In the first two articles in this series it was established that there is a plan of salvation! This is the case, unless God deals with people differently, who stand in the same spiritual state of being lost and in need of being saved from their sins. Therefore, let us answer the question: “Does God deal with people, who stand in the same spiritual state of being lost,” differently?”
Perhaps a better question might be: “Is God unequal in his dealing with people who are in the same spiritual state of being lost?” First notice: “For there is no respect of persons with God” (Rom. 2:11). Here the word “respect” is the Greek: “prosōpolēpsia” and means: “favoritism” (Strong) and Thayer says: “partiality.” Thayer gives us more: “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.” Before God, all sinners stand as equal; no favoritism or partiality!
Then, we have the case of the Jew and the Gentile, as Peter came to understand: “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). Here Peter, by the Holy Spirit, used a form of the same Greek word as in Roman 2:11. The Greek word for “respecter” is “prosōpolēptēs” and it means: “accepter of a face” and “exhibiting partiality.” Did you notice that the Holy Spirit used the same Greek word in Romans 2;11 and Acts 10:34; save the ending of the word? When God looks at our faces, he is not an “accepter” of one face over another; neither does God exhibit partiality! However, Peter went on to say, as he gives the answer to those whom God does respect: “But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him” (Acts 10:35). This goes hand in hand with the statement in Hebrews: “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:6). Those who fear God, who stand in awe of God and work righteousness are the same people who believe that God is “a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” God must be sought by those who are “in awe of” God, and those who are “engaged in righteousness” believing that God will reward them in their “investigation” of him! Keep in mind, that God is only found in righteousness! The idea that God may be found on top of the highest mountain, or in the deepest part of the ocean is false, totally false! At the same time, those who are seeking forgiveness, those who are seeking to be saved from their past sins, must seek it through righteousness!
Therefore, in addressing the plan of salvation, it must be understood that God is “no respecter of persons!” Let us here recall Paul’s words: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). Now, get this please, God’s power unto salvation, and yes, Paul did use the word “salvation,” is “the gospel of Christ!” Why is this true? Paul answers: “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Paul’s first words are: “For there in,” looking back to verse sixteen, are the words, “the gospel of Christ!” In other words, God’s “righteousness” is in “the gospel of Christ” and “the gospel of Christ” is “God’s power unto salvation!” May I say unto you, “the gospel of Christ” is God’s plan unto salvation! Through “the gospel of Christ,” the sinner can find forgiveness of past sins, the “remission of sins!”
Here is an interesting question: “Did Peter and the other apostles on the day of Pentecost preach the gospel of Christ?” Or, were they authorized to preach something else? “God forbid!” On that Pentecost day, “the gospel of Christ” was first heard by human ears, taken into the minds of some 3,000 souls; and Luke says of them: “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls: (Acts 2:41). Did these folks obey a “plan of salvation?” It is more than likely that the apostles on this great day, did not hold up five figures, and introduce “the plan of salvation;” but holding up five figures is a great way to teach the things that a lost person must do to be saved from past sins!
The “five figures” is a method of teaching and only that! It is a technique and no more and no less! Yet, it has been laughed at, made fun of, and dismissed altogether by some! But why would any lover of truth, the gospel of Christ, make fun of a method of teaching God’s plan of salvation, so long as it true to “the gospel of Christ?” Could it be that they have some other “plan,” or no “plan” at all? Nevertheless, let us not forget that we are only looking at the first part of God’s plan for salvation in this article!
Frank R. Williams