“Answer a fool according to his folly.” (Proverbs 26)
In Proverbs 26 we are instructed not to answer a fool according to his folly. However, we are also instructed in Proverbs 26 to answer a fool according to his folly. Is this a contradiction? A fool would say it is. It is not. Scripture is telling us that sometimes one should answer a fool and sometimes we should not. It is not a contradiction nor is it a paradox.
Scripture gives us liberty and wisdom to do both. There are times to answer the fool and there are times not to. We are told by Christ not to cast our pearl before swine for swine will only trample upon divine Scripture. Paul advises us not to get involved with certain arguements that will not bear any fruit.
When should we answer the fool? We should anser a fool if we discern s/he is really searching for answers under the guise of scorn. We should answer a fool if others are listening and may benefit. We should answer the fool if we might simply shut him down or shut him up. Why should we not answer a fool? If we have answered them before and it bore no positive fruit. We should not answer him if the Spirit directs us not to. We should not answer him if we suspect he will simply use our answer to commit further folly. In the end, it us up to our discretion and the Spirits guidance.
If you have experienced a fool before and this fool has used Scripture inappropriately or simply misapplied it, one might answer the fool with the proper meaning of Scripture. I think we have all heard Christ’s Words of “Judge not lest you be judged” before and sometimes these Words are used against us. We have heard others misapply, “Turn the other cheek” before as well. Both these passages are from our Lord’s sermon on the mount. These two passages are used by sinners in a pride-filled and foolish attempt to shut down the believer when the believer points out a sin or when the believer speaks back to a fool or when a believer defends an action.
Let us look at these passages, in there context, so we will be better prepared to answer a fool appropriately and Scripturely. But first some counsel on answering a fool according to their folly.
*You were a fool once and can play the part of a fool still.
*A fool’s folly knows no limits, be forewarned and fore-armed.
*Be as gracious as is possible.
*Once you have answered the fool, your responsibilty is done, God must now act if He so desires. it could be very well that God desires the fool to remain a fool and to spend his life filling the sin cup.
*It is not your first goal to demonstrate the fools folly in order to embarrass him but sometimes to smite a fool is the best approach as it will shut down others.
*The fool is never more boastful of his folly than when surrounded by other fools, but though hand join in hand, they will not go unpunished.
*You are not out to win a debate of the look wise, remember it is the reality that sometimes we must look the fool. If you are in it to win a debate, just stop now.
Let us now look at the two (2) most abused passages of Scripture. “Judge not lest ye be judged. I must confess that my anger is fueled no more than when I hear Scripture misused and misapplied by the ignorant and the foolish. A fool is at their most pride-filled when they think they have showed up the student of Scripture. The pride is seen in their face as their smirk and they eyes betray them. They really believe, by their misuse of the only verse they think they know, that they have shut down the believer. They really think that their misuse of a passage has shut down the person that has spent a lifetime in the Word of God, their folly and utter foolishness is never so much on display, (s)atan even blushes as he is embarrassed by his servant’s display of folly.
When does the ignorant use their “massive Biblical knowledge?” The fool will demonstrate their utter folly when someone points out their sin. These persons like to say, “Only God will judge me, and you should not judge lest ye be judged.” They are wrong on both points. Scripture tells the spiritual that s/he is to “judge all things,” (1 Corinthians 2). They are also wrong on their “Judge not…”
“Judge not…” is said by Christ when He is warning us about setting up a standard of judgement that we must live under ourselves. For example, If a person say, “All rapists should be executed.” The speaker has set a standard of judgement that s/he must be willing to be judged under if ever committing the sin and crime of rape. If someone says, “all thieves should have their hand cut off,” the speaker should be prepared to live under that same judgement. If a person says, ” I think a person’s church membership should be canceled if they miss more that two (2) services. That person must be prepared to have their church membership canceled if they miss two (2) services.
For the reasons above, we should be slow to set up standards of judgement that God has not set up, Himself. Paul asks us, “Who art thou that judges another mans servant, to his own master shall he satnd or fall. If one desires God to be merciful unto them, they must be slow to judge others. If a person is slow to judge others, it is because s/he realizes their propensity to wander off, “I am prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.”
What is the Christ-ian to judge? “the spiritual is to judge all things.” The spiritual is to judge all things as they are the one to hold forth that which is right/wrong, true /false, good/bad. Reader, who else will do this if not for you and me? We are to point out what is right/wrong, true/false, good/bad however, we are not to set up a standard of execution (not death but what should befall the guilty) for those that perform false, bad, and wrong. That standard or judgement and the execution of that standard of judgement belongs to God , Who judges all things, righteously.
One thing we must always do before pointing out sins in others is to judge ourselves and make confession before God, our Father. This will make certain we are doing so in a spirit of humility. God may point out something to us in order to bring us to repentance. I have seen others commit sin, only to remember my guilt before God and this brings me to a place of confession and humility.
How should one point out something that is wrong? It depends. There are times one should do it quietly and privately and their are times to do it publically. Privately if it is a private matter and publicly if it is a public sin. This should be committed to God as one seeks His will in the matter. If private, do so in a spirit of humility, while confessing your own weaknesses in matters. Your particularor specific weaknesses or inclinations need not be made known. If a public rebuke is necessary, do it in a spirit of humility and understanding. Often times publically is necessary if a private rebuke or reproof has been ingnored.
On the subject of turning the other cheek. I have found this is needed when someone challenges a believers stand on war and in handling a public wrong. Turning the other cheek has nothing to to with a governmental decision to enter into war. It has nothing to do with a criminal’s punishment, say in capital punishment. To turn the other cheek has to do with persecution and the believer. If someone is persecuting you for your faith in Christ, you are to respond as Christ did and would. If you are being slapped in the face for any reason other than Christ-ian persecution, one is warranted to defend one’s self. Paul tells us to live at peace with all men as long as it is possible.
If you are on the street with your family and someone seeks to provoke you because they dislike the way you walk, you should try to extracate yourself from the situation without violance, this is civil. If the person will not allow you to walk away, ask him or her if they are challenging you, once they say yes, you are can strike first and strike hard. If you are being persecuted, on the other hand as a follower of Christ, you must not respond in violence, as Christ, “reviled not again when [H]e was reviled.”
The Captain of our Salvation, said we should bear persecution for His Name’s sake, this is what is meant when Paul said, “Charity endureth all things.” It is our love and our faith and our hope that stands up under persecution, whatever form it takes. In fact, He said, we are being blessed by persecution. To be persecuted because of Christ is a high honour….Right there I have made a standard of judgement.
When I say, it is a high honour to be persecuted for the Name of Christ, I must look upon any persecution I might face as an honour, lest I be a hypocrite. Christ told Peter, he would glorify His Lord through persecution, murder, and martydom. A high honour it is to suffer for Christ, this is a truth and a gift that the sinner can never understand. Paul wrote to the Philippians, that as God gave them power to believe in Christ, He also gave them strength and power to suffer as Christ suffered in the sense of His human suffering. One can never pay back to Christ what He has done. To suffer and endure persecution, in His Name and for His sake and for the sake of righteousness, is a gift and an honour. This is the perspective of the Christ-ian that is completely “given to” Christ and Christ’s pleasures and purposes.
If a nation enters a war and you show support, it is certain a fool will point out your failure to “turn the other cheek.” The answer is simple. you might point out that that instruction from the Lord is in regard to personal conflict and not to governmental conflict. It is that simple. Just war is a just act. One never finds Christ or any prophet or apostle speaking against war or against any soldier. In fact, we find these persons and even Christ, Himself showing, deferance and respect to soldiers. In the Old Testament and the New, men of God, many of them, are shown interacting with the military. In fact, Christ asked the Father to forgive those soldiers that nailed Him to the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
It is the fool that shows disrepect to a soldier or protests their government during war time. It is the fool that answers a matter before s/he hears it (Proverbs) it is s/he that is likened a brute beast, that is made to be taken and destroyed, that speaks against government when they understand not, (2 Peter 2). In recent days, we have seen the left, the liberal, the progressive, the fool protest our President’s nominee for the Supreme Court before he even announced his pick. We have seen the left already choosing to obstruct the President’s actions before he even announces his actions!!! This is folly and utter foolishness at it’s best.
There is a spirit of dimness and idiocy that is vexing the people of the left today, if it is not a spirit of dimness, it is demon possession, or else the people on the left are simply that silly. Reader, when I speak of the left, I speak of the leaders and the politicians in general and not of their constituency. I very rarely speak of the left leaning citizen in particular. I know very few left-leaners, but the ones I do know are decent, they are what the puritans would call, “Civil citizens.” According to human standards, they are good persons and are to be respected. Of course, according to divine standards, they are lost and going to hell, lest they repent and believe. We can only judge their actions, choices, words, outlook, but not their persons for that is God’s place and God’s Alone.
In Scripture God willed to vex a king. King Ahab had done evil in God’s sight and God desired to drive him a bit mad. A demon spoke up and volunteered for the task. God accepted this demon’s willingness to vex Ahab and vex Ahab, the lying spirit did. We also see our LORD sending a vexing demon to King Saul. This vexing demon was very good at it’s jobs. King Saul was driven almost to the point of madness. Saul was afflicted with paranoia, depression, anxiety. He seems to have been given a borderline personality disorder.
Saul who was once, outwardly, a servant of God was now self centered and self focused. Everything was about Saul to Saul, he was living in the prison of self interest, sound familiar, Reader, I trust not. He is recorded as saying, [Paraphrase] “why doesn’t anyone care abour me?” It is written that he thrust his javelin at David on a number of times. Saul always had his javelin at his side as he had forsaken and had been forsaken by God. Saul could not say, as David said often, “The LORD is my refuge,” and “The Lord is my [S]trength,” and “The LORD is my defense,” and “The LORD is my high tower.”
All Saul could do is say, “My javelin is my strength, my defense, my rock, my strength, my refuge, my high tower. Saul had lost God as his strong confidence and as he forsook his fear of the LORD. Reader, this is sound counsel and “worthy of all acceptation,” Always, always, always walk in the fear of the LORD,” and always, always, always, and in every way, acknowledge God in all of your ways. There is no better counsel I could give.
Turning the other cheek is a personal and civil matter to be sure. The individual has no authority or power or control over matters of government, other than voting and communicating with their representatives in government. One does not know what the government knows, therefore one is a fool for answering a governmental matter without having all the facts and details.
This is true of protesters. In situation involving police and criminal, one knows not the facts or the details. Common sense, logic, discretion AND God tells us to keep quiet during these times until all information is known and evaluated. A fool is thought wise when s/he keeps quiet. It is the fool that speaks all his or her thoughts outloud. This is what God says about the fool, i’m not making it up. Reader are you a fool? I have played the fool numerous times and probably will again.
The person written about in the last paragraph are setting themselve up as judge, jury, and in many case, executioner. These are the persons that misapply, “Judge not lest” while they are quilty of their own standard of judgement. Biblical words that describe such persons are, Fool, folly, hypocrite, ignorant, presumptuos, prideful, and brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed, sinners, wicked, scorners, etc.
Reader, It is a frustrating matter when the brute beast and the pride-filled fool use Scripture or rather misuse Scripture. I can remember someone telling me of a person asking a minister if baptism is necessary for salvation. The minister, the very studied and stalwart minister answered in the negative. The questioner replied, “Well that’s not what I was taught.” In effect, the Scriptually ignorant fool, in his folly, told the knowledgable minister of God, he was wrong. The Biblically ignorant based his position off of what a theologically unsound talker told him to believe.
The reality of the matter, from the paragraph above, is this: The minister said something the ignorant did not like. The ignorant then questioned the minister about the necessity of baptism, knowing what he would say. The ignorant did this so that he could discount that which was said that displeased him. Folly has no limits.
As God’s greatness has no limit, neither does a fool’s folly. The fool is godlike in this manner. As God’s greatness is infinite, so is the fool’s folly.
Godspeed.
thechildrenofissachar 