Does God Take Sides?

Estimated reading time: 14 minutes

Does God take sides? You might hate the idea of God taking sides. If God loves everyone and God created everything then why would God take sides? Wouldn’t that be unfair? Except that throughout scripture we see God taking sides.

But whose side is God on? Pretty much everyone has ever thought God was on their side. From religious crusaders to dictators and tyrants, people from every walk of life have claimed that God is on their side. But if God does take sides, then that means that God must also be against some people.

So how do we know whose side God is on? Is it power and wealth that demonstrates God’s blessing? Is it success in battle, or achievement in career? Or is it spiritual gifts or miraculous answers to prayer? None of those things are evidence of God’s blessing or that God is on your side.

The Bible is pretty clear whose side God takes. God is on the side of the poor, the weak, the abused, and the oppressed. The rest of this article is going to argue why that’s true.

But Isn’t God Impartial?

You might want to start off by pushing back and saying that God loves everyone equally and God is impartial. You might even say there are Bible verses that argue for this. You could quote Deuteronomy 10:17 which says: For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe. But let’s see what the rest of that passage says:

¹⁶ Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer. ¹⁷ For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, ¹⁸ who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. ¹⁹ You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ You shall fear the Lord your God; him you shall serve; to him you shall hold fast; and by his name you shall swear. 

Deuteronomy 10:16-20

Look at the whole context. God is impartial and takes no bribes, so that he will execute justice for the widow and orphan. God’s impartiality is not treating everyone equally, it means God cannot be bought or bribed. The wealthy and powerful have no claim on God. The passage finishes with the command for us to act like God, to love the stranger, because God redeemed them from slavery. And, even if we were not in Egypt, God has set us free as well. So we are commanded to fulfil God’s justice.

You might say that in the Acts we see Peter saying that God shows no partiality and there is nothing there about loving strangers or justice for the poor. Acts 10:34 says: Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality.”

But, again, let’s look at the whole passage:

Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, ³⁵ but in every people anyone who fears him and practices righteousness is acceptable to him.

Acts 10:34-35

To begin with, God’s impartiality means that everyone who obeys God and does righteousness is acceptable to God. But it is the context of the story that really makes the difference here. Peter is speaking to a Roman centurion. Peter is saying something really radical: that God draws no distinction between Romans and Jews. Both sides of that coin will feel a bit cheated by that. The Jews would have felt that their special covenant was being reduced. The Romans would have felt their social and economic superiority was being ignored.

But Peter is clear. God does not show preference to one or the other. The only distinction God draws is between righteous and unrighteous. This undoes the structures of social superiority and changes the foundation of identity and belonging in a way that will always trouble people with power and privilege.

The God Who Sets Slaves Free

The Lord God is a God who sets slaves free. This is one of the defining features of who God is throughout the Old Testament. It also shapes and frames the New Testament. It starts in Exodus when God decides to liberate the Hebrew people from slavery and oppression.

7 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

Exodus 3:7-10

Then it continues throughout the rest of the Old Testament. When God gives Israel the Law, God reminds them why they should obey it.

13 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be their slaves no more; I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

Leviticus 26:13

God was not on the side of Egypt. Even though Egypt was the superpower of its day, God was not on their side. Their power and wealth was not evidence of divine providence or blessing. Instead, God chose the people suffering in slavery, the ones that the superpower empire was oppressing and harming.

God sets slaves free.

That hasn’t changed. God will still take the side of the slave over the owner. A person or State or organisation that makes people into slaves, or treats them as slaves, will always find themselves opposed to God.

God of Justice, God of the Weak

The Lord God is a God who desires justice and Righteousness. But justice is not equality of fairness. The idea that for something to be just it must be fair is rooted in positions of privilege and power.

Justice, the divine justice of the God who willingly sacrificed themself for our sake, that kind of justice is always directed towards the weak, the needy, and the orphans. The people that have no one else to fight for them.

2 “How long will you judge unjustly
    and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
    maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
    deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

Psalm 82:2-4

God does not take the side of the strong over the weak. Strength is not evidence of divine blessing. Instead, God takes the side of the weak over the strong. God will rescue the weak and the needy from the people that oppress them and hurt them.

God’s justice, like God’s grace, is not fair in the way we would perhaps like it to be. It is always on the side of the people who need it, over the people who deserve it.

God’s Preference for the Poor

God has a clear preference for the poor. God chooses to take the side of the poor over the rich, the weak over the strong, and the slave over oppressor. God still desires the salvation of everyone, especially the oppressor, the powerful, and the wealthy. They really need salvation.

But, salvation for the rich and powerful is also dependent on the liberation of the poor, the weak, and the oppressed. Jesus made clear what his mission on Earth was about. He mostly quoted Isaiah 61, saying:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to set free those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Luke 4:18-19

Jesus came to bring good news to the poor. This is the heart of the Gospel. It is why God became flesh and dwelt amongst us. It is why God died and rose again. Good news for the poor looks like freeing the oppressed, healing, and release from captivity.

Most of all, it is the proclamation of the year of the Lord’s favour. The year of Jubilee. When all debts shall be written off, when land will be returned to who used to own it, and slaves will be redeemed to freedom. The Jubilee is the time when justice and righteousness will be done.

But that moment has happened. So why are there still people in captivity and poverty? If we look back further into the Old Testament we see an answer. In Deuteronomy, God tells the people that there is no need for there to be poor people.

The existence of poverty is a choice. It is a choice that does not need to be made.

4 However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, 5 if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.

Deuteronomy 15:4-5

The year of Jubilee has come. God is on the side of the poor and oppressed and wants to see things change. But that is down to us. We are called to join with God by taking sides. There is no need for poverty. It is a choice that people with power and wealth make to preserve their privilege.

The existence of poverty is a sin. The sin of an unjust system, but also the sin of people with the resources to change it.

God Promises to Protect the Poor

God is not far away or indifferent to the sufferings of the poor and needy. God hears it. Maybe God is hearing your prayers right now. God recognises the suffering of the poor at the hands of the oppressors, and God does not stay silent.

5 “Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,
    I will now rise up,” says the Lord;
    “I will place them in the safety for which they long.”
6 The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure,
    silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
    purified seven times.

Psalm 12:5-6

God Promises to bring justice and Righteousness to those in need. God knows the pain and suffering of the poor and oppressed and God is not indifferent. God holds it against those who cause it, and promises to rise up on behalf of those who need justice.

You Will Always Have The Poor?

Part of understanding what Jesus meant when he said there will always be poor people is in the context of the command to do something about it.

There is an interpretation of one of the things that Jesus said that really annoys me. Jesus said that we will always have the poor with us. And some people take this to mean that we can’t change things in this world, or that we can’t try and fix poverty only help individuals, or even that we shouldn’t do social work at all.

All of that is rubbish. They are bad interpretations of the text and miss the point. To begin with, Jesus is leaning on an Old Testament text for what he is saying. A text that his Pharisee listeners would know:

11 There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.

Deuteronomy 15:11

But as you can see, the reminder that there will always be poor people in the land is immediately followed by a “therefore” and the command to give to the poor and needy.

Some at this point might use the “in your land” to say you only need to help people in your country. Which again is a very poor reading of scripture. Especially when you take texts like Leviticus 19 which command to treat foreigners and sojourners as siblings.

Poverty is a Choice of the Rich and Powerful

An interesting point about that text is of course what was said just a few verses earlier. As you read in the previous section, just a few verses earlier the Bible said that there was no need for there to be poor people. So the full text says there is no need for poverty, but there will always be poor people, so give to them generously.

How do those two things go together? There is poverty because people are not obeying the Law of God. Therefore those that do must also be generous to the people who are suffering from others’ sins.

Jesus picks up this text when defending a woman from worshipping him.

6 Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. 8 But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, “Why this waste? 9 For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum and the money given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”

Matthew 26:6-13

We can say that in this text Jesus is specifically talking about his physical presence amongst the people. That penny pinching in acts of worship takes away from the beauty and honour that is owed to God.

But Jesus is actually having a swipe at the Pharisees. When he says you will always have the poor with you, he is not saying that to excuse spending money on him. He is saying it because the Pharisees are being hypocrites. They are condemning the woman for what they regard as waste when they don’t do anything to actually help the poor.

Saying that we will always have the poor with us is an act of judgement against our sin, and the sins of the people who have the capacity to end poverty and choose not to.

Where and Who is Christ for us Today?

Where do we find Christ today? In fact, the question is who is Christ for us today. Answering this question is part of what every single article on this website is trying to do.

In Matthew 25 Jesus gave a warning that when judgement comes we will be held accountable for how we treated the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, and the unloved (Matthew 25:31-46). This is about more than how we treat people who are worse off than us. It is because Christ identifies with the poor and the sick and the prisoner.

The physical presence of Christ is now located in the poor, the homeless, the oppressed, the abused, and the suffering. Where we find Christ has been changed from his own physical body on earth, to people in need.

This is more than a metaphor. Jesus is with the poor, the suffering, the abused, the oppressed, and the weak. When you harm those people, you are harming Christ. When you fail to serve them, you are failing to serve Christ. When you look away from them, you are looking away from Christ.

Jesus chooses to be present with the poor. God takes their side and is present with them. That is why Luke 6 says Blessed are the Poor.

Reflection Space

Jesus said he had come to bring good news to the poor. But good news to the poor is also bad news for the rich and powerful. People with power and wealth should be troubled by what Jesus said he was going to do.

But that warning was present throughout the Bible. Jesus was standing in the tradition of the prophets when he gave his warning.

Isaiah’s Woes

Isaiah makes some of the clearest condemnations of people who oppress and harm others. Particularly people in positions of power and authority who use that power to harm the vulnerable:

Woe to those who make iniquitous decrees,
    who write oppressive statutes,
2 to turn aside the needy from justice
    and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
to make widows their spoil
    and to plunder orphans!
3 What will you do on the day of punishment,
    in the calamity that will come from far away?
To whom will you flee for help,
    and where will you leave your wealth,
4 so as not to crouch among the prisoners
    or fall among the slain?
For all this his anger has not turned away;
    his hand is stretched out still.

Isaiah 10:1-4

Isaiah is clear. If you have power or wealth or privilege, and you use it to oppress the vulnerable, to harm the poor, to abuse the people who have no one to turn to, you will be open to judgement from God.

God takes the side of the oppressed over the oppressor, the poor over the wealthy. Good news for the poor is a warning for the powerful, because God is going to set everything to rights.

The Prophet Amos reminds us that it is not only the rich and powerful who will be judged for their behaviour. Those of us who claim to have faith, but do not care for those in need, will also be held to judgement.

21 I hate, I despise your festivals,
    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them,
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
    I will not look upon.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
    I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24 But let justice roll down like water
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Amos 5:21-24

Worship and praise of God, right religious behaviour, will not be accepted unless we are also doing justice and seeking righteousness. God rejects unworthy worship. And worship is only worthy when it comes from a heart that is turned towards love.

Jesus’s Woes

Jesus saves his harshest words for hypocrisy. People with power and wealth, and religious privileges, who use it to harm others while pretending to be in the right.

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!

25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside also may become clean.

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of uncleanness. 28 So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Matthew 23:23-28

Jesus gives his Woes to the Pharisees for their behaviour. They like to look good, but they have rejected what God has actually commanded them to do.

Good news to the poor is bad news for the wealthy. Which should worry all of us with power, privilege, and more than we need to live. We need to think carefully about how we are using what we have. And if we are not caring for people in need, if we are not using our resources to help end suffering, we need to be prepared to explain to God why not.

Mary’s Prophecy

I never understand how people can be confused about the mission of Jesus when Mary, his own mother, makes it clear. Mary draws from Hannah’s (the mother of the prophet Samuel) own song of praise.

But this is more than a song of praise. It is a prophetic warning to everyone about what the coming Messiah is going to do.

46 And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant.
    Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name;
50 indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones
    and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things
    and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has come to the aid of his child Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
    to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

Luke 1:46-55

Just look over those words. Jesus will bring down the proud, scattering them in their arrogance. Jesus brings down the powerful and raises up the lowly. He will feed the hungry but send the rich away empty. This isn’t simply about getting into heaven when you die. The mission of Jesus is about the radical reorganisation of society.

The prophetic song, which explains what Jesus is about, makes it clear which side Jesus is going to take. Jesus ate with sinners, spent time with prostitutes, healed outsiders, banished demons, and called out hypocrisy.

The Lord takes the side of the weak, but here we see it developed further. Jesus not only takes the side of the weak, but in doing so brings down the powerful. Jesus not only feeds the hungry but sends away the rich who have taken food from the poor which is what made them hungry to begin with. The coming Kingdom of God is not about making things equal, it is about making them just.

Jesus’s kingdom is good news to the poor and bad news for the powerful.

The Command To Love, But With a Preference

Jesus tells us to love our neighbour. But not everyone is our neighbour. In the story of the Good Samaritan, we are told that the neighbour is the person who shows mercy to the one in need. The neighbour is not just anyone. Nor is it the person who lives closest to us, or who is most like us. It is not about helping our family or friends or people from the same race or country first. It is about identifying and loving the person who is most in need.

That message is held consistently throughout the Bible, not just in the gospels. We can see it in the letters of John as well:

16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

1 John 3:16-18

That is quite the challenge. If you see someone in need, and don’t act to care for them, then there is a question over whether you have the love of God in your life. The measure of our discipleship is not in our worship or even in our faith but in how we love and care for people in need.

We are saved by grace through faith, this is not salvation by works, but it is the fact that our faith is demonstrated by love for the needy, care for the stranger, and seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society. If you are not doing those things then God will not accept your worship. If the church is not doing these things, then it will cease to be the church.

God is on the side of the poor and the weak and the vulnerable, and God is against the proud, the powerful, the wealthy, and the oppressor.

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