dear Ray,
in Acts 10: 34, Peter says that God does not show favoritism,
yet we know He favored Abel , Joseph , Jacob , Ephraim (and some others)
and rejected others.
how can we be sure that God does not show favoritism?
thanx for your website.
Sara
Dear Sara: We need to be careful about assuming the meaning of words, and then changing them to different words. The Scriptures say that God is no "respecter of persons." And Strong define this as "partiality," and you then change it to "favoritism." But aren't they all one and the same? No, there are similarities, the they are different. Surely God does not respect a one person over another because of some inherent goodness of one over the other. But that does not mean that He does not "favor" one over the other, He does. "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Where there something about the person of Jacob that God liked better than Esau? No, God made that decision BEFORE THEY WERE BORN.
And so God does show favor or favoritism, but it is not based on "partiality" or "respecting of persons." God's "Elect" are the ones He has "favored," and that is how Strong defines "elect." So God chooses and blesses different people at different times according to His purpose, but none of it is based on any "respect" that God has toward one person over another.
God be with you,
Ray
