God deals with every person one by one, showing no favoritism to Jew or Gentile whatever place or position is claimed. His judgment is according to truth, rendering to each according to deeds and work, eternal life with glory, honor and peace to those who by patient continuance in well doing seek glory and immortality, and indignation, wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul that does evil. He does not value or decide by social rank, wealth, learning, outward appearance, birth, nationality, color or kind of work, but by character formed, a humble contrite heart, purity and love, and oneness with Christ. Judgment has been given to Christ alone who understands human weakness, so no person is to measure brethren, read the heart, or condemn another, and tares and wheat must grow together until the harvest. Those who serve Him must reflect His impartiality by treating every soul alike, meeting all classes on equal ground without caste spirit or unkind judgment, and by not concentrating His goods and advantages in favored places and persons while other fields remain unsupported.
Words and Immediate Context
God deals with people one by one, person by person, showing no favoritism to Jew or Gentile, whatever place or position anyone claims. His judgment is according to truth, rendering to every person according to deeds and work, giving eternal life to those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, and glory, honor and peace to every one who works good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. No one who judges another while doing the same things is excusable, and no such person will escape that judgment against those who commit evil. His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering lead to repentance, and to despise their riches with hardness and an impenitent heart stores up wrath for the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment. Upon every soul that does evil He brings indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, especially upon those who are contentious, contend against truth, stir up strife, disobey truth and obey unrighteousness, and fail to cultivate kindness, sympathy, compassion, goodness and love.
Through faith in Christ He has brought within everyone's reach oneness with God and immortality. Selfish ambition, pride, strife about places, self-exaltation and esteeming self above others reveal character that makes a person last and lowest, grieves the Holy Spirit, leaves the soul strengthless and brings wrath, while conversion to become as little children, esteeming others better than self, being servant of all and blessing others by sacrifice and self-denial lead to goodness, usefulness, honor and eternal life. Judaism had become exclusive, building partition walls as high as possible between Jews and the world and holding the error that God loved the Jew only and hated the Gentile, though the prophets had testified otherwise for centuries, and Christ sought to correct that error. The feeding of the multitude illustrates this impartial grace, with the Bread of Life placed in delegated hands to give to the multitude, so that saving truth and precious gifts of heaven are to be given to all, high or low, bond or free, of whatever caste or nationality, with nothing excluding anyone.
The Jews had the particular advantage of receiving God's oracles, but He calls Jews and Gentiles alike and offers salvation through the gospel to everyone who believes, with equal effectiveness for both. The verse impresses hearers with their responsibility before God, since He shows no partiality.
God's Impartial Retribution
God renders to every person according to deeds and work, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, distinguishing the righteous who serve Him from the wicked who serve Him not, and Christ comes quickly with His reward to give every man according as his work shall be. To those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality and work good, He gives eternal life, with glory, honor and peace, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. Upon every soul that does evil He brings indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, especially upon those who are contentious, contend against truth, stir up strife, disobey truth and obey unrighteousness, and fail to cultivate kindness, sympathy, compassion, goodness and love. This requires each person to stop making the failure of others an excuse, to shun evil habits, to do assigned temporal and spiritual duties in sincerity and faith, and to do good to others in Christ's spirit rather than dissecting character.
Not the hearers of the law are just before God but the doers shall be justified; those who sinned without law perish without law and those who sinned in the law are judged by the law, in the day when God judges the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, who is judge and lawgiver. He does not decide cases by position occupied, possessions, color or poverty, but by the character formed, and by that character destiny is decided; no outward nearness to God screens those who trample His law from divine wrath. Punishment is proportionate to light received: those entrusted with sacred truth and peculiar advantages and gifts to let light shine, who yet contend against God and His messengers, walk contrary to truth, turn truth into a lie, lead others astray and misuse opportunities, are judged according to works for all the good they might have done but did not do, with conspicuous punishment showing His justice and equal ways. He did not excuse the Jewish people entrusted with sacred truth but punished their iniquity, selfishness, oppression and defiance of His law, and He does not help anyone in transgression, judging the selfish, covetous rulers in Christ's day the same way, which condemns all who have had truth laid before them yet continue things condemned by Scripture.
As an impartial ruler He in no case justifies or excuses sin; His goodness and love require Him to deal with sin as an evil fatal to the peace and happiness of the universe, as the recorded history of Israel warns all future generations, against flattering themselves that He is too good to punish the transgressor and failing to realize the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Even Moses and Aaron, though chosen leaders, were not allowed to enter Canaan because of one publicly known sin, proving that unbelief and impatience under great provocation are not excused in responsible positions and that a leader's sin misrepresenting God cannot be passed by lightly. Impartiality does not lessen strict obedience: all are judged by the same test of truth practiced in life, words and actions, including duty in the home church and worship and unselfish integrity in official duties such as promptly placing tithes and entrusted moneys where they belong and never appropriating them for another use; no soul continuing in transgression will be vindicated, including violation of every precept of the moral law such as the Sabbath, while those who fear Him and do what is right are precious in His sight. No one is exempt from accountability for abilities and talents entrusted by God; those who waste what was given will be condemned, and faithful stewardship is required of all.
Those who refuse the gospel feast invitation, neglect to know God, take disobedience, throw away grafting into the living vine and partaking of the divine nature to bear fruit to His glory, despise riches of goodness and forbearance and long-suffering leading to repentance, and treasure up wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment after hardness and impenitent heart, lose Jesus and may never find Him again, missing the light of the world and strength gained by following Him step by step onward, upward, heavenward. Through faith in Christ He has brought within everyone's reach oneness with God and immortality, the possibility for each person of being one with God and gaining immortality through Christ. There is one Saviour for all mankind presenting His merits before the Father for all peoples, and the message of Christ's second advent belongs to all, with God understanding all circumstances, making no difference because of color of skin, so that it is the privilege of every soul to take hold of the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour.
Equal Worth Before God
God values no one by social rank, wealth, learning, or worldly honor, for all are alike objects of His love and were purchased by the sacrifice of His Son, and at Jesus' feet human divisions and pride lose their force as pure religion brings together those sanctified through the truth. Work for anyone's salvation is worthy of the highest honor, whatever the worker's task or the class served, and it is wrong to reject fellowship with those whose names are in the Lamb's book of life because they lack worldly status, since Christ is pleased with the meek and lowly whatever their calling or intelligence. He does not judge by outward appearance, wealth, property, possessions, bank holdings, rank, or social standing and position, for these do not determine moral worth. He values a humble, contrite heart and prizes purity and love as moral worth belonging to the Christian and as marks of character. Jesus' choice to live poor and humble among the lowly and to pass by the wealthy and honored corrected the world's false standards of human worth and calls Christians to serve people of every class rather than withdraw from them in pride.
There is no caste with God by birth, position, wealth, education, nationality, color, or social condition. He values people as souls purchased by Christ, seeing their worth in their willingness to receive grace and have His image restored in them, so no person is unimportant or to be treated with indifference, but all are to be regarded with the same compassion and respect. There is no respect of persons between white and black or between favored and lower classes, for all share common relationship by creation and by redemption, with providential deliverance from slavery and right to freedom remembered, and the cross of Calvary makes distinctions of society fade away. God accepts unselfish effort for the most needy and does not favor the most favored while neglecting others in need. All nationalities are amenable to the same law and will be judged according to deeds, with the same offer of salvation and promise of the same heaven on the same terms; if He accepts and forgives sinners of one race on belief as sons and daughters with assurance of higher life and a place in the redeemed family when Christ comes in the clouds of heaven and the righteous dead rise to meet Him, He does the same for sinners of another race, receiving them and raising them from ignorance and degradation, partly through the favored race, so there is no right to pass any people by but a duty to help, educate, establish schools, teach self-support, lead to faith in Jesus, and encourage those laboring for both groups.
He judges by oneness with Christ and by character: those who use their opportunities and cherish the light given them are accepted as wise and good, even if the world calls them ignorant or they are outcast or enslaved. Their names are registered in heaven in the Lamb's book of life, and He can fit them to honor Him on earth and in heaven, while His Spirit is to be recognized in anyone in whom it is revealed. He shows no favoritism by status or kind of work, whether social class or occupation, and money does not increase moral worth while ignorance and idleness elevate no one. Physical strength rightly used in needed service expresses love for Him, and humble occupations done faithfully and intelligently for His honor have dignity as work under divine direction, as in the tabernacle work. The worker in the humblest occupation who uses God-given ability and puts heart, soul, mind, and physical strength into doing the work that needs to be done reveals a character God approves and stands accepted before Him as much as anyone else.
No Partial Human Judgment
Judgment has been given to Christ alone, because He lived humanity and He alone understands human weakness and the striving to attain perfection, and no person has been given the work of numbering Israel, reading the heart, putting human measurement on brethren, or making himself judge of character. No one has the right to measure fellow men, to judge a brother's heart, or to refuse to be a Christian because of faults seen in church members. Though there are counterfeit Christians in every church, tares and wheat must grow together until the harvest, for the work of judgment has not been committed to human hands, and the militant church on earth is not yet the triumphant church. Each person's faith is tested individually, and status or ancestry does not alter God's judgment, for He renders eternal life to those who patiently do good and brings wrath and anguish on those who reject truth and do evil.
The one found fault with may be more righteous in God's sight than the one who faults him. God strips away tinsel, glitter and show and sees true character, giving the same value to a failing worker as to the leader who judges him. Leaders in responsible positions therefore have no excuse for disobeying God's Word by condemning a man who did his best but failed and leaving his family to suffer unhelped. God will judge such leaders as they judged and measure to them as they measured, bringing them over the same hard ground where the brother fell, testing them where others failed, and letting them feel indifference, contempt and scorn.
Ministers and members living amid last-day perils must be careful how to measure a brother, take heed to self, and put no stumbling block in a brother's way. They must turn from hereditary and cultivated defects that mar usefulness, especially hasty temper, lack of patience and hasty speech, and must not exclude brethren from fellowship and counsel, stand apart in holier-than-thou oppression, or limit the working of grace. His servants should meet others on equal ground and treat fellow workers respectfully as human and tempted. Safety is to watch unto prayer and counsel together trusting God to keep all, instead of exalting one's own methods, finding imperfection in others' methods and trying to reshape character, for God works for all faithful learners and doers of His words.
Each person must stop making others' failures an excuse, shun evil habits, do assigned temporal and spiritual duties in sincerity and faith, and do good to others in Christ's spirit rather than dissecting character, for Christ comes quickly with His reward to give every man according as his work shall be. Selfish ambition, pride, strife about places, self-exaltation and esteeming self above others reveal character that makes a person last and lowest, grieves the Holy Spirit, leaves the soul strengthless and brings wrath. Conversion to become as little children, esteeming others better than self, being servant of all and blessing others by sacrifice and self-denial lead to goodness, usefulness, honor and eternal life, for to those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality He gives eternal life, with glory, honor and peace, while upon the contentious who obey unrighteousness He brings indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish.
His message must be delivered faithfully to friends and foes alike, rich and poor, high and low, cultured and ignorant, without betraying trust to spare anyone from reproof because of status or relationship. In reform, wrong must not be excused or concealed from false kindness; firm correction of a few can be mercy to many, and those who rebuke evil must do so with Christ's spirit. Those truly converted reflect His impartiality by treating others as they would treat Christ and disregarding no one's rights, for He does not favor a few while neglecting others or raise one up while casting down and oppressing another. The gospel allows no caste spirit or unkind judgment exalting one over another, and Christ's religion does not degrade receivers or make them coarse, rough or unkind to those for whom He died. All connected with workers, including young people who have not accepted truth, should be treated with Christlike love and kindness, since wrong words or actions can make their salvation more difficult.
Impartial Service and Resources
There is no favoritism with God toward one place over another or one person over another, so His goods and resources are not to be spent to concentrate advantages, buildings, facilities and means in one place already well supplied, such as Battle Creek, or upon favored institutions and people, while other places remain unsupported, without facilities, without work begun or left without support. His workmen misrepresent His impartiality when they let the work advance in some parts of His vineyard while hindering it in others, for overdoing the work in one place absorbs money that should help workers establish the work in new places, and no part of the vineyard should be deprived so that another can use its means freely. He never works capriciously by giving superabundance of buildings, facilities and means to His work in one locality while leaving the same work in another locality half-completed for lack of money to purchase material and carry on operations. Concentrating means to build up what is under one's own supervision while leaving new fields unfinished is wholly worldly policy chargeable to the devising of men entrusted as stewards with the outlay of His means, and casts no reflection on Him. He designed His work to stand before the world and before the heavenly universe more evenly proportioned, with abundance in one place supplying what is needed to complete unfinished buildings and provide facilities elsewhere, such as the house and the sanitarium in Sydney and other localities in Australia, and to leave them unfinished dishonors Him.
The verse binds those leading His work to deal with every soul for whom Christ gave His life in the same impartial way and to manage things according to His direction, for partial management displeases Him and His displeasure will rest upon workers unless improvements and changes are made. Those entrusted with responsibilities must therefore show no partiality and no hypocrisy in households, churches or institutions, but stand fast against wrong, discern right from wrong and evil from good, value what He values, see every difficulty as a call to prayer, consult Him rather than boastful and independent men, work faithfully in partnership with Him, and never call slackly done work faithful and thorough service. Since He shows no favoritism between rich and poor or high and low, and does not favor people on the basis of position or status, His ministers must become acquainted with all people and share alike in their joys and sorrows, being to every class a savor of life unto life, and those dealing with others, especially workers under their authority, must treat everyone with Christlike justice, kindness and care, without oppression or selfish partiality. He helps and blesses all who trust in Him without favoring one over another, as sought in prayer for restoration to health for Christ's sake.
Because He favors no class but treats wealthy and honorable people the same as lowly people, judging every person according to deeds, the verse encourages making every effort to save those honored by the world. That means seeking out wealthy men, teaching them to seek eternal glory, to lay up treasure beside His throne by using talents and means to open ways for perishing souls, and to accept Christ to receive the highest honor the world can neither give nor take away, a life that measures with His life and exceeding great reward in keeping the commandments. There is no right to pass by needy people of another race, since He has no respect of persons between white and black or between favored and lower classes, all sharing common relationship by creation and by redemption, with providential deliverance from slavery and right to freedom remembered, and the cross making distinctions of society fade away. If He accepts and forgives sinners of one race on belief as sons and daughters with hope of higher life when Christ comes and the righteous dead rise, He does the same for sinners of another race, raising them from ignorance and degradation, with all nationalities amenable to the same law, judged according to deeds, with the same offer of salvation and promise of the same heaven on the same terms. Hence there is duty to help, educate, establish schools, teach self-support, lead to faith in Jesus, and encourage those laboring for both favored and neglected groups, and He accepts unselfish effort for the most needy rather than favoring the most favored while neglecting others in need.
God deals with every person one by one, showing no favoritism to Jew or Gentile whatever place or position is claimed. His judgment is according to truth, rendering to each according to deeds and work, eternal life with glory, honor and peace to those who by patient continuance in well doing seek glory and immortality, and indignation, wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul that does evil. He does not value or decide by social rank, wealth, learning, outward appearance, birth, nationality, color or kind of work, but by character formed, a humble contrite heart, purity and love, and oneness with Christ. Judgment has been given to Christ alone who understands human weakness, so no person is to measure brethren, read the heart, or condemn another, and tares and wheat must grow together until the harvest. Those who serve Him must reflect His impartiality by treating every soul alike, meeting all classes on equal ground without caste spirit or unkind judgment, and by not concentrating His goods and advantages in favored places and persons while other fields remain unsupported.
Words and Immediate Context
God deals with people one by one, person by person, showing no favoritism to Jew or Gentile, whatever place or position anyone claims. His judgment is according to truth, rendering to every person according to deeds and work, giving eternal life to those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, and glory, honor and peace to every one who works good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. No one who judges another while doing the same things is excusable, and no such person will escape that judgment against those who commit evil. His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering lead to repentance, and to despise their riches with hardness and an impenitent heart stores up wrath for the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment. Upon every soul that does evil He brings indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, especially upon those who are contentious, contend against truth, stir up strife, disobey truth and obey unrighteousness, and fail to cultivate kindness, sympathy, compassion, goodness and love.
Through faith in Christ He has brought within everyone's reach oneness with God and immortality. Selfish ambition, pride, strife about places, self-exaltation and esteeming self above others reveal character that makes a person last and lowest, grieves the Holy Spirit, leaves the soul strengthless and brings wrath, while conversion to become as little children, esteeming others better than self, being servant of all and blessing others by sacrifice and self-denial lead to goodness, usefulness, honor and eternal life. Judaism had become exclusive, building partition walls as high as possible between Jews and the world and holding the error that God loved the Jew only and hated the Gentile, though the prophets had testified otherwise for centuries, and Christ sought to correct that error. The feeding of the multitude illustrates this impartial grace, with the Bread of Life placed in delegated hands to give to the multitude, so that saving truth and precious gifts of heaven are to be given to all, high or low, bond or free, of whatever caste or nationality, with nothing excluding anyone.
The Jews had the particular advantage of receiving God's oracles, but He calls Jews and Gentiles alike and offers salvation through the gospel to everyone who believes, with equal effectiveness for both. The verse impresses hearers with their responsibility before God, since He shows no partiality.
God's Impartial Retribution
God renders to every person according to deeds and work, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, distinguishing the righteous who serve Him from the wicked who serve Him not, and Christ comes quickly with His reward to give every man according as his work shall be. To those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality and work good, He gives eternal life, with glory, honor and peace, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. Upon every soul that does evil He brings indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, especially upon those who are contentious, contend against truth, stir up strife, disobey truth and obey unrighteousness, and fail to cultivate kindness, sympathy, compassion, goodness and love. This requires each person to stop making the failure of others an excuse, to shun evil habits, to do assigned temporal and spiritual duties in sincerity and faith, and to do good to others in Christ's spirit rather than dissecting character.
Not the hearers of the law are just before God but the doers shall be justified; those who sinned without law perish without law and those who sinned in the law are judged by the law, in the day when God judges the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, who is judge and lawgiver. He does not decide cases by position occupied, possessions, color or poverty, but by the character formed, and by that character destiny is decided; no outward nearness to God screens those who trample His law from divine wrath. Punishment is proportionate to light received: those entrusted with sacred truth and peculiar advantages and gifts to let light shine, who yet contend against God and His messengers, walk contrary to truth, turn truth into a lie, lead others astray and misuse opportunities, are judged according to works for all the good they might have done but did not do, with conspicuous punishment showing His justice and equal ways. He did not excuse the Jewish people entrusted with sacred truth but punished their iniquity, selfishness, oppression and defiance of His law, and He does not help anyone in transgression, judging the selfish, covetous rulers in Christ's day the same way, which condemns all who have had truth laid before them yet continue things condemned by Scripture.
As an impartial ruler He in no case justifies or excuses sin; His goodness and love require Him to deal with sin as an evil fatal to the peace and happiness of the universe, as the recorded history of Israel warns all future generations, against flattering themselves that He is too good to punish the transgressor and failing to realize the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Even Moses and Aaron, though chosen leaders, were not allowed to enter Canaan because of one publicly known sin, proving that unbelief and impatience under great provocation are not excused in responsible positions and that a leader's sin misrepresenting God cannot be passed by lightly. Impartiality does not lessen strict obedience: all are judged by the same test of truth practiced in life, words and actions, including duty in the home church and worship and unselfish integrity in official duties such as promptly placing tithes and entrusted moneys where they belong and never appropriating them for another use; no soul continuing in transgression will be vindicated, including violation of every precept of the moral law such as the Sabbath, while those who fear Him and do what is right are precious in His sight. No one is exempt from accountability for abilities and talents entrusted by God; those who waste what was given will be condemned, and faithful stewardship is required of all.
Those who refuse the gospel feast invitation, neglect to know God, take disobedience, throw away grafting into the living vine and partaking of the divine nature to bear fruit to His glory, despise riches of goodness and forbearance and long-suffering leading to repentance, and treasure up wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment after hardness and impenitent heart, lose Jesus and may never find Him again, missing the light of the world and strength gained by following Him step by step onward, upward, heavenward. Through faith in Christ He has brought within everyone's reach oneness with God and immortality, the possibility for each person of being one with God and gaining immortality through Christ. There is one Saviour for all mankind presenting His merits before the Father for all peoples, and the message of Christ's second advent belongs to all, with God understanding all circumstances, making no difference because of color of skin, so that it is the privilege of every soul to take hold of the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour.
Equal Worth Before God
God values no one by social rank, wealth, learning, or worldly honor, for all are alike objects of His love and were purchased by the sacrifice of His Son, and at Jesus' feet human divisions and pride lose their force as pure religion brings together those sanctified through the truth. Work for anyone's salvation is worthy of the highest honor, whatever the worker's task or the class served, and it is wrong to reject fellowship with those whose names are in the Lamb's book of life because they lack worldly status, since Christ is pleased with the meek and lowly whatever their calling or intelligence. He does not judge by outward appearance, wealth, property, possessions, bank holdings, rank, or social standing and position, for these do not determine moral worth. He values a humble, contrite heart and prizes purity and love as moral worth belonging to the Christian and as marks of character. Jesus' choice to live poor and humble among the lowly and to pass by the wealthy and honored corrected the world's false standards of human worth and calls Christians to serve people of every class rather than withdraw from them in pride.
There is no caste with God by birth, position, wealth, education, nationality, color, or social condition. He values people as souls purchased by Christ, seeing their worth in their willingness to receive grace and have His image restored in them, so no person is unimportant or to be treated with indifference, but all are to be regarded with the same compassion and respect. There is no respect of persons between white and black or between favored and lower classes, for all share common relationship by creation and by redemption, with providential deliverance from slavery and right to freedom remembered, and the cross of Calvary makes distinctions of society fade away. God accepts unselfish effort for the most needy and does not favor the most favored while neglecting others in need. All nationalities are amenable to the same law and will be judged according to deeds, with the same offer of salvation and promise of the same heaven on the same terms; if He accepts and forgives sinners of one race on belief as sons and daughters with assurance of higher life and a place in the redeemed family when Christ comes in the clouds of heaven and the righteous dead rise to meet Him, He does the same for sinners of another race, receiving them and raising them from ignorance and degradation, partly through the favored race, so there is no right to pass any people by but a duty to help, educate, establish schools, teach self-support, lead to faith in Jesus, and encourage those laboring for both groups.
He judges by oneness with Christ and by character: those who use their opportunities and cherish the light given them are accepted as wise and good, even if the world calls them ignorant or they are outcast or enslaved. Their names are registered in heaven in the Lamb's book of life, and He can fit them to honor Him on earth and in heaven, while His Spirit is to be recognized in anyone in whom it is revealed. He shows no favoritism by status or kind of work, whether social class or occupation, and money does not increase moral worth while ignorance and idleness elevate no one. Physical strength rightly used in needed service expresses love for Him, and humble occupations done faithfully and intelligently for His honor have dignity as work under divine direction, as in the tabernacle work. The worker in the humblest occupation who uses God-given ability and puts heart, soul, mind, and physical strength into doing the work that needs to be done reveals a character God approves and stands accepted before Him as much as anyone else.
No Partial Human Judgment
Judgment has been given to Christ alone, because He lived humanity and He alone understands human weakness and the striving to attain perfection, and no person has been given the work of numbering Israel, reading the heart, putting human measurement on brethren, or making himself judge of character. No one has the right to measure fellow men, to judge a brother's heart, or to refuse to be a Christian because of faults seen in church members. Though there are counterfeit Christians in every church, tares and wheat must grow together until the harvest, for the work of judgment has not been committed to human hands, and the militant church on earth is not yet the triumphant church. Each person's faith is tested individually, and status or ancestry does not alter God's judgment, for He renders eternal life to those who patiently do good and brings wrath and anguish on those who reject truth and do evil.
The one found fault with may be more righteous in God's sight than the one who faults him. God strips away tinsel, glitter and show and sees true character, giving the same value to a failing worker as to the leader who judges him. Leaders in responsible positions therefore have no excuse for disobeying God's Word by condemning a man who did his best but failed and leaving his family to suffer unhelped. God will judge such leaders as they judged and measure to them as they measured, bringing them over the same hard ground where the brother fell, testing them where others failed, and letting them feel indifference, contempt and scorn.
Ministers and members living amid last-day perils must be careful how to measure a brother, take heed to self, and put no stumbling block in a brother's way. They must turn from hereditary and cultivated defects that mar usefulness, especially hasty temper, lack of patience and hasty speech, and must not exclude brethren from fellowship and counsel, stand apart in holier-than-thou oppression, or limit the working of grace. His servants should meet others on equal ground and treat fellow workers respectfully as human and tempted. Safety is to watch unto prayer and counsel together trusting God to keep all, instead of exalting one's own methods, finding imperfection in others' methods and trying to reshape character, for God works for all faithful learners and doers of His words.
Each person must stop making others' failures an excuse, shun evil habits, do assigned temporal and spiritual duties in sincerity and faith, and do good to others in Christ's spirit rather than dissecting character, for Christ comes quickly with His reward to give every man according as his work shall be. Selfish ambition, pride, strife about places, self-exaltation and esteeming self above others reveal character that makes a person last and lowest, grieves the Holy Spirit, leaves the soul strengthless and brings wrath. Conversion to become as little children, esteeming others better than self, being servant of all and blessing others by sacrifice and self-denial lead to goodness, usefulness, honor and eternal life, for to those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality He gives eternal life, with glory, honor and peace, while upon the contentious who obey unrighteousness He brings indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish.
His message must be delivered faithfully to friends and foes alike, rich and poor, high and low, cultured and ignorant, without betraying trust to spare anyone from reproof because of status or relationship. In reform, wrong must not be excused or concealed from false kindness; firm correction of a few can be mercy to many, and those who rebuke evil must do so with Christ's spirit. Those truly converted reflect His impartiality by treating others as they would treat Christ and disregarding no one's rights, for He does not favor a few while neglecting others or raise one up while casting down and oppressing another. The gospel allows no caste spirit or unkind judgment exalting one over another, and Christ's religion does not degrade receivers or make them coarse, rough or unkind to those for whom He died. All connected with workers, including young people who have not accepted truth, should be treated with Christlike love and kindness, since wrong words or actions can make their salvation more difficult.
Impartial Service and Resources
There is no favoritism with God toward one place over another or one person over another, so His goods and resources are not to be spent to concentrate advantages, buildings, facilities and means in one place already well supplied, such as Battle Creek, or upon favored institutions and people, while other places remain unsupported, without facilities, without work begun or left without support. His workmen misrepresent His impartiality when they let the work advance in some parts of His vineyard while hindering it in others, for overdoing the work in one place absorbs money that should help workers establish the work in new places, and no part of the vineyard should be deprived so that another can use its means freely. He never works capriciously by giving superabundance of buildings, facilities and means to His work in one locality while leaving the same work in another locality half-completed for lack of money to purchase material and carry on operations. Concentrating means to build up what is under one's own supervision while leaving new fields unfinished is wholly worldly policy chargeable to the devising of men entrusted as stewards with the outlay of His means, and casts no reflection on Him. He designed His work to stand before the world and before the heavenly universe more evenly proportioned, with abundance in one place supplying what is needed to complete unfinished buildings and provide facilities elsewhere, such as the house and the sanitarium in Sydney and other localities in Australia, and to leave them unfinished dishonors Him.
The verse binds those leading His work to deal with every soul for whom Christ gave His life in the same impartial way and to manage things according to His direction, for partial management displeases Him and His displeasure will rest upon workers unless improvements and changes are made. Those entrusted with responsibilities must therefore show no partiality and no hypocrisy in households, churches or institutions, but stand fast against wrong, discern right from wrong and evil from good, value what He values, see every difficulty as a call to prayer, consult Him rather than boastful and independent men, work faithfully in partnership with Him, and never call slackly done work faithful and thorough service. Since He shows no favoritism between rich and poor or high and low, and does not favor people on the basis of position or status, His ministers must become acquainted with all people and share alike in their joys and sorrows, being to every class a savor of life unto life, and those dealing with others, especially workers under their authority, must treat everyone with Christlike justice, kindness and care, without oppression or selfish partiality. He helps and blesses all who trust in Him without favoring one over another, as sought in prayer for restoration to health for Christ's sake.
Because He favors no class but treats wealthy and honorable people the same as lowly people, judging every person according to deeds, the verse encourages making every effort to save those honored by the world. That means seeking out wealthy men, teaching them to seek eternal glory, to lay up treasure beside His throne by using talents and means to open ways for perishing souls, and to accept Christ to receive the highest honor the world can neither give nor take away, a life that measures with His life and exceeding great reward in keeping the commandments. There is no right to pass by needy people of another race, since He has no respect of persons between white and black or between favored and lower classes, all sharing common relationship by creation and by redemption, with providential deliverance from slavery and right to freedom remembered, and the cross making distinctions of society fade away. If He accepts and forgives sinners of one race on belief as sons and daughters with hope of higher life when Christ comes and the righteous dead rise, He does the same for sinners of another race, raising them from ignorance and degradation, with all nationalities amenable to the same law, judged according to deeds, with the same offer of salvation and promise of the same heaven on the same terms. Hence there is duty to help, educate, establish schools, teach self-support, lead to faith in Jesus, and encourage those laboring for both favored and neglected groups, and He accepts unselfish effort for the most needy rather than favoring the most favored while neglecting others in need.