Dear brother,
Certainly I’d like to say it was good to hear from you again. But that would be an outright lie since I have to qualify that statement.
It would be good to hear from you if, and a big if, you ever put aside your theological gun slinging ways for a moment. Why, maybe you could even encourage me, or thank me (gasp) for all the work we do for His kingdom.
You’re aware of that already. We have over 400 pieces of content, and enough material for at least several true gospel books. Maybe even a video series or two. In addition to all the evangelism, an ongoing discipleship ministry, and a growing jail and prison ministry. And…I still run the two businesses, and all the family matters as a husband, father, grandfather, and son with at least a dozen souls.
I’m reminded of the sign on my customer’s Quality Control Supervisor’s desk in 1976. Pete was his name, and the sign was unforgettable. It read: Some people are like blisters…they show up after all the work is done!
Also, I’ve admonished you at least twice to not only write and fuss about my writings, but to call me to fellowship in the faith. You have my mobile number. You now have crossed the line into stonewalling, for you refuse to practice the Christian communication steps to unity so accurately stated in Acts 15.
We must always remember Jesus Christ was not nice. Nice people don’t get brutally murdered by religious leaders. Some even believe Jesus was mean.
Your latest salvo was to say I was in sin to call someone a fool, with the person in question being a so-called brother.
I quickly stopped this recent attack due to your past repeated stonewalling and refusal to search together to find the true truth. You said no one could ever call someone a fool under any circumstance since they would be in danger of hell fire according to Jesus.
I tried to briefly mention Jesus has two kinds of fools, but you were already in overdrive. There was no need for me to waste my time once again trying to get you to practice the top skill of a leader and disciple:
Listen thoroughly and carefully. Then…ask questions for perfect clarity. Don’t assume you’re always right. But always seek unity.
Especially quickly confronting a person like me who as you already are aware spends copious amounts of time in prayer, research, and asking others before I speak definitively and write on a subject.
We already have past doctrine confrontations still on the table that you brought up to me but have refused to pursue openly like Acts 15. And that’s after even after some good evidence is given, and my rebuke to just not walk away. But in the past, you just slink away, and then suddenly reappear with a new offense while the others fester.
And this is not Christian charity, His love. No sir.
Our disunities in vital doctrines of Christ that you brought up include divorce and remarriage, sex in the Song of Solomon, and perhaps others that you still harbor and believe me to be teaching heresy.
You know I’m open, but never just roll over if I firmly believe the Holy Spirit has taught us here an important truth. You know this about me. But the signal I receive from you points to the fact, in my opinion and experience, that you are just too aggressive to practice communication holiness.
Well, let’s venture into Jesus’ two types of fools.
Remember the piece we wrote years ago about Jesus’ two types of friends? This has a similar flavor since we need exegetical discernment before any of us shoot our mouths off! I know I’ve done this more than once in the past, but God has delivered me from this sin.
Fool Type 1 – The Moron
First, let’s tackle the fool you mentioned in Matthew 5, since this is what you accused me of doing in calling the person a fool.
Matthew 5:22 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell…
Certainly, we can see here that it is very very serious to the Almighty God if our hearts are full of malice and perhaps slander. Those who practice malice will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Craig Keener, in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, states on this verse that “because every word is uttered before the heavenly court, slandering another person merits for the accuser the eternal punishment that would have been due the accused.”
Keener again states that Jesus Himself condemned anger and insults, but He expressed indignation and called people these type of fools…morons. So therefore, our task is to know what sort of fool name-calling is condemned and what sort is encouraged in the kingdom of God to bring about righteousness.
Let’s look at the Greek Word underlying the one type of fool:
Greek Number 3474, môros; dull, stupid, foolish; renders these English words and times used – fool (1), foolish (7), foolish things (1), foolishness (1), fools (2).
It doesn’t take long for any of us to see the derogatory term that arose from this Greek word: moron. Other similar terms would be idiot, imbecile, dunce, blockhead, etc. There’s also another common term that includes part of this word: oxymoron.
But wait…
Jesus Himself Uses the Same Word
Jesus Himself used the very term “fool” using this exact word that is condemned several times in the Gospel of Matthew…and by Himself. Let’s take a look at it.
Matthew 7:26 “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
Matthew 23:17 “You fools and blind men (religious leaders)! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?
Matthew 25:2-3, 8 “Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them…”The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
In the Scriptures, declared from the mouth of Christ Himself is that greater works than these we will do. So, there are times when the people of God walking in the Holy Spirit can call somebody this kind of a fool.
But we must be very, very careful.
As an aside, Keener also mentions that the title of fool was a standard rhetorical practice toward one’s opponents or imaginary interlocutors (a person who takes part in a dialog or conversation) in public debate and diatribe (a forceful and bitter verbal attack against someone or something).
And So Does the Apostle Paul
The apostle Paul used this word too, even calling himself one in a sarcastic rhetorical style in contrast to the sinfully prideful, puffed up church at Corinth.
1 Corinthians 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1 Corinthians 1:27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,
1 Corinthians 3:18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.
1 Corinthians 4:10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor.
2 Timothy 2:23 But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.
Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.
It’s very true Paul never officially called a person that name, moron, directly. But he was liberal in its use to describe the ‘moronic’ deeds his beloved church plant were doing! Moreover, a person practicing these “foolish” actions as described in Timothy and Titus is, well, a “fool.” There’s absolutely no getting around it. And we shall see in the other type of fool Paul uses it directly as a rebuke to his church plant.
And Paul was extremely generous in his use of sarcasm (from the Greek word sarx, meaning to ‘cut the flesh’). He was taking them on at every turn, as the renowned commentator and Bible teacher, Gordon Fee, stated in his renowned commentary of 1st Corinthians.
What gives?
Our Lord and Master and also the 2nd greatest theological mind in history who authored more doctrine that anyone and who received his gospel from Christ Himself, the apostle Paul, used the same term.
So…we call someone a fool in a rebuke, reproof, and/or righteous anger and never in unrighteous anger or without a cause. You may recall the article we wrote years ago on the types of Old Covenant fools.
It’s not a sin to use this term under the right circumstances. But what are those circumstances?
Like Jesus’ teaching grossly butchered today of “do not judge,” we see there He meant do judge, yes indeed. But in the right vein with a holy attitude. Do not judge the other person with a heart that spews malice, hypocrisy, self-righteousness, condemnation, etc.
But, certainly, do judge. A God who does not judge is a God who is not just.
Holy sarcasm is encouraged to deal with the arrogant, the foolish.
Dear brother, my attitude and heart was in proper mode to call that person a “fool,” that religious leader, just like Jesus and Paul. That good work of mine, while using that cutting term of reproof, must be declared when the Spirit leads and the situation warrants.
To ignore that fact is to foolishly embrace the New Age Christian themes of being “nice.” Nice people don’t get crucified or lose their head for the true gospel of Christ.
Fool Type 2 – Mindless, Stupid, Egotistic, Inconsiderate, Rash
Now, the other type of fool was also used a lot as name calling by both our Lord Jesus and brother Paul. Paul uses it in rhetorical sarcasm in calling himself and fellow leaders “fools,” certainly for Christ’s sake! In trying to stun his audience to see their continued arrogant folly, their foolishness, Paul again rebukes the Corinthians by declaring God and His “foolishness,” using the noun form of moron.
Here we see the word describing great folly, with the distinguishing marks being arrogance, self-sufficiency, and a flippant and cavalier attitude. As the Complete Biblical Library describes, it’s not so much that this fool lacks mental resources, but that he uses them wrongly and sinfully. In his corrupt heart and mind, his blindness to many things spiritual impedes his natural abilities and talents that could be used for his Creator.
This fool also exhibits a contempt for those believers who claim God’s ways and try to preach to this fool about his ongoing and eternally destructive folly. The consequences for such foolishness is exclusion from the kingdom of God, whether it be from disregarding the Lord altogether, rebukes from others in the midst of arrogant stonewalling, or trying to keep the law in order to be saved and justified thus falling from grace.
Here is detail on this type of fool:
Greek Number: 878; aphrôn (af’-rone); adjective, without reason, foolish: renders these English words and times used – fool (2), foolish (8), foolish ones (1).
Greek Number: 877; aphrosunê; noun, foolishness: foolishness (4).
Greek Number: 3472; môria (mo-ree’-ah) – from moros; noun; foolishness; foolishness (5).
Here’s the uses:
Mark 7:22 …deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.
Luke 11:40 “You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also?
Luke 12:20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’
Romans 2:20 …a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth,
1 Corinthians 15:36 You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies;
2 Corinthians 11:1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me.
2 Corinthians 11:16 Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little.
2 Corinthians 11:17 What I am saying, I am not saying as the Lord would, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.
2 Corinthians 11:19 For you, being so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly.
2 Corinthians 11:21 To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison. But in whatever respect anyone else is bold—I speak in foolishness—I am just as bold myself.
2 Corinthians 12:6 For if I do wish to boast I will not be foolish, for I will be speaking the truth; but I refrain from this, so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.
2 Corinthians 12:11 I have become foolish; you yourselves compelled me. Actually I should have been commended by you, for in no respect was I inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am a nobody.
Ephesians 5:17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
1 Peter 2:15 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.
Not Just the Word Fool But Others Too
You see, dear brother, it’s not just a fool that’s considered a “bad” name these days, but also calling someone in the body a pervert or hypocrite. A brother who has walked with God a long time once told me, “Marc, Christians here (in the west) are thin skinned and thick headed!”
Would it be wrong to you if I said ‘amen’ to his correct observation? Our brothers and sisters in the holy Scriptures utilize other strong terms to describe the people’s lethargy and arrogance, especially in the body of Christ: perverted hypocrites.
Luke 9:41 And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you and put up with you?…”
Titus 3:10-11 Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.
Luke 12:54-56 And He was also saying to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it turns out. And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, ‘It will be a hot day,’ and it turns out that way. You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?
Again we proclaim as we said a bit earlier, it’s not a sin to use these terms under the right circumstances.
But what are those circumstances?
Like Jesus’ teaching grossly butchered today of “do not judge,” we see there He meant do judge, yes indeed. But in the right vein with a holy attitude. Do not judge the other person with a heart that spews malice, hypocrisy, self-righteousness, condemnation, etc.
But, certainly, do judge. A God who does not judge is a God who is not just.
What Now?
I pray we can begin searching together to see if what we preach here has merit in the eyes of God. For it you continue to refuse to spend the time and effort to preserve the unity in full humility, then being irreconcilable is the only other term we can use here at Walk Worthy to describe your actions. Being factious and sectarian is displaying a party spirit that is not one bit of Christ.
The Word rightly warns that any of His children in His body that practice such a heinous sin will not inherit the kingdom.
1 Corinthians 11:18-19 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.
Galatians 5:19-21 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
The warning and command is clear.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as these.
God forbid this should happen to any of us. But we do all need to practice courage. As brother Dan Allender wrote years ago in his excellent book Bold Love:
If Jesus had practiced the kind of love we advocate these days, He would have lived to a ripe old age.
What will it be for us, dear one? Unity? Or foolish division?
Please comment on this post right below. Feel free to write and proclaim your leadings in the Spirit in an honorable fashion.
Your friend and brother in fighting the good fight,
Marc
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Saints, we’re one day closer to Home, and Him! Love Him wholeheartedly!
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Please comment on this post right below. Feel free to write and proclaim your leadings in the Spirit in an honorable fashion.
Marc White, Director, Walk Worthy Ministries, www.WalkWorthy.org
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