Is ‘impartiality’ the heart of the gospel?
When I first started studying theology, our set text for our New Testament Greek class was one Peter, the same text which is the focus of study of the Lambeth Conference meeting of Anglican bishops from effectually the world planned for this summer. It was a slightly odd text to cull for those starting out in their Greek learning, since its grammar is more than challenging and vocabulary more unusual than other NT texts like the gospels of Mark and John or the letter of James. But it meant engaging with some important theological ideas—and learning from my American tutor phrases like 'the whole ball wax' and 'a rock-ribbed Calvinist'!
But I was especially struck by one unusual word, which I accept continued to think most always since. Information technology comes in ane Peter ane.17:
And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile…
The discussion translated 'impartially' is the adverb ἀπροσωπολήμπτως,aprosopolemptos,derived from the negative prefixa-,the nounprosopon significant 'face up', and the verblambano meaning 'to accept' or 'to lift'. God is not a 'taker [or lifter] of the face'. There is an obvious and slightly naive inference to exist made from this: God is not 1 who judges according to appearances, as narrated in the story of David's anointing every bit king by Samuel. Samuel is tempted to anoint Eliab, Jesse'south oldest and nearly impressive son, but God has a different perspective:
Do not consider his advent or his summit, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not expect at the things man beings look at. People wait at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart (one Sam sixteen.7)
(This is a sufficiently important theological thought to have been fabricated into a snappy chorus 'Man looks on the outside, but God looks [clap, clap] on the heart'.)
Given that nosotros live in a world which is more happy to make judgements on the basis of the colour of someone's skin, and where tall people exercise more influence and are paid more, this is a powerful thought. (Have y'all always noticed how piece of cake it is to spot whether a TV plan is a drama or a documentary? In a drama, all the characters are skilful looking; in a real-life documentary, well, people simply await a little bit more than odd! In our screen viewing, we seem to think that faces matter rather a lot.)
But the thought behind the discussion is actually much more than specific, and specific to the Bible. The standard dictionary of the Greek NT, BDAG, includes this entry for the opposite verb 'to bear witness partiality or favouritism':
προσωπολημπτέω (edd. also -ληπτέω; this word and the two words following, which are closely related, have so far been found only in Christian writers. They are based on the πρόσωπον λαμβάνειν of the LXX, which in turn is modeled on the Hebr. [s. πρόσωπον 1bα, terminate]. On the spelling with or without μ due south. λαμβάνω, beg.) prove partiality Js ii:9.—DELG south.5. πρόσωπον. M-M. TW.
In the Hebrew Old Testament, the idea of 'lifting the face up' tin only mean 'to look upon' someone. Only to have one's face lifted meant to be favoured. The root of the metaphor is the situation of subjects who bow before their king, faces looking to the ground in humility and servitude; every bit the rex comes to his favourite, his lifts the subject's confront and so that he or she can look at the rex and sense his pleasure and approval. (The idea of looking on the confront every bit a sign of blessing and favour is found in the 'high priestly' prayer of blessing in Numbers vi.24–26; we pray that the king of creation will expect on u.s. with his favour.) Nosotros find the phrase in this sense in the clarification of Naaman the Syrian:
At present Naaman was commander of the regular army of the king of Aram. He was a dandy human being in the sight of his master and highly regarded [lit: he was great before the face of his lord, and his confront was lifted], because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. (2 Kings 5.1)
This idea finds ii important expressions in the OT, and specially in the Torah and Wisdom literature. The get-go is that Goddoes not practise this: God is impartial, and does not show favouritism, and this is a key attribute of his graphic symbol.
For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the neat God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. (Deut x.17)
Is he not the I who says to kings, 'Y'all are worthless,' and to nobles, 'You lot are wicked,'who shows no partiality to princes and does not favour the rich over the poor, for they are all the piece of work of his hands? (Job 34.18–xix)
It is worth noting where this idea comes from, and where it is going. Information technology originates in the creation narratives, where God makes humanity, male and female person, in his image and likeness (Gen 1.27). If all humanity, male person and female person, kings and commoners, slave and costless, are akin fabricated in the image of God and the work of his hands, and then God cannot treat different people or unlike classes of people in different ways—and in fact the defining of these different classes is the result of man sinful differentiation, and non God's creation intention. And we find 1 working out of this principle in the words of the Magnificat, on Mary'south lips, where it echoes the words of Task, as God 'sets down the mighty in the imagination of their hearts'. The Magnificat is non so much celebrating theinversion of the hierarchy of humanity, as itsabolitionism. Since God is impartial, then when his justice comes it is the great leveller.
The connexion between lack of partiality, having no favourites, and the exercise of justice is made clear past a dictionary of antonyms: fairness, justice, disinterestedness, objectivity and even-handedness are qualities that are repeatedly associated with God throughout the OT. And every bit a result, these qualities are to mark Israel in all her dealings.
Practise non follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you requite testimony in a lawsuit, do not debauchee justice by siding with the crowd, and exercise non show favouritism to the poor in a lawsuit. (Ex 23.two)
Do not pervert justice; do not testify partiality to the poor or favouritism to the cracking, just estimate your neighbour fairly. (Lev 19.15)
Do not show partiality in judging; hear both minor and great alike. Practise non be agape of anyone, for judgment belongs to God. (Deut one.17)
Do non pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. (Deut 16.19)
It sounds rather odd to us, merely this is often behind the do of 'casting lots' when making decisions in the Old Testament, and into the New; it bypasses human being partiality, and hands the decision over to the volition of God in his impartiality (see ane Chron 24.5, Jonah one.7 and Acts 1.26).
But this idea does not just have an impact on Israel's ethic and moral life; it is also to exist the basis of their theological understanding. God has not chosen Israel because the nation has somehow merited God's favour, but has just happened out of God'southward sovereign selection.
The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because yous were more than numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.Only it was because the LORD loved you lot and kept the adjuration he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed yous from the land of slavery, from the ability of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deut vii.7–8)
Despite some apparently ethno-axial aspects of the OT narrative, it is the impartiality of God which leads to the surprising welcome that is given at key points in the narrative to outsiders and foreigners, just as well to the judgement of State of israel when they defy God's call and command. Their ethnic status is no protection to them from God's judgement—since God is one who 'judges impartially'! Equally the Authorised Version renders 1 Peter 1.17, 'God is no respecter of persons'!
God's quality of impartiality becomes a theological turning point in the proclamation of the gospel in the New Testament. Luke sows the seeds of this idea in his portrayal of Jesus, albeit in the words of his adversaries:
'Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is correct, and that you do not bear witness partiality merely teach the way of God in accordance with the truth' (Luke 20.21)
Curiously, in seeking to communicate to an audience including Gentiles, Luke goes back to the root of the metaphor and notes that Jesus 'does non elevator the face' but teaches truth. And so, in Acts when Peter sees that God has blessed Cornelius and the other Gentiles with him, this idea comes home to roost:
Then Peter began to speak: "I at present realize how true information technology is that God does not show favouritism but accepts those from every nation who fright him and do what is right. (Acts 10.34–35).
For Luke, the 'every nation' Jews who have witnessed the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost now open out to get the 'every nation' Jew and Gentile, who volition receive the good news of the message of Jesus. The same principle is at piece of work for Paul, where the carefully structured binary focus of the opening chapters of his Letter of the alphabet to the Romans, balancing the reality before God for both Jew and Gentile, hinge on this thought of impartiality.
In that location will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, so for the Gentile;but glory, honour and peace for everyone who does good: get-go for the Jew, then for the Gentile.For God does not bear witness favouritism. (Rom 2.ix–11).
Over again, this theological principle works itself out in practical ethics, from the earliest to the latest of the NT letters. James is emphatic that the early on community of followers of Jesus cannot care for dissimilar people in different means according to outward appearance (James ii.1, 9). Paul treats both allies and enemies in the same way in his disputes (Gal 2.six), and he is articulate that the human distinction between slave and master cannot stand to scrutiny nether the searching spotlight of God'south lack of favouritism (Eph six.9). And Paul'south protege Timothy is to both guard gospel teaching and appoint gospel ministers without a hint of partiality (1 Tim 5.21).
One implication of all this relates to judgement. The identify where all this started, in one Peter ane.17–18, explicitly links sentence with the impartiality of God, and connects this quite explicitly with judgement 'according to deeds'. I retrieve it is sometimes piece of cake to get the thought, listening to some Christian talk about salvation, that last judgment will run according to the T-shirt slogan: 'God loves you, but I am his favourite'. God loves all people, but Christians are his favourite! That kind of exceptionalism is the opposite to every way in which the NT describes judgement. This is peculiarly articulate in the Volume of Revelation (y'all knew, dearest reader, that I would come to this text eventually!) where the growing focus on judgement in the after chapters is framed past a repeated emphasis on the justice of God. Fifty-fifty in the terminal visions of the New Jerusalem there is a (to the states) bad-mannered tension between the severe linguistic communication of judgement and exclusion from the Holy Metropolis, and words of radical welcome and invitation—all held together by the theological thought of God's impartiality. God's free offer of life is open to all who volition accept it.
God'south impartiality is rooted in the theology of creation, with all made in his epitome. It is expressed in the confidence of the nature of the fall and redemption: all take sinned, and all are invited to have the offer of reconciliation and life in Jesus. It underpins the 'election' of Israel, and because of that besides underpins the overflow of grace to the Gentiles. It shapes the exercise and composition of the customs of the redeemed, which must be ethnically and social diverse. And it is reflected in the terminal judgement of God. It is therefore at the heart of the gospel in ways that we do not ever recognise.
(The picture at the peak is from a meme nigh favouritism, and perhaps only really makes sense with the accompanying text.)
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