Bible Contradictions: Does God Respect Anyone?
Alleged contradictions are the holy grail of biblical criticism. When trying to find contradictions in the Bible, critics typically look for two passages that seem to say different things, without considering anything else. They usually ignore essential things like vocabulary and context (which is how these discrepancies are created initially). One online resource that does a spectacular job of this is the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible.
In the entry titled “Does God respect anyone?” the text says that in some places, the Bible says yes, and in others, the Bible says no. This is the kind of thing we’re talking about. Critics often use an older translation, like the King James Version, where the wording gives them enough room to shoehorn a supposed contradiction into the text. And this is one of those cases. Let’s explore some individual examples.
- “And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect” (Genesis 4:4b-5a). Right off the bat, we can see that the word respect is being used differently than how we might use it today. The Hebrew word šāʿâ means to look at with approval, and in this instance, it means “to accept.” Simply put, God accepted Abel and his offering. The word respect as used by the translators of the King James Version had a different shade of meaning than the modern use of the word.
- “And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them” (Exodus 2:25). Here we have a different Hebrew term. It is the word yādaʿ, which primarily means “to know.” That is a very different meaning from the modern definition of respect. Modern versions correctly translate this phrase as “God knew.”
- “For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you” (Leviticus 26:9). Once again, we have another different Hebrew term. The word used here is pānâ, meaning “to turn.” The verse should be accurately translated as “I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.”
- “Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off” (Psalm 138:6). This is the fourth use of the word respect, and yet again we have a different Hebrew word: ra’ah, meaning “to see, consider.” When we look at this verse, it’s saying that God is close to the lowly but distances himself from the prideful. You can see this same approach all over the Bible, especially in the ministry of Jesus. He often showed concern for the downtrodden and the helpless, and was typically at odds with arrogant elitists. That’s precisely what this verse is talking about.
When we consider the original languages, we can see that the modern word “respect” doesn’t fit these verses most of the time. So we’ve got a translation issue here. Specifically, an older translation where the key word has changed in meaning for a modern audience. Also, the translators who worked on the King James version chose to render several different Hebrew words with just one English word. If you aren’t paying attention to that fact, it will cause some confusion.
There are other passages where the Skeptics Annotated Bible says that God doesn’t respect people. But we’ve already seen that the author here has a massive problem with understanding languages. It only gets better from here. Let’s look at some of those passages. Let’s work through some of these passages.
- “Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts” (2 Chronicles 19:7). So does this verse contradict the others we’ve seen? Does God not respect people? Well, the Hebrew phrase maśśoʾ pānîm means literally “to lift up the face.” It’s an idiomatic expression that means to show favor. Simply by looking at the context, you can get a hint that there’s something else going on here other than giving someone respect, because the word is sandwiched between iniquity and bribery. Modern translations accurately render this as “partiality.” So the text is not telling us that God never respects people, it’s saying that he doesn’t show favoritism.
- “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). The word here is the Greek term prosōpolēmptēs, which means to show favoritism or unjustly treat one person better than another. Paul also says that God is no respecter of persons in Ephesians 6:9 and says something similar in Colossians 3:25. He uses the same Greek word in both places. So this isn’t about showing respect, it’s about showing partiality.
- God is “without respect of persons” who “judgeth according to every man’s work” (1 Peter 1:17). Just by reading the entire verse, we can get a sense that there’s more to this than meets the eye. And when we look at the Greek, it becomes even clearer. The word aprosōpolēmtōs describes someone who behaves in an unprejudiced manner. So the apostle isn’t saying that God disrespects people; only that he doesn’t play favorites.
By examining the original languages, we can see that many so-called contradictions are easily solved. The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible is a gold mine of problems with more bark than bite. It’s easy to see that the author of this book didn’t take the time to understand the difference between the Modern and Early Modern uses of the word “respect” or investigate the underlying Greek and Hebrew terms. Once we do this, this supposed contradiction evaporates like so many others—which is typically what happens when you take the time to do a little research.
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