An impartial God is a scary thing. 1 Peter 1:17 is a hard thing to hear, as we're accustomed to thinking of a relationship with God as perfectly loving and as an escape from fear, rather than a source of it. What Peter is describing here is really the thing that makes a relationship with Jesus unique.
We think that we want impartiality. We imagine our lives on a sort of cosmic scale: all the bad stuff we do gets piled on one side and all the good stuff we do gets piled on the other. At the end, whichever side weighs the most, well, that'll determine how it goes for us, right? Peter is acknowledging that this is the natural human way to think. But he cautions us: "Since you call on a Father who judges each person's work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear" (1 Peter 1:17). When the standard is godliness, fear must win the day. A fair God is a dangerous God, at least to those of us who fail to live up to His holy standard.
But there is good news, and it is shocking to our sensitivity: God is unfair. God does show a special partiality. He is partial to His Son. And this is good news for us! The Bible says that everyone who believes has been clothed with Christ. That metaphor is used specifically to help us understand this verse. When God looks at us, He sees His Son! He's not fooled. We're not pulling a fast one, bacsue Jesus Christ is God Himself! But we get sovereignly covered with the righteousness of the One to whom God shows partiality. Wearing our normal clothes, we're in trouble. Clothed with Vhrist, though, we partake in all the glory that comes with being the favorite. Not because of who we are, but because of who ransomed us and who paid for our freedom from the tyranny so hard to be acceptable, and always being worried that we haven't done enough.
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