John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 2. And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men , &c.] Either from the unbelieving Jews, (see Romans 15:30,31) who were the avowed enemies of the Gospel, and did all they could to hinder the spread of it; and who were the implacable and constant adversaries of the apostle; who often lay in wait for him, and opposed him, and gave him trouble in all places, stirring up the people against him: or from the false teachers, and those of their party, who are the false brethren by whom he often was in perils; who were enemies of the cross of Christ, and great hindrances to the spread of the Gospel; being men of absurd principles, and of wicked lives and conversations, whereby they perverted the Gospel of Christ, brought a reproach upon it, stumbled some, and overthrew the faith of others; and from these the apostle desires to be delivered: for all men have not faith : no man has faith of himself, it is the gift of God, and the operation of his Spirit; and it is only given to the elect of God, who are ordained unto eternal life, and therefore it is called the faith of God's elect; all mankind have it not, none but Christ's sheep; and the reason why others have it not is, because they are not of his sheep. This is a truth; but rather the true sense of the words is, that all that are professors of religion, and members of churches, and even all that are preachers of the word, have not faith. They may have an historical and temporary faith and the faith of miracles, and even all faith but the true faith; they may profess to believe, and yet not believe, as Simon Magus, and his followers seem to be intended here; for this is given as a reason why the apostle desired to be delivered from the above men. The Jews say f14 , that he that studies not in the law, atwnmyhm hyb wal , there is no faith in him and it is forbidden to come near him, or to trade with him, or to walk with him, because there is no faith in him.
The apostle seems to allude to this custom.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-5 - Those who are far apart still may meet together at the throne of grace and those not able to do or receive any other kindness, may in this wa do and receive real and very great kindness. Enemies to the preachin of the gospel, and persecutors of its faithful preachers, ar unreasonable and wicked men. Many do not believe the gospel; and n wonder if such are restless and show malice in their endeavours to oppose it. The evil of sin is the greatest evil, but there are othe evils we need to be preserved from, and we have encouragement to depen upon the grace of God. When once the promise is made, the performanc is sure and certain. The apostle had confidence in them, but that wa founded upon his confidence in God; for there is otherwise n confidence in man. He prays for them for spiritual blessings. It is ou sin and our misery, that we place our affections upon wrong objects There is not true love of God, without faith in Jesus Christ. If, by the special grace of God, we have that faith which multitudes have not we should earnestly pray that we may be enabled, without reserve, to obey his commands, and that we may be enabled, without reserve, to the love of God, and the patience of Christ.
Greek Textus Receptus
και 2532 CONJ ινα 2443 CONJ ρυσθωμεν 4506 5686 V-APS-1P απο 575 PREP των 3588 T-GPM ατοπων 824 A-GPM και 2532 CONJ πονηρων 4190 A-GPM ανθρωπων 444 N-GPM ου 3756 PRT-N γαρ 1063 CONJ παντων 3956 A-GPM η 3588 T-NSF πιστις 4102 N-NSF
Vincent's NT Word Studies
2. Unreasonable (atopwn). See on Luke xxiii. 41, and comp. Acts xxv. 5; xxviii. 6. In LXX in a moral sense, iniquitous, Job iv. 8; xi. 11; xxxiv. 12. The word originally means out of place.All men have not faith. See on Acts vi. 7; Gal. i. 28.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
3:2 {And that we may be delivered} (kai hina rusqwmen). A second and more personal petition (Milligan). First aorist passive subjunctive of ruomai, old verb to rescue. Note change in tense from present to aorist (effective aorist). {From unreasonable and evil men} (apo twn atopwn kai ponerwn anqrwpwn). Ablative case with apo. Originally in the old Greek atopos (a privative and topos) is out of place, odd, unbecoming, perverse, outrageous, both of things and persons. poneros is from ponew, to work (ponos), looking on labor as an annoyance, bad, evil. Paul had a plague of such men in Corinth as he had in Thessalonica. {For all have not faith} (ou gar pantwn he pistis). Copula estin not expressed. pantwn is predicate possessive genitive, faith (article with abstract substantive) does not belong to all. Hence their evil conduct.
