Answers to your questions about life, religion and the Bible
Prayers of unbelievers
Dear Father Paul: Would you please try to settle a gentle disagreement between me and my friend Ron. Ron says that God does not answer the prayers of unbelievers and I say that he does. Ron quotes John 9:31. Which of us is right? — Art.
Dear Art: Thank you for your question. John 9:31 says this: “We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will.” (New Living Translation). Using this single verse, many have taken the position that the only prayer God hears from an unbeliever is his crying out to God for salvation. Taken logically to the next level, by these folks thinking, John 9:31 means that God does not hear and will never answer any other prayers of unbelievers.
Those who teach this idea are unfortunately taking John 9:31 totally out of the context of what is happening at the time these words were actually spoken. The entire passage, John 9:8-34 (which I urge you to read), is about the cross-examination by religious leaders of a poor beggar who was born blind and had just been healed by Jesus. The examiners accuse Jesus of healing the man by using Satan’s power, not God’s. John 9:31 is part of the healed man’s words of reply, that if Jesus were from Satan, then God would not have healed him because God “doesn’t listen to sinners.” Basically, all the healed man is saying in John 9:31 is the truth that God does not perform miracles through unbelievers, so Jesus must be from God.
I believe that God will respond to the prayers of anyone as long as the prayer is in accordance with his will. First John 5:14 tells us that God answers prayers based on whether they are asked in this manner. This verse says: ”And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.” (New Living Translation).
In addition, there are numerous examples throughout the Bible of God hearing and answering the prayers of unbelievers. In some cases the prayer seems to have an element of repentance. In others God responds simply out of mercy and compassion.
In I Kings 21:17-29 Ahab (a really bad sinner) fasts and mourns over the prophet Elijah’s dire prophecy concerning his descendants. In answer, God delays bringing about the prophecy until Ahab has died.
In Mark 7:24-30 a Gentile woman (a non-believer) prayed (the Bible says “begged”) Jesus to free her young daughter from an evil spirit. Jesus casts the demon out of her daughter.
In Acts 10 a Roman army officer named Cornelius, who was not a follower of Jesus, but who prayed to God regularly and gave generously to the poor, received a supernatural visit from an angel who acknowledged his devotion and gifts to the poor and instructed him to send for Peter to come to his house. Peter came to Cornelius’ house and the entire household were baptized and touched by the Holy Spirit.
These are just a few of many Bible examples of answered prayers involving people who were not believers in the strictest sense.
In Jeremiah 29:13 God makes this promise to believers and non believers alike, “if you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” (New Living Translation).
Having said this, it should be understood that there are many, many promises in the Bible that are reserved by God strictly for believers alone. His invitation for believers to boldly come to him at his throne in Hebrews 4 is one example… and God’s promise that if we ask anything in Jesus’ name he will honor that prayer in John 14 is another.
Yes, there are instances in which God does not answer the prayers of an unbeliever. But there are also times that, in his grace, love, mercy and compassion he does indeed intervene in the lives of unbelievers in answer to their prayers. The most important of these is a prayer by a sinner for salvation. In John 6:37 Jesus says these words ”… he that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.” (King James Version).
Do you have a question? Send your question to me at [email protected] and I will try to answer your question in the paper.
[Father Paul Massey is Pastor Emeritus of Church Of The Holy Cross Charismatic Episcopal Church in Fayetteville, Georgia. Visit www.holycrosschurch.wordpress.com for information, directions, service times and recordings of recent Sunday messages.]
