Martin Luther King said it very well, that all men are created equal. Aristotle claimed that equality would best be attained when people shared in government. Albert Einstein remarked that all men are equally wise and foolish.
It takes a level playing field for all men to be considered equal. It does not mean that we make all men the same. Far from it. Rather, it means that we give each person an equal chance to succeed. Everyone has the same opportunities, and they play by the same set of rules.
To the Jews of Jesus’ time, the playing fields for Jews and gentiles were very uneven. The rules they applied to the Jews were vastly different than those given to the gentiles. There were reasons, of course, such as separation from idolatry, the presumption that gentiles would behave in a manner contrary to Jewish beliefs, or the assumption that gentiles were at best unreliable.
In Acts 10:34 Paul made a statement that washed all that aside. In a modern day analogy, it was equivalent to MLK’s I Have a Dream speech. Paul’s words?
“Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.”
This was not a new truth, that all men are equal in the eyes of God. 2 Samuel 14:14 tells us that God finds a way to bring back anyone who is separated from the truth.
Anyone.
Jew. Gentile.
Anyone.
Paul’s words were apropos, though, for an argument raged in the early church. The Messiah was part of the prophecy to the Jews. The Christ was not a gentile revelation. The Jews were a people set apart, not to be confused with the gentile nations around them.
Yet, Paul’s words rang out for the people of his day, just as they continue to ring out for us today.
“God is no respecter of persons.”
Paul leveled the playing field. He did not say that all men were saved and would find heaven as their eternal reward. Rather, his words meant that all men can come to the Father through Jesus the Son, and no man will be excluded, neither Jew nor gentile, for God views all men as equal in his sight.
As Albert Einstein said, all men are equally wise and foolish. He may not have been talking about spiritual matters, but his words apply to the choices we make concerning our souls.
Will we be wise and follow the example of the Christ, showing love to those around us as an example of our walk with him? Or will we choose the way of sin and death, following the path of fleshly desires and our sinful natures?
The playing field has been leveled. All men have the same opportunities. We all play by the same rules. We can choose Christ or we can choose ourselves.
God has leveled the field. The rest is up to us.
Let’s play ball, and let’s play on Jesus’ team. It is the one that will win in the end.
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