All Men Have Not Faith

When Paul asked the Thessalonian believers to pray for him, his request was strikingly unlike the typical prayer lists we hear today. He urged them to pray that he might be delivered “from unreasonable and wicked men,” noting that “all men have not faith” that is, not all who profess faith truly possess it. Paul labels these men first as “unreasonable” (ataktos) those who are “out of place,” who do not belong in the church or its offices yet insert themselves to obstruct, hinder, and trouble faithful workers. He then calls them “wicked” (poneros), a word also used of Satan himself, indicating perversity, malice, and active opposition to God’s work. Such men had plagued Paul continually, and they still plague Christ’s servants in every generation. So the searching question comes to us: are we praying earnestly for pastors, teachers, missionaries, and all faithful laborers in Christ’s Kingdom that they may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men? If not, why not, when the need is so painfully obvious all around us?