2 Thessalonians 3:2 (KJV)
And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.
The Bible is an absolutely positive message. The point of it is positive. The plot is positive. The end of it is positive. But the Bible is a realistic message. It tells us where we are and how we got here. It also tells us what the consequences of this position are. These are negative in the extreme. So it should not surprise us that the Bible also identifies negative characteristics and the relationship they often have with one another.
Our passage addresses three negative men:
- Unreasonable men
- Wicked men
- Men without faith
I take it that it means a specific faith, faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This negative characteristic, “having not faith,” leads to the others.
Unreasonable
It means out of place, amiss, improper. But it implies being injurious. To be unreasonable tends to the injury of both the unreasonable man and those around him. There is nothing more reasonable than the Christian faith. Begin where we know we are: broken, sinful, corrupt. God provides the only reasonable explanation. Consider the existence of all things. God’s creation is so much more reasonable than the accidental evolutionary explanation of modern science. Even the eternal end of man is reasonable compared to the idea of reincarnation or, worse, annihilation.
Wicked
The word here is in contrast to others translated as wicked. It’s one that means hurtful in effect, as opposed to wicked in character or degenerate. In other words, no one has to be this nature of wicked. Faith cures it.
The Devil is wicked in essential character. He can be nothing else. But with men, this is not the case. Faith in Christ results in a new birth that will turn the most wicked person into a new creature.
The word translated as wicked also implies moral culpability. The wicked man is responsible for and will be judged for his sins. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23). Faith in Christ places the culpability upon Him, where He paid our price on the Cross.
The answer to all wickedness is the reasonable faith placed in Jesus Christ. But since all men have not this faith, it behooves us to pray earnestly one for another, that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, even as we strive to win them.
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The Reasonable Faith of Christianity: Four Steps to Embracing a Reasonable Faith
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