Divine Impartiality

Divine Impartiality


Pastor’s Study
July 28, 2009
…holding forth the word of life (Philippians 2:16a)

Have you ever felt that you were not treated impartially, perhaps in a church conflict, a family dispute, an employment issue, or a legal matter? You perceive that your race, gender, socio-economic status, nationality, or some other factor influenced decisions made either for or against you. How did you feel? Perhaps, there was no recourse for justice. Did you long for vindication, for God to come and set things right?[1]

Of course, when we talk about impartiality, we are not disputing the need for special considerations or legal protections for the afflicted. Even in the Scriptures, God enjoins special regard for the widow, the orphan, the alien, and the poor. In Deuteronomy 27:19, for example, the Lord warns Israel not to distort “the justice due an alien, orphan, and widow.”

The Lord knows that we are prone to judge others based on unfair criteria. Sometimes, too, ulterior motives and selfish desires influence our decision-making. If, however, we are ever tempted to pervert justice, we should remember our Lord’s warning against the sin of partiality in James 2: 1-4, 9:
1My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2For if a man comes into your assembly
with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in
dirty clothes, 3and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine
clothes, and say, "You sit here in a good place," and you say to the poor man, "You
stand over there, or sit down by my footstool," 4have you not made distinctions
among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?... 9But if you show
partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

The apostle condemns this unjust and partial treatment of others as a violation of God’s law.

“There is no partiality with God,” however, as Paul asserts in Romans 2:11. In her book, Divine Impartiality, Jouette Bassler posits the view that Paul’s statement extolling God’s impartiality in Romans 2:11 is derived from an Old Testament formula in II Chronicles 19:7 – “there is no perversion of justice with the Lord our God, or partiality, or taking bribes” and in Deuteronomy 10:17 (“the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who is not partial and takes no bribes”).[2]

This divine impartiality is best demonstrated in God’s rescue of sinful humanity from the “domain of darkness” (Colossians 1:13), a theme that Paul stresses in Romans 1:16-17. Here, the apostle, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, emphasizes salvation to all who believe – Jew or Gentile (“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek,” Romans 1:16). In the Gospel, the saving justice of God is revealed, effecting eschatological restoration for Jew and Gentile. This divine activity is congruent with the Old Testament Scriptures where the just- by- faith (whether Jew or Gentile) are awarded life (17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH,” Romans 1:17; see Habakkuk 2:4). To demonstrate that there is no partial adjudication by God, both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin (“What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin,” Romans 3:9). All are condemned by the law in order that every mouth be shut before God’s judgment bench (“Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God,” Romans 3:19). All who believe are justified before God (3:21-31). Sin holds dominion over all in the sphere of death whereas grace holds dominion over all in the sphere of life (5:12-21). God has shut up all in disobedience that He might demonstrate His saving justice to all (“For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all,” Romans 11:32).

In Romans 12-16, Paul wishes to provoke – by this humbling demonstration of God’s impartial judicial administration – an acceptance of all (that is, Jewish and Gentile believers) within the Church (12:2-3; 15:5-7).[3] Paul exhorts us:
5Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ
Jesus, 6so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7Therefore, accept one another, just
as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God (Romans 15:5-7).

We praise God who has demonstrated His covenant faithfulness to Israel by granting life at court to all the believing remnant (Romans 9-11) and, likewise, has manifested covenant fidelity to Gentiles who placed their trust in Him.[4] And as Paul urged us, may we learn to “accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God” (Romans 15:7).


[1]This longing is expressed at least 58 times throughout the Scriptures by prophet, psalmist, and other saints, usually with the question, “How long?”
[2] Jouette Bassler, Divine Impartiality: Paul and a Theological Axiom (Chicago: Scholars Press, 1982), 43.
[3] I am indebted to Alan Tomlinson for this survey. Tomlinson serves as professor of New Testament interpretation at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
[4]Richard B. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), 36-37.



No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 3:11).