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NASB | Acts 10:34 ¶ Opening his mouth, Peter said: ¶ "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Acts 10:34 ¶ Opening his mouth, Peter said: "Most certainly I understand now that God is not one to show partiality [to people as though Gentiles were excluded from God's blessing], |
Bible Question: i completely understand that God does not show favoritism, however there is something that i am confused about. if God doesn't show favoritism, why did He have a "chosen" people? why salvation "first for the Jew and then for the Gentile?" just curious. |
Bible Answer: Greetings! God chooses individuals or groups to fulfill His plans and purposes. This is not a display of favoritism, but rather a demonstaration of God's absolute sovereignty over His Creation (I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy Rom 9:15; Read also Jer 18:1-10, the account of God as the Potter and Israel the lump of clay) As a result of society's moral failure to seek God and find his hope in Him, God chose to raise up a special people group to whom He would commission His promises - that entity was the nation of Israel. "Israel was commissioned, in the midst of a sinful world, to show that still, if you follow God, commit your life to Him, if you obey what (God says), you can be delivered from the terrible consequences of sin. Israel was commissioned to touch a world and tell it about the love of God and about the prosperity and blessing that its people would know if they would follow the Lord." (Destiny Bulletin 4/04) Jesus was sent to the nation of Israel as the fiulfillment of God's promise.(see Mk 7:26-8) Because Israel rejected Christ, they have been set aside and have ceased to be God's instrument. And as a result of their rejection, we have been given the Torch; the Light of the Truth and promise of God has been passed to a new people group that knows no ethnic or racial boundaries - the Church of Christ. Spread the Light! Blessings, mommapbs |