Wicked (People)

The wicked (rasha in Hebrew; poneros, adikos in Greek) are those who live in deliberate opposition to God and his moral order — a category treated at length in the wisdom literature, the psalms, and the prophets. Psalm 1 contrasts the righteous and the wicked with stark economy: the wicked are like chaff driven away by the wind, while the righteous are like a tree planted by streams of water. The book of Proverbs repeatedly traces the trajectory of the wicked toward destruction (Prov. 11:21; 13:21; 24:20), while the prophets lament the apparent prosperity of the wicked as a test of faith (Jer. 12:1; Hab. 1:13; Ps. 73:3–17). The NT adds the eschatological verdict: at the final judgment the wicked will be separated from the righteous (Matt. 25:31–46), thrown into the "fiery furnace" (Matt. 13:42, 50), and will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9–10; Gal. 5:19–21). The distinction between the righteous and the wicked is not ultimately a moral achievement but a matter of standing before God — those in Christ having been declared righteous by grace, the wicked remaining under condemnation by choice and unbelief (John 3:18–19).