Misapplied Scriptures: "God Is No Respecter Of Persons”, Acts 10:34

Introduction: “God is no respecter of persons!” How many times have we heard that during an invitation? It’s sad, but this is another verse that’s been misapplied over the years.

Text: Acts 10:34, KJV: 34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

1 How the verse has been misapplied

I’ve heard this verse used in any number of invitations to show that, in the preacher’s mind, at least, God shows no distinction between male and female (the only two genders God ever made, anyway); moral and immoral or not so moral; rich and poor; young and old; any ethno-racial groups one could imagine, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there were more like this.

As best I can determine, the preacher’s sincerity (taking it at face value) in showing that God doesn’t look favorably or shows respect to anyone was the point he was driving towards. Then as now, there were, are, and probably always will be those who think that, for whatever reason, they have a special standing with God.

If that isn’t a misapplication of the verse, by either party, I don’t know what is!

2 How the verse should be applied

In the context, a Roman army officer (Cornelius, a centurion or in charge of 100 soldiers) had been doing all the right things: praying to God (not the pagan Roman deities), donating alms to the people, and being devout, fearing God along with all of his household. On the surface, he had and did all the right stuff but—that wasn’t enough. He may have been close, or at least closer to the God of Israel than many, but he still wasn’t there.

Remember, there was a division between Jews and Gentiles that grew ever stronger over the years. Peter would acknowledge this (verses 28-29) when he came to Cornelius’ house. The Holy Spirit, though, had told Peter to go along with them (verses 19-20). Now Peter was there in the house of Cornelius, his friends, and others and he was probably wondering, “Why am I here?”

Then Cornelius gave his testimony, so to speak, and gave Peter the invitation to hear what God was going to give Peter to say.

What an opportunity to preach the Gospel! These people wanted to hear the truth!

And this realization must have hit Peter “right between the eyes”, to use one of my grandfather’s expressions! The first thing Peter saw was a group of Gentiles, who by and large wanted little to do with Israel and even less with the God of Israel (consider what had happened to Israel since the Babylonian Captivity of about 600 years before). Now these non-believers but, dare I say, seekers, wanted to hear more from Peter.

To me, this is one of the greatest moments in human history! In all reality, Peter could have said, “No way am I getting involved with these people, I remember what the Romans did to my Lord at Calvary and I’m done here” or similar words. No, Peter saw this opportunity for what it was and took advantage of it!

The first thing he said was “I see that God is no respecter of persons” and by that Peter meant that there was no distinction, wall, or anything else between God’s love for the Jews and God’s love for the Gentiles! Peter went on to give a brief message in verses 34-43 and, hallelujah, these Gentiles believed the message!

They had been born again!

We don’t know much about what happened to Cornelius and his household after this and there’s no need to guess or speculate. Wherever they went, I’m sure they were good witnesses for Jesus until the day they departed this life.

One thing for certain, they’ll be forever known as the first true Gentiles to believe the message of salvation through Jesus Christ alone. Oh, absolutely, man makes walls, barriers, any number of things, but our Lord breaks all of these down for anyone who wants to know the TRUTH about Him. It worked for Cornelius and it will work for anyone—because—

God is no respecter of persons. Accept His gift of salvation today!

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)