Fool

One who has not the use of reason or judgment. In Scriptures, wicked persons are often called fools, or foolish, because such act contrary to reason, trust to their own hearts, violate the laws of God, and prefer things vile, trifling, and temporal, to such as are important, divine, and eternal.

The term fool in Scripture language differs from what is understood in the general acceptation of the word among men. By fool we mean one that is weak in his intellect, and an idiot. But not so in the word of God. Thus in the psalms, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." (Ps. 14. 1). But the sense is, that the wicked and ungodly have by their action said this. So again, that pride and haughtiness of men, which prompts them to reject Christ, this in Scripture language is called folly. Hence the apostle saith, The world by wisdom knew not God; and it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." (1 Cor. i. 21.) By comparing two passages in Scripture together, the sense of the word is very strongly marked. Thus the prophet Isaiah saith, speaking of bad men, that "It is a people of no understanding; therefore, he that made them will not have mercy upon them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour." (Isa. 27. 11.) Now, that it might not be supposed, that this being void of understanding was thenatural and unavoidable condition of idiotism, which brought upon them the displeasure of God, and for which the Lord would shew them no favour, the Holy Ghost, by his servant Job, hath very fully shewn in what that want of understanding consisted. "And unto man he said, Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.’’ (Job 28. 28.)

FOLLY, or FOOLISHNESS. The term fool is to be understood sometimes according to its plain, literal meaning, as denoting a person void of understanding; but it is often used figuratively, Psa 38:5; Psa 69:5. “The fool,” that is, the impious sinner, “hath said in his heart, There is no God,” Psa 14:1. “I have sinned: do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly,” 1Ch 21:8. “Fools make a mock at sin,” Pro 14:9. See also the language of Tamar to her brother Amnon: “Do not this folly; for whither shall I cause my shame to go? And as for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel,” 2Sa 13:13; that is, Thou wilt be accounted a very wicked person. Our Lord seems to have used the term in a sense somewhat peculiar in Mat 5:22: “Whosoever shall say to his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” But the whole verse shows the meaning to be, that when any one of his professed disciples indulges a temper and disposition of mind contrary to charity, or that peculiar love which the brethren of Christ are bound by his law to have toward each other, Joh 13:34, not only showing anger against another without a cause, but also treating him with contemptuous language, and that with malicious intent, he shall be in danger of eternal destruction.

The fool of Scripture is not an idiot, but an absurd person; not one who does not reason at all, but one who reasons wrong; also any one whose conduct is not regulated by the dictates of reason and religion. Foolishness, therefore, is not a private condition, but a condition of wrong action in the intellectual or sentient being, or in both (2Sa 13:12-13; Psa 38:5). In the Proverbs, however, ’foolishness’ appears to be sometimes used for lack of understanding, although more generally for perverseness of will.

Any person who does not act wisely, that is, does not follow the warnings and requirements of God, which are founded in infinite wisdom. Hence "a fool" is put for a wicked man, an enemy or neglecter of God, Psa 14:1 Pro 19:1 . So folly is put for wickedness, 2Sa 13:12,13 Psa 38:5, foolish lusts for wicked lusts, etc. Foolish talking, foolish questions, are vain, empty, unprofitable conversation, 2Ti 2:23 .\par

(represented by several Hebrew and Greek words, especially נָבָל nabal, ἄφρων). The “fool” of Scripture is not an idiot, but an absurd person; not one who does not reason at all, but one who reasons wrong; also any one whose conduct is not regulated by the dictates of reason and religion (Psa 14:1). Foolishness, therefore, is not a negative condition, but a condition of wrong action in the intellectual or sentient being, or in both (2Sa 13:12-13; Psa 38:5). In the book of Proverbs, however, “foolishness” appears to be sometimes used for lack of understanding, although score generally for perverseness of will. The phrase “Thou fool” (Mat 5:22) implies not only angry temper, by which such severe language is, prompted, but a scornful, contemptuous feeling, utterly inconsistent with the love and meekness which characterize disciples of Christ, and, of course exposing thee individual who is under its influence. to eternal punishment. SEE WISDOM.

Fool. This term, in Scripture, implies moral pravity. The fool is not merely an unreasonable, he is a sinful person. 2Sa 13:13; Psa 14:1; Pro 19:1; Pro 19:29; Pro 20:3; Pro 26:4-5; Mat 23:17; Rom 1:21-22. Hence the censure of one who unjustifiably cast so great a reproach upon a brother. Mat 5:22.

FOOL.—This word occurs 6 times in the AV of the Gospels as the translation of ἀνόητος (Luk 24:25), ἄφρων (Luk 11:40, Luk 12:20), and μωρός (Mat 5:22; Mat 23:17; Mat 23:19). In the RV it occurs only twice (Mat 5:22; Mat 23:17), being in Mat 23:19 omitted from the text, and in the three remaining places the rendering given is ‘foolish.’ Further, μωρός occurs in Mat 7:26; Mat 25:2-3; Mat 25:8, and in these places, both in AV and RV, it is translated ‘foolish.’

These three Greek words, confused more or less by the principal versions,—the Harklean Syriac and Coptic are exceptions,—are not synonyms. Ἀνόητος implies a lack of comprehension or understanding, and so is very fittingly used in Luk 24:25. Ἄφρων, signifying ‘mindless’ or ‘senseless,’ frequently carries with it, in Biblical usage (cf. its constant employment in the LXX of Proverbs), an underlying meaning of moral defect, impiety, or unbelief; while in μωρός (cf. μωραίνεσθαι, Mat 5:13 ‘to become insipid’) the predominant meaning is ‘dull,’ ‘witless,’ ‘stupid.’

The meaning of μωρέ in Mat 5:22 has been much discussed. Alford mentions three interpretations: (1) that it is to be understood as the ordinary Greek word for ‘fool’; (2) that it is a transliteration of the Heb. כֹרָה (môreh), meaning ‘rebel’ or ‘perverse’ (cf. Num 20:10), a word which is put in RVm as an alternative to ‘fool’; (3) that it bears the sense of ἄθεος according to the Heb. usage of נָבָל (nâbâl, and cf. 1Sa 25:25). However, there seems to be no real reason for supposing the word to be other than the Greek μωρός used in its ordinary Biblical sense.

Our Lord wished to emphasize the enormity of murder. He said, ‘Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill, and Whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry [the inward feeling] with his brother, is in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca [a contemptuous utterance arising from the inward anger, and probably no definite word; see Raca], shall be liable to a more solemn judgment; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool [the angry feeling formulated in a definite word of contemptuous depreciation], shall be worthy of a more dreadful doom.’ This is, in the main, Augustine’s explanation (de Serm. Dom. in Mont. i. ix.); and thus our Lord leaves it to be inferred how heinous actual murder is in His eyes.

Every use of the word ‘fool’ is not, of course, condemned. Our Lord Himself (see above) and St. Paul (Gal 3:1) employed it in needful rebuke; but that use of it is condemned which springs from angry feelings, and which is one step on the way to violence or even to murder.

Literature.—Grimm-Thayer, Lex., under the Greek terms; Expos. Times, iv. [1893] 495, 514, xi. [1900] 381; Law, Serious Call, ch. xxi.; Dykes, Manifesto of the King, 232.

Albert Bonus.

FOOL.—The Heb. language is rich in words which express various kinds of folly. 1. The kesîl is glib of tongue, ‘his mouth is his destruction’ (Pro 18:7; cf. Pro 9:13; Pro 14:33); in Ecc 5:1 f. ‘the sacrifice of fools’ is offered by him who is rash with his mouth. But such an one is ‘light-hearted, thoughtless and noisy rather than vicious.’ 2. The sâkhâl manifests his folly not in speech, but in action; it was after David had numbered the people that he reproached himself for acting ‘very foolishly’ (2Sa 24:10). Consequences prove that fools of this class have blundered in their calculations (Gen 31:28, 1Sa 13:13, Isa 44:25). 3. The ’evîl is stupid, impatient of reproof, often sullen and quarrelsome. He despises wisdom and instruction (Pro 1:7; cf. Pro 15:5), is soon angry (Pro 12:16; Pro 27:3), and may sometimes be described as sinful (Pro 5:22 f., Pro 24:9). 4. The folly of the nâbhâl is never mere intellectual deficiency or stupidity; it is a moral fault, sometimes a crime, always a sin. ‘To commit folly’ is a euphemism for gross unchastity (Deu 22:21, Jer 29:23); the word is used also of sacrilege (Jos 7:15), of blasphemy (Psa 74:18), as well as of impiety in general (Deu 32:6, Psa 14:1). These words are sometimes employed in a more general sense; to determine the shade of meaning applicable in any passage, a study of the context is essential. For further details see Kennedy, Hebrew Synonyms, p. 29 ff.

In the NT the Gr. words for ‘fool’ describe him as ‘deficient in understanding’ (Luk 24:25), ‘unwise’ (Eph 5:16), ‘senseless’ (Luk 12:20), ‘unintelligent’ (Rom 1:21). The Gr. word which corresponds to the ‘impious fool’ of the OT is found in Mat 5:22: Raca expresses ‘contempt for a man’s head = you stupid!’ But ‘fool’ (môre) expresses ‘contempt for his heart and character = you scoundrell’ (Bruce, EGT [Note: Expositor’s Greek Testament.] , in loc.). If môre were ‘a Hebrew expression of condemnation’ (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ), it would ‘enjoy the distinction of being the only pure Hebrew word in the Greek Testament’ (Field, Notes on the Translation of NT, p. 3). A ‘pure Hebrew word’ means a word not taken from the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] and not Aramaic.

J. G. Tasker.

The diversity in the conceptions of folly is strikingly illustrated by the use in the writings of the Apostolic Church of the terms ‘fool’ and ‘foolish,’ translating the Greek words ἅöñùí, ìùñüò, ἅóïöïé, ἀíüçôïò, ἀóýíåôïò, and related forms.

1. There appears to be a reference to folly as intentional clownishness in Eph_5:4. The Christian must avoid ‘foolish talking or jesting’ (ìùñïëïãßá êáὶ åὐôñáðåëßá).

2. Unseemly and undignified conduct is folly. Thus St. Paul, vindicating his apostleship, is reluctantly led to a self-commendation, such as, in other circumstances, only a fool in the folly of boasting would offer (2Co_11:16; 2Co_11:18; 2Co_11:21; 2Co_12:11; cf. 2Co_5:13). There is, however, a deeper folly-unwarranted boasting (2Co_12:6). Twice in these 2 Cor. passages a certain play on the idea of folly is presented. St. Paul in self-defence is compelled to speak as a fool, yet are not the real fools the Corinthians, ironically öñüíéìïé, for tolerating fools, namely the false teachers? (2Co_11:17; 2Co_11:19-20). Again the Apostle, having acknowledged ‘I speak as a fool’ (in my boasting), presently comes to the mere supposition that these false teachers are servants of Christ-the sense of the parenthesis changes-‘Now indeed, I do speak out of my mind’ (2Co_11:21; 2Co_11:23).

3. The term ‘fool’ (ἅöñùí), signifying mental stupidity, is applied to the imaginary controversialist of 1Co_15:36, who finds unnecessary difficulties in the Resurrection (cf. the ‘foolish controversies’ of 1Ti_6:4, 2Ti_2:23, Tit_3:9).

4. The ‘foolish Galatians’ (ἀíüçôïé) appear to be rebuked for bad judgment, rather than for moral perverseness. They must be ‘bewitched’ to have so readily accepted another teaching (Gal_3:1-3).

5. Instances of moral folly are provided by those who live without regard to the chief end of life. These are ἅóïöïé and ἅöñïíåò (Eph_5:15-17). Foolish are the lusts of the rich (1Ti_6:9), and the unregenerate life is one of foolishness (Tit_3:3).

6. Heathenism supplied a conspicuous and illuminating case of moral and intellectual folly (Rom_1:18 f.; cf. Rom_2:20). To St. Paul, the worship of wood and stone indicated an underlying moral defect of liking for the unreal rather than for the real-for make-belief rather than for belief (Rom_2:25), which found expression in morality as well as in worship (Rom_2:24 f.). This moral folly led to intellectual foolishness, which ‘learned disputations’ disguised and fostered. There must be a moral element in sane intellectual judgment (cf. 2Th_2:10-12, and Carlyle’s comment upon Napoleon: ‘He did not know true from false now when he looked at them,-the fearfulest penalty a man pays for yielding to untruth of heart’ [Heroes and Hero-worship, 1872, ‘The Hero as King,’ p. 221]).

7. In the judgment of the critical Greek intellectualists, the preaching of ‘Christ crucified’ was folly (1Co_1:18; 1Co_1:21; 1Co_1:23; 1Co_1:25). A gospel centred in the person of an ignominiously executed criminal, and finding indeed a mystic value in that death, was likely to provoke the contempt of a highly philosophical community. In contrast, St. Paul presents, as the true norm whereby wisdom and folly are to be judged, a mystic ãíῶóéò: to the unspiritual, foolishness (1Co_2:14), but to the initiated, the power and wisdom of God (1Co_2:6; 1Co_2:10; 1Co_1:24; 1Co_1:30)-a presentation which invites comparison with the ãíῶóéò of the Mysteries. Probably the distinction here suggested is that between the intuitional, mystic experience of God and His power, and the intellectual theorizing about God and His dealings with the world. Religious ‘wisdom’ must be judged primarily in terms of spiritual experience rather than of theology. At the same time, St. Paul had no love for obscurantism (1 Corinthians 14).

8. The evil of the intellectual ism within the Church, indicated in 1 Cor., was not that it challenged the distinctive forms of Christian faith, but that it gave rise to the bitterness of religious controversy-sacrificed the love which never failed in value for the sake of the mere forms of knowledge, which at the best necessarily passed away in the coming of greater light (1Co_13:11). Let these childishly (1Co_3:1; 1Co_3:3) ‘wise’ become ‘fools’ that they may gain the wisdom of the childlike (1Co_3:18-23).

9. ‘Fools for Christ’s sake’-so St. Paul describes himself and his fellow-evangelists in 1Co_4:10. The epithet may have been applied on account of the ‘foolishness’ of the preaching (7); the contrast, however, with the öñüíéìïé ἐí ×ñéóôῷ, prudentes in Christo, suggests that the reference is to the worldly-wiseman’s view of the sanctified ‘abandon’ of St. Paul and his kindred spirits, their flinging aside of policy and cunning, their counting as nought the things which the world deems precious. The Apostle is actually regarded by Festus as out of his mind (Act_26:24).

H. Bulcock.

1Sa 26:21 (a) This is a type of one who has heard the Word of GOD but has deliberately refused to obey it.

Psa 14:1 (a) This indicates GOD’s thought about the man who, in spite of all the evidence available, denies the existence of a personal GOD.

Pro 12:15 (a) The one who rejects the revelation of GOD and assumes his own thoughts and deductions about his path of life is a fool in GOD’s sight.

Mat 5:22 (a) The man who mocks at the Christian who desires to live all out for GOD, and out and out for CHRIST in separation and consecration, and calls that Christian a fool for doing so, is condemned by GOD. He is opposed to GOD’s plans.

Hater of God. One who is morally weak, who misuses what God has given him for selfish purposes. He is lustful (Pro 7:22), lazy (Ecc 10:15), does not fear God (Pro 14:1), hates knowledge (Pro 1:22), and is self-righteous (Pro 12:15). As Christians, we are to avoid foolishness (Eph 5:4). (See Ecc 7:25; Pro 3:35; Pro 10:8.)