Respecter of Persons There is a subtle twisting of Gods inspired words taking place in many modern versions in how they are rendering the phrase respecteth not persons. This is so subtle, that I believe most Christians have not noticed it. The change in meaning produced by versions like the NKJV, NIV, ESV and NASB unfortunately fits in with so much of modern, popular theology, that many would actually consider it to be an improvement over the King James reading. It fits the philosophy of the natural mind of man. The concept that God has created all men equal does not come from the Holy Bible. God obviously has not created all men equal, nor does He deal with every single individual or nation in what seems to us to be a fair and impartial manner. Many have become so influenced in their thinking by the reasoning of the world, that they cannot discern this obvious truth. God has created, formed and made each of us. Yet He has not given to all equal intelligence, good looks, physical skills, nor spiritual gifts. He divideth to every man severally as He will. Exodus 4:11 tells us And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made mans mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?. Not all are born in a country which even has the word of God in its culture, or where it would be openly taught and encouraged. Psalm 147:19,20 He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD. Some are born in abject poverty, disease and ignorance, while others are blessed with abundant crops, education and families that care for them. The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all. Proverbs 22:2. The phrase to accept the persons of men or to respect persons does not mean, as the modern versions have translated it, to show partiality or to show favoritism. One of the chief arguments of the Arminian side against the doctrine of election is: God does not show partiality or favoritism, so election cannot be true. The new bibles are reinforcing this fallacious argument. Not to show partiality is to treat all men equally; and God does not treat every individual equally, as His word clearly testifies. Daniel Websters 1828 dictionary defines respecter of persons as a person who regards the external circumstances of others in his judgment, and suffers his opinions to be biased by them. Gods dealings with a man are not based on outward appearance, position, rank, wealth or nationality. Rather, His own sovereign purpose and the good pleasure of His will are the only deciding factors. We are told in Deuteronomy 7:6-8 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people: for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you. Deuteronomy 10:14-17 Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORDS thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is. Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day. Verse 17 For the LORD thy God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which REGARDETH NOT PERSONS, nor taketh reward. Here both election and not regarding persons are used in the same context. God says He chose ONLY the fathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and their seed to be His people, and not the others. That He REGARDETH NOT PERSONS means that He does this, not on the basis of their nationality, nor their good moral character (for they were a stiffnecked and rebellious people), but because is was His good pleasure to do so. Other Bibles that agree with the KJB here are Wycliffe, Coverdale, the Great Bible, Matthews Bible, the Bishops Bible, Geneva Bible, the Revised Version, the ASV of 1901, Rotherhams 1902, the JPS 1917 Jewish Bible, the 1936 Hebrew-English, Youngs, Darbys, the Spanish versions and Websters Bible. However the NKJV, NIV and NASB have shows no partiality. The Catholic St. Joseph NAB says: has no favorites while the New Jerusalem bible of 1985 has: free of favouritism. If God chose Israel to be His people, and not the others, is not this showing partiality? Deut. 14:1-2 Ye are the children of the LORD your God...and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. Why did not God choose the other nations to be his children and to know his laws? Isnt this showing partiality or favoritism? One verse among the hundreds that have been messed up by the NKJV, NIV, ESV, Holman and NASB is 2 Samuel 14:14. Here Joab saw that king Davids heart was toward his son Absalom. So Joab sends a wise woman to speak to the king. In verse 14 she says: For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again: NEITHER DOTH GOD RESPECT ANY PERSON: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him. In other words, we all must die, whether rich, poor, Jew, Gentile, man or woman, king or servant; God does not look at our social station and on this basis exclude some from death. Agreeing with the King James reading here are the 1917 Hebrew English, Youngs, the Geneva Bible, Websters Bible, the KJV 21, Third Millenium Bible, and the Spanish Sagradas Escrituras. But many bibles, including the NKJV, NIV, ESV, Holman and NASB have the ridiculous reading of YET GOD DOES NOT TAKE AWAY LIFE, instead of neither doth God respect any person. This is a lie and a contradiction. In this very book in chapter 12:15 the LORD struck the child of David and Bathsheeba and it died. In I Sam. 2:6 we are told The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up, and in Deuteronomy 32:39 God says See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. It is not that the Hebrew will not allow the meaning found in the KJB, that the NKJV, NIV, ESV, Holman and NASB have so badly mistranslated 2 Samuel 14:14. They all likewise have translated these same words in other places as they stand in the KJB and others. The phrase no respecter of persons is found six times in the New Testament, and every time the modern versions have distorted the true meaning. Romans 2:11, Ephesians 6:9, Colossians 3:25, James 2:1 and 9, and Acts 10:34. In each case it has to do with not receiving the face, outward position, nationality or social rank of another. But God does not treat all people the same, nor are we told to do so either. We are to withdraw from some, avoid, exclude, reject, separate from, and not cast our pearls before others. Most importantly, God Himself chose His elect people in Christ before the foundation of the world and of the SAME LUMP makes one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour - Romans 9:21. This is definitely showing partiality, but it is not respecting persons. Romans 2:11 says For there is no respect of persons with God. So also read Wycliffe 1395, Coverdale 1535, the Great Bible 1540 (Cranmer), the Bishops Bible 1568, the Geneva Bible 1587, Mace N.T. 1729, Worsely Version 1770, John Wesleys Translation 1790, Murdock Translation 1851, Noyes Translation 1869, the Revised Version 1885, the ASV of 1901, Rotherhams Emphasized Bible 1902, the Spanish Reina Valera 1960 and 1995 - acepción de personas, Luthers German Bible 1545 - Denn es ist kein Ansehen der Person vor Gott., the Portuguese Almeida - com Deus não há acepção de pessoas., the Italian Diodati 1649 - Dio non v’è riguardo alla qualità delle persone., the French Martin 1744 and the French Ostervald of 1996 - Car Dieu na point égard à lapparence des personnes., Lamsas 1936 translation of the Syraic, Websters 1833, 21st Century KJV 1994, the Third Millenium Bible 1998, and the KJB II of Green 2000. Youngs says there is no acceptance of faces. But the NKJV, NASB, ESV say no partiality and the NIV, Catholic St. Joseph NAB, and the New Jerusalem bible all say not show favoritism. The Worldwide English N.T. says: God does not love some people more than others. Yet this very book declares in Romans 9 For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of him that calleth...Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated...I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy...So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy...Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Please consider the true meaning of the phrase no respecter of persons and contrast it with the modern rendering. I hope you will see that it is not the same at all. Only the KJB contains the whole truth of the counsel of God.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 02:15:28 +0000
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