Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Romans. Tonight is study #19 of Romans 2, and we are reading Romans 2:10-11:

But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

We will stop reading there. We were discussing how verse 10 (But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile) is laying out the order of events in God’s salvation program, as far as the “rains” He caused to fall on the earth, the early rain and the Latter Rain. The early rain was “to the Jew first,” because the Jew typifies the churches and congregations; and then the Latter Rain was “to the Gentile,” as the Gentile typifies the people of the world that were outside the churches, just as it was with His judgment program, if you recall verse 9: “Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile.” God began His judgment on the “house of God,” followed by the judgment on the world.

So this established the order or sequence for both salvation and judgment. But it is also true that God has brought judgment on all the people in the world, without respect of persons, as we are told in Romans 2:11:

For there is no respect of persons with God.

God judges the sinner, and He does not care who the sinner is, as far as what tribe they belong to, what language they speak, what color they are, what gender they are, or how tall they are. It does not matter with God. You know, the characteristics and attributes of people matter to the people of the world because they look on the outward appearance, but that is not the case with God. Turn to 1Samuel 16, and we will find a very important and revealing verse concerning God and how God has no respect of persons. Just to establish the context, Samuel the prophet had come to anoint one of the sons of Jesse to be king, so Jesse lined up his sons, and one of them was a strong, tall man, It says in 1Samuel 16:6:

And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the JEHOVAH’S anointed is before him.

Now this is similar to what Samuel had done with Saul, the first king of Israel. Saul stood head and shoulders above all the other people of Israel. He was the tallest and the strongest, so Samuel thought it would follow the same pattern, but no. The Lord corrected him in 1Samuel 16:7:

But JEHOVAH said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for JEHOVAH seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but JEHOVAH looketh on the heart.

The outward appearance of the physical body can be impressive, and some people are blessed with a very powerful looking body, and they look like somebody you should choose to be the leader and the king, or that should be the one that becomes saved or the one who can judge. Then there are those that have an appearance that is not very swaggering, handsome, or beautiful, and if the world applies its standards, then certainly these are castaways, rejects and people that should come under the judgment of God. On the other hand, here is a fine-looking young man or young woman, and they certainly should receive the grace of God in salvation. If men were in charge and it was up to men, it would work along these lines, and it would even be perverted. And that is one of the reasons that salvation is not of man, as the Bible insists, but it is of the Lord. But churches and their leaders have corrupted the true Gospel of the Bible, the Gospel of grace wherein people are saved by the faith of Christ, and not their own faith. The churches have corrupted that salvation, and they have put salvation int the hands of the people, or so they think. And, therefore, it is in the hands of the bishops, preachers, elders, deacons and pastors, and they believe they play a role of some kind, and they pervert the fact that God says He is no respecter of persons, because oftentimes, those in the churches are respecter of persons. God touches on this in the Epistle of James. It says in James 2:1-9:

My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

The Lord is touching upon this point, and He is addressing the congregations, especially during the church age because they did tend to look on the outward appearance of people, like someone who has “gay clothing.” We have to consider times past during the centuries of the church age where there could have been farmers that were struggling to get by, and their clothing would have been very simple, basic clothing for the man, wife, and his children. But there could have been a lord of the county or an official of some kind, or a lawyer or doctor, and that person comes in with their family, and they are all well-dressed because they have money. Even if we give the pastors and leaders of the churches the benefit of the doubt that it did not come to the forefront of their mind to think, “Let us treat this man well because he has money.” And yet, they often would. They would seat him at the front of the congregation, and give great respect to his wife and his children, and they would see in the offering plate some “extra funds,” so it could lead to them coming to that man and saying, “You have struck us as a very knowledgeable man in the Word of God, and we have noticed how you have conducted yourself since you have been a member of our church, so our board of elders would love for you to become a deacon or elder. What do you think?” They did not really look at the man’s spiritual qualifications. They were impressed that he had been blessed, apparently, in this life and in the world, and he had riches.

God is warning against that. On the other hand, a poor man and his family came to the church, and they were a little ragged looking. They did not even have to ask what he did. He maybe tilled the land and was just getting by, and it was very obvious, so they had no time for him. “You are welcome here. Nice to meet you, and you can go sit over there.” There is no reception, compared to the other man, and this is being a “respecter of persons,” by looking at the outward appearance, circumstances and conduct of people, and whether they are handsome or beautiful, or whether they are rich. Sometimes it is the “riches” they are interested in, even though their physical appearance is not that attractive, but their money is attractive.

And God warns against it all, and He reveals throughout the Bible that He is not a respecter of persons. God does not care, in other words, what you look like or what I look like, and He does not care what clothes we wear, whether it is high-end clothing or clothes from a thrift shop. God does not care what color you are, or I am, and He does not care what gender you or I are, or how tall or short we are, or anything else. He does not care. That is not His concern, and it is not the concern of the Bible. God looks on the heart. He looks on the spirit or soul condition of the person, and of course He sees a desperately wicked heart in every case, unless it is His elect to whom He has given a new heart. But God looks on the heart condition, whether they are saved or unsaved, and He has chosen people not based on what they have, what they look like, or what deeds they have done, good or evil. It has nothing to do with any of that. The Lord selected Jacob because of His good pleasure: “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” That is what it comes down to, and the people of God should follow God’s example, and we are to follow His example. We are not to do as James 2 warns against. We are not to have that kind of respect of people.

As far as EBible Fellowship is concerned, if someone wants to help EBible Fellowship, is there is a particular role they can perform? Are they someone that loves the Lord, as far as we can tell? Are they understanding the things of God and wanting to be obedient to those things? And if so, is this role for them? And we are not to look at anything else. And, of course, God gives certain guidelines when it comes to teaching. We must follow God’s guidelines. They are not our own personal guidelines. The person must be a man and someone who is able to use the Law lawfully. That is, has the Lord opened up His eyes to understand the Scriptures, and so forth?

If we go to the Old Testament, we find that in Deuteronomy 1, respect of persons is discussed, in Deuteronomy 1:16-17:

And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.

God said, “Ye shall not respect persons in judgment,” and that would apply to making judgment between people, historically. But it also has to do with teaching the Bible, in that we have to teach the Bible the same way to everyone. We cannot sort of “water it down” for this group over here, but keep it at full strength for another group. It has to be equally the same, and sometimes there can be a temptation to “soften things.” For example, here is someone who is personally going to be affected by the Bible’s teaching on a certain point, but we just cannot try to appease the person. It is not for us to do. God would have us to bring righteous judgment, and to divide the Word in a right way and to share it in an equal manner to all people.

I guess what I am trying to say is, for example, you are on a street corner passing out tracts, and there comes along some people. They are dressed casually, and they are people that you feel comfortable with, and you give them the tract. No problem. And then here comes two or three people down the street, and they are in business suits and they are people with high-paying jobs or rich people, whereas the other group are those you would define as poor people. So with these people, you are not as comfortable. With the poor people, you say, “Hi! How are you? Here, have a tract.” But with these people, you do not have the same reaction or the same friendliness. Why not? You see, these kinds of things can affect us, and we do not really notice it or think about it, and we just move on to the next people. But that (situation) was uncomfortable. So it would be a good prayer for us to pray: “O, Lord, help me not to be a respecter of persons when sharing the Word of God. Help me not to esteem one above the other or to think that anyone is better than anyone else. Help me, if it be an old person that I am comfortable giving a tract to, or if it be someone younger than I am a little uneasy with. Lord, help us to be like you and to follow your example, whether they are young or old, rich or poor, great or small. Help us to love our neighbor and to have a good attitude toward all people, without respect of persons.”

Also, let us look at Acts 10. In our verse in Romans 2, we were reading of Jew or Gentile, as far as salvation and judgment, and how God is no respecter of persons. He could save anyone in the world, and the “Jew” or “Gentile” qualified as all peoples of the world. Or He will judge everyone in the world. It does not matter what race or lineage or language or anything else. So in Acts 10, we will read of a Roman named Cornelius. It says in Acts 10:1:

There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,

So Cornelius was an Italian. He was not a Jew. Then just a few verses later, God came to Peter and revealed the “sheet of unclean animals,” and He commanded Peter, “Kill, and eat.” And Peter responded, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.” And God said that what He has cleansed Peter was not to call common. Then almost immediately, three men came from Cornelius who were sent to bring Peter to him. Peter would have refused because a Jew was not to go to a Gentile, but because of that vision, he determined to accept the invitation and go to Cornelius, a Gentile, and his house. Then it says in Acts 10:34-35:

Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

Then it says further down in Acts 10:44-48:

While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

Very significantly, God gave Peter that vision of cleansing the animals so that he could eat them. That was a Law of God that the Jews were to have a strict diet, and they could only eat certain animals, but not others that were classified as “unclean animals.” It was taught concerning the Gentiles, and once God cleansed them, it was a signal that the Gentiles would be fellowheirs with the Jews. Of course, that had always been the case because God had saved various Gentiles in the Old Testament, like Ruth the Moabitess, Rahab the harlot, and Naaman the Syrian, and the people of Nineveh, which would have been a large number. Now, officially, the Lord was going to evangelize the earth or the nations/Gentiles, so He made a point of emphasizing that they would receive the Holy Ghost as well as the Jews. That is, they would experience the same salvation.

And that is what God is addressing when He says, “For there is no respect of persons with God,” after the previous verse had told us, “But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.”