24 Mar James 04: Breaking the wall of partiality

James 2:1-13

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. ² For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, ³ and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” ⁴ have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? ⁸ If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹ But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹² So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. ¹³ For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Let me start with one of the easiest but hardest questions at the same time. Can we get along with everyone in the church? I think we all know the right answer to this question. But let’s be honest. How many of you have people in your life that you find very hard to get along with? Raise your hand. Next question. How many of you find those people in this church? If your hand is not raised, you are either lying or you just joined this church last month. All of us have people that we find very hard to get along with. One of the hashtags of our church is #HomeForTheImperfect. We love the idea of welcoming imperfect people. We know we are imperfect. But in reality, we find it very hard to welcome people who are very different from us. Let’s not talk about the church. Many of us have difficulties getting along with our siblings. If you know what I’m talking about, say “Amen.” Can we get along with everyone in the church? Theoretically, yes. Practically, I won’t say no, but it’s very hard. That is why we naturally drift toward people who are like us and avoid people who are not like us. But in tonight’s passage, James tells us that the church must not tolerate partiality. Here is my sermon in a nutshell. The church of Jesus Christ must be a place where everyone is welcome. If it isn’t, then the church is forgetting the gospel and sinning against God.

Tonight, we are in the fourth sermon of our series in the book of James. James was the half-brother of Jesus. Though there was a time when he did not believe in Jesus, he eventually believed, and he became one of the early church leaders. He was the pastor of the first church in Jerusalem. It was the church where Christianity started. And James wrote this letter to the Christian Jews who were scattered to different places because of the persecution of Christians in Jerusalem. And I love the book of James because James is not beating around the bush. He tells you exactly as it is. He is very punchy. James is very clear and direct. That’s his strong point. But it is wrong to think that James only cares about the behaviour and not the heart. James knows that true changes come from the inside and not the outside.

Let me show you. Last week, Edrick preached on how James likens the Bible to a mirror. How many of you looked into the mirror before you came to church today? If you did not, we can tell. When you look into the mirror, what do you see? You. That’s what a mirror shows you. When you look into a mirror, it shows you, you. This is an important principle. Why does James call the Bible a mirror? Because when you read the Bible, before it tells you what to do, it shows you who you are. Before the Bible says, “This is what you must do,” the Bible tells you, “This is who you are.” The Bible is filled with to-do lists. The book of James is rich with applications. But James knows that life is not simply a matter of willpower. It’s not a matter of doing. ‘Just do it’ might work for Nike, but it does not work in the Christian life. The Bible is not a ‘just do it’ book. The Bible is a mirror that shows you who you are. And the more you gaze at the mirror, the more you remember who you are, the more you will be able to do what the Bible tells you to do. In other words, in Christianity, being comes before doing. Doing flows out of being. And this is radically different from the world. The world says, “If you don’t have courage and you want to be courageous, just do it. Believe that you can and try harder. That’s what you must do.” But the Bible never tells you to simply try harder. James says, “If you are not courageous, if you can’t do what the Bible tells you to do, it is because you have forgotten who you are. The solution is not to try harder. The solution is to stare into the mirror and remember who you are.” That’s the key to the Christian life. And we are going to see it all over the book of James.

Tonight’s passage deals specifically with the problem of partiality in the church. And it is a very serious problem. I have three points for this sermon: the sin of partiality; the stupidity of partiality; the solution to partiality.

The sin of partiality

James 2:1-4 – My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. ² For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, ³ and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” ⁴ have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

What does it mean to show no partiality? In Greek, it literally means “without respect to the face.” It means not to judge someone based on their outward appearance. We are not to treat people differently according to what we can see with our eyes. Let me put it this way. The sin of partiality is to make a judgment on another person based on unbiblical criteria. It is to show personal favouritism based on preferences. It is okay to have personal preferences. That’s normal. But when we elevate our personal preferences and it affects how we think and treat others, it becomes a problem. When we use the world’s standards or our own criteria to determine how we are going to relate to others, it might be the colour of their skin, the money they make, their family background, their past, that is partiality, and that is a sin. And then James gives us a case study.

Ushers, listen up. This is the only place in the Bible where it tells you how to usher. Let’s say two people come to the church at the same time. One shows up in a Ferrari and he parks just right in front of the church. You hear the engine revving, “Broom broom…” and you check it out and you see a man walking out of his Ferrari in a Tom Ford suit with a Rolex watch on his wrist. You quickly tell the other usher, “Omo omo. Check it out. Who is that guy?” And to your surprise, he is making his way up the stairs to the church. And at the same time, another man shows up, and he looks like a hobo. His clothes are dirty, and he looks like he hasn’t showered for a week. You can smell him from a distance. And to your surprise, he is also making his way up the stairs to the church. So, there are two men. One is obviously a man of power, a man with influence, a rich man. And the other is a man of less importance, less influence, and less power. Ushers, what do you do? In James’ illustration, this is what happens. You welcome the rich man and say, “Welcome to our church. It is so wonderful to have you with us today. Please come in and we will prepare the best seat for you,” which is right next to me. Back in the day, that is the best seat in the church. But today, it’s the total opposite. If you are told to sit next to me, it’s like a punishment for coming late to church. And to the poor man, you hold your nose and say, “Welcome to our church. Are you planning to join the service? If you do, you might want to stand at the back, so you don’t disturb anyone during the service. And if you are tired, you can sit on the floor.” So, you give the best seat in the church to the rich man and tell the poor man to sit on the floor. You welcome people to the church differently based on their status and appearance. You give higher honour to the rich, and you look down on the poor. You play favouritism. And James says, “You can’t do that. The church must not show partiality. That is a sin.” By the way, our ushers are so well trained that I am sure they would never tell you to sit on the floor, but they will tell you to sit at the front. However, do not think that we are not affected by the sin of partiality. All of us are affected by the sin of partiality to some degree.

Listen. Whenever we make distinctions among ourselves that are not from the Bible, we have committed the sin of partiality. We judge others with evil thoughts. We are using false standards of the world to make distinctions. We see that the rich man can offer us something that the poor man cannot. And based on our own criteria we make distinctions; we show favouritism. Sam Allberry puts it this way. “Favouritism ends up judging one person’s soul as being of greater value than another’s, and it does all this on the basis of superficial, worldly criteria.” And we do this all the time. Let me prove it to you. Think about all the different ways we make unbiblical distinctions in the church. I am going to offend many of you right now.

Some of you tend to look down on the poor. You think the reason they are poor is because they are lazy, or they waste their money. You think you are better than them. Some of you have a prejudice against the rich. “Look at their lifestyle. They show off their riches all the time. I bet they don’t know what it means to trust God. I bet they are not saved. Jesus says it’s harder for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God than a camel to go through the eye of a needle.”
Some of you look down on people who are overweight or out of shape. “They have no self-control. They can’t even take care of their own body. Don’t they know that their body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” Some of you don’t like people who are in shape. “Clearly, they are so vain. They are obsessed with their self-image, and they are so superficial. God does not look on the outward appearance, but he looks on the heart.”
Some of you don’t like passionate worshippers. “Such an attention seeker. What’s the point of raising your hand and moving your body during worship? So distracting.” Some of you don’t like quiet worshippers. “Worship with their hands folded? I am sure they are not filled with the Holy Spirit. So unspiritual.”
Some of you look down on divorced people. “Obviously they do not know how to love sacrificially like Jesus. What a mess.” Some of you look down on a happy family. “There is no way any family can be that happy. They are faking it. Just wait and see.”
I can go on and on. But you get my point. We show favouritism toward people in the church based on our own criteria. We make distinctions where the Bible does not. And that’s evil. The sad reality is it is happening all the time in the church. And to show partiality is to go against the gospel.

Look at James 2:1 – My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. James is saying the reason we should show no partiality is because of our faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. The word glory means weight, importance, significance. How do you see the glory of a rich man? By his external appearance. By the car he drives, the clothes he wears. How do you see the glory of God? There are many different manifestations of the glory of God in the Bible, but the book of Hebrews tells us that the ultimate radiance of the glory of God is Jesus. In other words, if we want to see the glory of God, look at Jesus. And what do we see when we look at Jesus? We see the infinite become finite. The immortal becomes mortal. The God of the universe becomes a man. The King of kings becomes a helpless babe. The ultimate glory is when someone who had glory gave up his glory so that someone else might receive that glory. Jesus had the glory and gave up his glory so we could have it. That’s the gospel. That’s what we put our faith in. And if we understand the glory of Jesus Christ, we cannot show partiality. To show partiality is to deny the gospel. It means we have forgotten who we are, and we are not living like we should.

Think about it. How can we show partiality when our Lord Jesus Christ humbled himself of glory so that we might receive glory? That means if David Beckham, Gal Gadot, and a homeless man show up at our church at the same time, we must welcome them the same. If David Beckham and Gal Gadot receive better treatment than the homeless man, we have committed the sin of partiality, and we are forgetting the gospel. So ushers, if those three happen to show up at the door of our church next week, you know what to do. Just make sure you don’t seat Gal Gadot or David Beckham next to me. I won’t be able to concentrate during worship. Listen. What matters when you come to church is not your money, status, or appearance. What matters is Jesus loves you and Jesus died for you. That’s it. Nothing else matters. If you confess faith in Jesus Christ, you are our brothers and sisters and you are welcome in this place. If you are an unbeliever, you are also welcome in this place. We will not treat you differently because you too are made in the image of God. We love to have you with us, and we pray that there will come a day when you put your faith in Jesus Christ. And to be clear, to show no partiality does not mean we don’t show honour to whom honour is due. If the Prime Minister walks into our church, we should honour him with the honour that is due to the leader of our country. That’s also in the Bible. But we will not let things that have no value before God like achievement, wealth, status, appearance, background, etc, create distinctions among ourselves. We will not pick and choose who we want to welcome based on any external factors.

The stupidity of partiality

James 2:5-7 – ⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

In these verses, James is giving us the reasons why partiality is dumb. He gives us two reasons. First, it goes against God’s evaluation. The overwhelming majority of Christians in the first century were from poorer backgrounds. And not only that, but the Bible also tells us that God has chosen the poor. So, if we choose the rich over the poor, we go against the way God operates. Look at the people in Jesus’ life. It is the poor, it is those who do not have it all together, the sinners, the outcasts, the tax collectors, that were drawn to Jesus. And it is those who have it all together, the Pharisees, the religious leaders, the rich, that missed out. And throughout history, in general, the people who have embraced Christianity have not been the rich and powerful, but the poor and the humble. What is it about Christianity that appeals to the poor? It’s simple. The heartbeat of Christianity is good news, the gospel. The problem with the rich is they don’t think they need good news. They are well-off. They have proven to themselves that they can get what they want through their hard work. They don’t need good news. They can save themselves through their sweat. But the poor are different. The poor are more in touch with reality. They experienced the hardship of life. They know what it means to be hopeless. They know what it means to throw themselves at the mercy of another. So, when they hear the good news of Christianity that they can only be saved by putting their hope in another person, they say, “I can do that. I know I am hopeless on my own.” But when the rich hear, “You have to admit that you are a weak hopeless sinner in need of grace,” they say, “Who are you to tell me that I am that weak? That’s offensive.” That’s why most of the people who embrace Christianity, most people who understand they are sinners saved by grace are not the elites. Christianity has never been appealing to the elites. But the poor are more willing to hear the gospel. They are more in touch with reality.

If that’s not a good enough argument for you, look in the mirror. Why do you think God saved you? Is it because you are better than others? Is it because you are richer, smarter, and better-looking than others? It’s not. Remember Josh Tie’s sermon from last month? 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 – ²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. Not many of you were wise, powerful or of noble birth. Translation: If you audition for Australia’s Got Talent, you only succeed in making fun of yourself. If you audition for the Voice, no chair will turn for you. You are nobody. But the good news is that God does not choose based on human standards.

Let me illustrate it for you. Those of you who have been to my house will know that the moment you step inside my house, you will be greeted with my family picture which was taken when I was 9 years old. Your first impression when you see me in that old picture is – fat, chubby, innocent, nerd, Boboho, and of course, the epic finger. What you might not know is the suffering I had to go through because of it. When I was in 6th grade, I was horrible at sports. In fact, horrible was an understatement. Every morning before class started, our teacher would make us run around the school field. It was a race. There were about 40 students in my class. And whenever we ran, I only had one goal. I had to beat Sally (I think her name is Sally). Who is Sally? Sally was my rival. She was this overweight Asian girl who competed with me daily to not come last. I was that bad. And around the same time, I fell in love with soccer. We played soccer almost every lunchtime. You know how it went. The best two players were chosen to be captains and they chose who they wanted for their team. I put my hand up and said, “Pick me, pick me, pick me.” But I was always chosen last. True story. Why? Because each captain wanted to pick a team that could win. They wanted all the best players first. Unless you’ve been through it, you have no idea how I felt to be the player nobody wanted. But here is the good news. That’s not the way God works. If God chose his team based on the most talented, most attractive, most wealthy, none of us would be here today. Look at the person next to you and say, “That ain’t you.”

But the Bible says that when God picked his team, God did not go for those whom the world sees as capable. God intentionally chose what is weak to shame the strong. If God was one of the captains of the soccer team in my 6th grade, he would look at me first before everyone else and say, “I want you in my team.” If you are a Christian, that’s the story of your life. God chose the foolish and the weak to shame the wise and the strong so that no one can boast in his presence. And God not only chose the poor in the world, but he also made them the heirs of the kingdom. I love the way Douglas Moo puts it. “Christians, however poor in material possessions they may be, possess spiritual wealth presently and anticipate greater blessings in the future. It is from this spiritual vantage point, not the material, that Christians should judge others.” No matter how poor Christians are, they are extremely rich in God’s kingdom. So, for us to show partiality toward the poor Christians is to dishonour who they are in God’s eyes. They are fellow heirs of God’s kingdom. In fact, James argues that it is senseless to give special honour to the rich. Why? Because they were the ones who brought trouble to many Christians. The rich were exploiting Christians, dragging them into court, and slandering the name of Jesus. They were the source of their problems. So, why would they give special honour to the rich? Now, let’s be clear. God does not hate rich people. There is no partiality in God. There are lots of rich people in the Bible that God saved. Abraham, Isaac, Zacchaeus, Joseph of Arimathea, and many others. James is not telling us to not welcome the rich. He is telling us to not show favouritism toward the rich. That’s the first reason.

James 2:8-9 – ⁸ If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹ But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

The second reason James gives us is it violates the royal law. What is the royal law? The royal law is the law of the kingdom of God that Jesus gives. Jesus summarizes all the laws into two laws. One, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Two, you must love your neighbour as yourself. And the sin of partiality breaks the royal law. How so? Because we can’t love others as ourselves if we show favouritism. Loving others as ourselves and showing partiality is the total opposite. Think about it. Let’s say we get into a situation where we have nothing to eat, don’t we want others to give us something to eat? If we get into a situation where we have no place to sleep, don’t we want others to offer us a place to rest? If we are broke and helpless, don’t we want others to get us out of that condition as fast as they possibly could? That’s how we love ourselves. But why aren’t we doing it? Why are we showing favouritism to the rich who don’t need our help? Do you see? To fail to treat the poor the way we want to be treated if we are in their situation is to break the royal law. Loving our neighbour as ourselves demands we welcome everyone the same. If we show partiality, we are committing sin. But James is not finished.

James 2:10-11 – ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to pick and choose what I want to obey from God’s laws. And I tend to categorize sin into two different groups: big sins and small sins. And what I try to do is to stay away from the big sins like murder and adultery, and I tend to compromise on small sins like lying and selfishness. Does anyone know what I am talking about? Here is what James says. “It doesn’t work that way. If you fail to keep even one small law, you are guilty of breaking all the law. You can’t separate and categorize God’s law. You either obey it all or it means nothing.” In other words, to break one law is to break all laws. God does not differentiate between little sins and big sins. All sin is sin. And James gives a wonderful explanation.

Let’s say someone is in court for murder. And right before being sentenced, he is given the opportunity to address the court. And he says, “Your honour and fellow jury, I just wanted to let you know that I have never committed adultery. I killed someone. I stabbed him with a knife. That I did. But I did not commit adultery. And for that reason, I should be declared innocent.” What is the Judge going to say? The Judge is going to say, “That’s great that you did not commit adultery. But who cares? You did not commit adultery, but you murdered someone. And you will be judged for murder, not adultery.” In other words, listen. Not committing one sin does not cancel out the penalty of the sin committed. Good behaviour in one area does not cancel out law-breaking in another. That’s James’ point. James is saying. “You claim to obey God’s laws. You did not murder. You did not commit adultery. That’s great. But if you show partiality, you are breaking God’s law, and you will be punished. In fact, you are not only breaking God’s law. You are breaking the royal law. Looking down on someone for any superficial reason is not just a sin; it is a royal sin.” Do you see? Favouritism is not a little sin. Showing partiality is as bad as adultery and murder. That’s not my words. That’s James’ words. That’s God’s words. So what if we don’t commit murder and adultery? If we are showing partiality, we are breaking God’s law. We have sinned against God. The same God who prohibits adultery and murder also prohibits favouritism. And if we break one law, we are guilty of breaking all the laws. That’s how we should think about the law of God.

The solution to partiality

James 2:12-13 – ¹² So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. ¹³ For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

James is going back to what we talked about last week. Don’t just know the Word, be doers of the Word. Christians are under the law of liberty. It means that we are no longer condemned by the law. We have been set free by Jesus’ perfect work at the cross. The gospel is not that God saved those who can save themselves. The gospel is God saved those who cannot save themselves. God saves undeserving sinners and makes them the heirs of the kingdom. There is nothing in us that deserves God’s grace. He gives it to us as a gift. We are free from condemnation, but then we are called to use our freedom to love others as ourselves and to show mercy to others. And here is the warning James gives us. A judgement day is coming when we will be judged. God will come and judge us based on whether or not we do his words. And his judgement will be holy and just. James is not saying that we will be saved because of our good works. He is not saying that. We will talk more about this next week. But he is saying that our doing reflects our being. And we will be judged based on our doing. And this is not something that James came up with. This is something that James picked from Jesus.

In Matthew 25, Jesus says that on Judgement Day, he will judge the sheep from the goats. Who are the sheep and the goats? They are not non-Christians and Christians. They are false Christians and true Christians. There are people who claim to be Christians, who think they are Christians, but they are not. So, how does Jesus judge between the sheep and the goats? He says to the goats, the false Christians, “You say you are Christians, but I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me in. I was naked, and you didn’t clothe me. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.” Do you remember what the goats say? “When did we see you in that condition? We swear we have never seen you in that condition.” Jesus replies, “When you did not do it for those who were in front of you, you did not do it to me. And now you will receive eternal punishment.” In other words, Jesus is saying, “If you do not show mercy to others, you will not receive mercy.” Does that mean we will be saved by our acts of mercy? No. But our acts of mercy will show whether we are a sheep or a goat. Jesus is not saying that caring for the poor will save us. He is saying that caring for the poor shows that we have salvation. Jesus is going to separate the sheep from the goats by whether or not they show mercy to those who need mercy.

Let that sink in. The difference between the sheep and the goats is whether their understanding of the gospel leads to acts of mercy or not. Christ’s imputed righteousness in us is great. But if that righteousness does not produce righteous works, then that righteousness is a false righteousness. How we treat the poor, how we treat the outcasts, how we treat people who are different from us, is an indicator light of whether or not we understand the gospel. We can’t receive the mercy of God and not show mercy to those who need it. If we have received the mercy of the gospel we will show the mercy of the gospel. That’s why James says, “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” He is not talking about God’s mercy will triumph over God’s judgement, although that’s true. But in this context, James is saying that our acts of mercy will triumph over judgment. We will not be judged because we show others the mercy that we have received.

This leads me to the most important part of the sermon. We can’t show mercy to others unless we have first received mercy. And for us to receive God’s mercy, we first must realize that we are spiritually poor. We are spiritually bankrupt. Do you know what it means to be spiritually bankrupt? It is to come to God and say, “God, there is nothing I can do to pay my debt to you. I am very poor. I have nothing to offer you. I am in desperate need of your mercy. My good works are nothing but filthy rags before you. My clothes are dirty. I stink. I have no resources. I have nothing.” That’s what it means to be spiritually poor. And when we come to Jesus in our spiritual poverty, he says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” But how did Jesus give us the kingdom of heaven? How did he make us heirs of the kingdom? Here’s how. He became poor. In order to show us mercy, Jesus had to pay the price. Jesus was cast out so we could be brought in. Jesus left his glory so that we could receive glory. Jesus was judged so that we could have pardon. Jesus was condemned so that we could live. Jesus took our stinky clothes of sin so that we could be clothed with his robe of righteousness. Jesus became poor so that by his poverty we might become rich. The justice of God demands payment for every sin we commit, including the sin of partiality. And what we deserve is not mercy, but judgment. But the mercy of God pays for our forgiveness by Jesus’ death on the cross. Justice demands our judgment, but mercy pleads our forgiveness. And mercy triumphs over judgment. That’s what we receive when we put our faith in Jesus. That’s the gospel. Do you see the glorious mercy that you have received? Do you see the beauty of Jesus who gave up his glory for you? If you do, you want to reflect that mercy to others. You no longer show favouritism, but you welcome others the way Jesus has welcomed you. The gospel is the only way to break the wall of partiality. So, remember the mercy that was shown to you. Remember how Jesus rescued and ransomed you. Gaze into the mirror of God’s word and remember who you are in Christ. And in the light of God’s mercy, extend that mercy to others. Let’s pray.

Discussion questions:

1. What struck you the most from the sermon?
2. Can you see the tendency toward showing partiality in you and others around you? What are they and why?
3. How does the sin of partiality contradict the gospel?
4. Explain why you can’t pick and choose what you want to obey from God’s laws.
5. How does the gospel break the wall of partiality?