Partiality (4382) (prosopolepsia or prosopolempsia -- from prósopon = face + lambáno = receive) literally means "face taking", “receive face”, the accepting of one's person. The idea is or looking to see who someone is before deciding how to treat him. The idea is judging by appearance and on that basis giving special favor and respect. It pertains to judging purely on a superficial level, without consideration of a person’s true merits, abilities, or character. The Oriental custom of greeting was to bow one's face to the ground. If the one greeted accepted the person, he was allowed to lift his head again. The accepting of the appearance of a person was a Hebraic term for "partiality". The idea behind prosopolepsia is that one judges on the basis of externals or pre-conceived notions, and shows partiality or favoritism. It meant to make unjust distinctions between people by treating one person better than another. Prosopolepsia is found 4 times in the NAS and is translated: partiality, 3; personal favoritism, 1; KJV (4) = respect of persons, 4. And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him. (Eph 6:9-note) For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality. (Col 3:25-note) My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. (James 2:1) Here describes the fault of one who when called on to give judgment has respect of the outward circumstances of man and not to their intrinsic merits, and so prefers, as the more worthy, one who is rich, high born, or powerful, to another who does not have these qualities. Partiality is the fault of one who gives judgment with respect to the outward circumstances and not the inward merit. To have respect of a person's appearance is to rule in their favor for what you see on the surface, rather than what you know to be true in the heart. And only the vice of an evil judge would so violate justice. God cannot and will not do that. Young's Literal translation gives an accurate rendering - "For there is no acceptance of faces with God" One of God's unchangeable attributes is that He is JUST and so it is impossible for Him to be anything but impartial (Acts 10:34; Gal 2:6; Ep 6:7,8-note; Col 3:25-note; 1Pe 1:17-note). In human courts of law, preference is shown to the good-looking, wealthy, and influential; but God is strictly impartial. No considerations of race, place, or face will ever influence Him. God does not "receive face" and so is not moved by external appearances. Nobody breaks His rules and gets away with it, no matter how powerful or clever or wealthy or networked. He sees through them and goes to the heart of the matter and is not partial to appearance and circumstance. All are judged by the same measure. Stedman notes that... You cannot buy His influence at all; you cannot influence Him in any way. Somebody was telling me about a traffic policeman who pulled a motorist over to the side of a road, and asked to see his license. When he showed his license to him, the cop said, "This license says you have to wear glasses while you are driving. Where are your glasses?" The man said, "I have contacts." The cop said, "I don't care who you know, you are going to get a ticket anyway. Do you remember Rev3, where Christ is speaking to the seven churches, and he calls one of them "lukewarm" (Rev 3:15, 16 17-note)? Now, these portrayed here are religious sinners. I was reading in a thesaurus some time ago the synonyms of this word "lukewarm." One synonym is, "to be indifferent," another is, "to be respectable." That is "lukewarm." What is it to be lukewarm? It is to say, "I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing." This is what it is to be respectable -- to think that you have no needs. The man who thinks he has need of nothing is the one by far the worst off, for, as God sees him, God says, "You do not know that you are "wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked." And God treats the respectable sinner just as he does the notorious one. (The Secrets of Men) William Newell - Among men, there is almost nothing else but what James and Jude denounce as "showing respect of persons"-"for the sake of advantage." The rich, the educated, the traveled, the cultured, the prominent, the influential, the pleasing, the strong, are all sought after. The poor, the ignorant, the weak, are despised and neglected. But not so with God. He sees men through His own eyes of holiness and truth always. He "seeth not as man seeth." It is a terrifying thought to earth's great, but an infinitely comforting thought to every humble God-fearing soul, that there is an impartial One, with no respect of persons, with whom they have to do! (Romans 2) Romans 2:12 For all who have sinned (3PAAI) without the Law will also perish (3PFMI) without the Law, and all who have sinned (3PAAI) under the Law will be judged (3PFPI) by the Law; (NASB: Lockman) Greek: Hosoi gar anomos hemarton (3PAAI), anomos kai apolountai (3PFMI), kai hosoi en nomo hemarton (3PAAI), dia nomou krithesontai (3PFPI) Amplified: All who have sinned without the Law will also perish without [regard to] the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged and condemned by the Law. (Amplified Bible - Lockman) NLT: God will punish the Gentiles when they sin, even though they never had God's written law. And he will punish the Jews when they sin, for they do have the law. (NLT - Tyndale House) Phillips: All who have sinned without knowledge of the Law will die without reference to the Law; and all who have sinned knowing the Law shall be judged according to the Law. (Phillips: Touchstone) Wuest: For as many as without law sinned, without law shall also perish. And as many as in the sphere of law sinned, through law shall be condemned. (Eerdmans) Young's Literal: for as many as without law did sin, without law also shall perish, and as many as did sin in law, through law shall be judged, FOR: Hosoi gar: (Ro 2:14,15; 1:18, 19, 20, 21,32; Ezek 16:49,50; Mt 11:22,24; Lk 10:12, 13, 14, 15; 12:47,48; Jn 19:11; Acts 17:30,31) For (gar) is a marker of cause or reason positioned after a preceding clause and introducing the reason or cause for what has just been stated - for more discussion regarding the potential value of observing and interrogating "for" see term of explanation) refers to Ro 2:11 and introduces the explanation of the principle. Stated perhaps more plainly, we see from the previous verse that God is not partial and here is the reason -- for He will judge men according to the knowledge of Him (the "amount of light") to which they have been exposed. Religious "connections" will not avail in the final day of judgment be they false religions or Judaism. But it is important "Who" you know, if the One you know is the sacrificial Lamb of God. Then your "connections" count for eternity. If you disobey the truth that you have, even though you have never heard of Moses or of Christ, you will perish. But you won't perish simply because you didn't hear of Moses or of Christ, but because you have disobeyed truth that you know. Now, if you know of Moses and of Christ, and you still disobey the "light" of that truth, you will perish also, but your condemnation is even greater -- because of the greater light you were exposed to (Mt 11:20-24). But, as Paul explains in this section, even the Gentiles (pagans) have a form of basic law written on their heart, and this truth forms the basis for God's impartial and just condemnation. William Newell writes that... Distinction in responsibility, according to privilege enjoyed, is constantly carried through Scripture. But light is light, not darkness at all. Light is an absolute quality. If persons were lost in a forest at night, the least glimmer of light seen somewhere would attract those who desired deliverance from darkness, and they would hasten toward it; while those that feared light because of works of evil in which they desired to persist, would shrink back farther into the darkness; loving darkness not for its own sake, but, as our Lord said, "because their works are evil." In both cases, whether of those that do not have the (Mosaic) Law, or of those living, as the Jews did, under it if they choose sin, there is doom. There will be no respect of persons at all. Those "without law" choosing sin "shall perish": those "choosing sin under law shall be judged by that law, " and consequently go into more terrible damnation. (Romans 2) ALL WHO HAVE SINNED WITHOUT THE LAW: Hosoi gar anomos hemarton (3PAAI): (See Torrey's Topics Law of God; Law of Moses) All - All without exception. This word is repeated for both Jews and Gentiles. There are no exception clauses, except of course finding refuge in Christ Jesus by grace through faith. Wayne Barber writes Paul appears to be talking about the Gentiles. Luke 12:47, 48 talks about those who will receive many stripes and how others will receive less stripes because they did not have the benefit of knowing. Even though they will perish, their judgment will be just. Psalm 147:20 says that the Gentile nations of the world have never known "My precepts." So these without the Law seem to be the Gentiles. (Romans 2:1-14 Man's Desperation/God's Good News-3) "Copy and paste the address below into your web browser in order to go to the original page which will allow you to access live links related to the material on this page - these links include Scriptures (which can be read in context), Scripture pop-ups on mouse over, and a variety of related resources such as Bible dictionary articles, commentaries, sermon notes and theological journal articles related to the topic under discussion." http://www.preceptaustin.org/romans_29-16.htm#Partiality