Commentaries:
Many claim the title of "Christian" but do not follow Christ's example and instruction. They want its benefits but not its responsibilities. They do not see God calling them into account for their sins, so they believe they are free to continue in them. John Ritenbaugh called this "practical atheism": professing God exists but living as if He does not. So, by failing to practice biblical Christianity, such nominal Christians blaspheme God's name among unbelievers, to use a Pauline phrase (see Romans 2:24). It is no wonder that atheists, seeing the hypocrisy and wreckage of the lives of these Christians-in-name-only, want nothing to do with it.
This reality is a significant problem for Christianity overall. So many of its adherents are such hypocrites that it is almost impossible for religious seekers to find any correlation between the eternal principles found in Scripture and the lives of professing believers. There are hundreds of different "brands" of Christians, and they exist in every spot along the moral and political spectrums. The answer to the question, "What does a Christian believe?" could be anything!
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
God Has Not Called the Atheist
It is not a matter of them thinking God does not exist, but that they are denying Him. They do not want to believe that He is there. He has denied God by denying or renouncing what God says about Himself.
God says plainly in many scriptures that He will judge for sin. This is what the Ten Commandments are about: They define sin for us. By them, we know what is good and what is not good, so we can come into judgment before Him without excuse. A reason Christ came was to qualify to be that Judge, to judge all at the last day. We, however, are going through our judgment right now.
The wicked man has fooled himself into believing that God will not require an accounting for sin. He thinks God will not pass judgment on him; He will just let his sins slide.
It sounds much like modern, antinomian Protestantism. It is, in effect, what the psalmist is talking about. He speaks of a normal, everyday Israelite who would supposedly know God. He had entered into the covenant by circumcision, and so he should know better. However, he has decided to ignore what God has said and lives his life as a practicing atheist. He is not really an atheist, because he believes there is a God, but he lives his life as if God did not exist.
The wicked man here, then, could be somebody who professes Christ—a professing Christian—but his lifestyle betrays his real, inner conclusion that there is no God.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Is God in All Our Thoughts?
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