For there is no partiality with God.
Parallel translations
- KJV For there is no respect of persons with God.
- BSB For God does not show favoritism.
- NKJV For there is no partiality with God.
- NASB For there is no partiality with God.
- NLT For God does not show favoritism.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
For God shows no partiality. He judges all people by the same righteous standard.
Overview
This concise verse states the principle underlying vv.6-10: God is impartial. He does not favor people based on ethnicity, status, or religious heritage. This divine impartiality is a recurring biblical theme (Deuteronomy 10:17; Acts 10:34) and grounds Paul's argument that Jew and Gentile alike stand accountable and alike need the gospel of grace.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Deut 10:17For Yahweh your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn’t respect persons, nor takes reward.
- Acts 10:34Peter opened his mouth and said, “Truly I perceive that God doesn’t show favoritism;
- 2 Chr 19:7Now therefore let the fear of Yahweh be on you. Take heed and do it; for there is no iniquity with Yahweh our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of bribes.”
- Gal 2:6But from those who were reputed to be important (whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God doesn’t show partiality to man) — they, I say, who were respected imparted nothing to me,
- Gal 6:7–8Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
- Job 34:19Who doesn’t respect the persons of princes, nor respects the rich more than the poor; for they all are the work of his hands.
- Deut 16:19You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise, and perverts the words of the righteous.
- Col 3:25But he who does wrong will receive again for the wrong that he has done, and there is no partiality.
- Eph 6:9You masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him.
- Matt 22:16They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach, for you aren’t partial to anyone.
- Luke 20:21They asked him, “Teacher, we know that you say and teach what is right, and aren’t partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God.
- 1 Pet 1:17If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear:
- Prov 24:23–24These also are sayings of the wise. To show partiality in judgment is not good.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 2:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.