 11, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does the Bible support the idea that all men are created equal? Answer: In speaking to the Athenians, Paul stated that God \"has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17673,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-all-jewish-people-be-saved-even-though-many-die-not-accepting-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":51167,"position":5},"title":"Will all Jewish people be saved, even though many die not accepting Jesus?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My question is: Will all Jewish people be saved, even though many died not accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior? \u00a0God\u2019s Word says God is not a respecter of persons, and if Gentiles are going to go to hell if they do not accept Jesus Christ as their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}