"Fool"

[Just Some Dude]

I've heard that "fool" used to be mean someone who knew better but willingly blinded themselves on a matter, as opposed to someone who is just an idiot. Was putting forth a question to see if that is so. Also was wondering whether or not calling a brother "you fool," as in the Sermon on the Mount, could also be construed as calling your brother "idiot."

[Christianbookworm]

I read somewhere that calling your brother a fool was akin to calling a fellow Christian an unbeliever or atheist. Don't recall the exact verse in Psalm that states "the fool says in his heart, "There is no God"."

[KingsGambit]

I read somewhere that calling your brother a fool was akin to calling a fellow Christian an unbeliever or atheist. Don't recall the exact verse in Psalm that states "the fool says in his heart, "There is no God"."

I've seen this asserted but I didn't find it very convincing.

[Christianbookworm]

I've seen this asserted but I didn't find it very convincing.

What do you think? I was just saying that that is what I heard/read.

[John Reece]

Don't recall the exact verse in Psalm that states "the fool says in his heart, "There is no God"."

[Geert van den Bos]

Hebrew: אָמַר נָבָל בְּלִבּוֹ אֵין אֱלֹהִים

LXX: ἄφρων ἐν καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν θεός

ἄφρων = fool (without understanding)
in Luke 11:40,
You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? (meant are the Pharisees).

Matthew 5:21 has another word for fool: μωρός


Matthew 5:13 might inform about the meaning:
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt becomes tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

if the salt becomes tasteless = ἐὰν δὲ τὸ ἅλας μωρανθῇ

from:
μωραίνω
1) to be foolish, to act foolishly 2a) to make foolish 2a1) to prove a person or a thing foolish 2b) to make flat and tasteless 2b1) of salt that has lost its strength and flavour

so μωρός = a drab, dull person.

[John Reece]

Translation and comment on Psalm 14:1a by John Goldingay in Psalms Volume 1: Psalms 1-41 (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms, 2002):

Psalm 14:1a : A scoundrel has said in his heart, "God is not here."

The scoundrel is a nābāl, a fool (LXX) who has no insight (cf. verse 2), but also a villain, the opposite of the noble or honorable person (Isa. 32:5), the kind of person who rapes his half sister (2 Sam. 13:13) or scoffs at God (Ps. 74:18, 22). Here the psalm starts from the last kind of villainy. It is "a sustained comment on the nābāl." Sometimes such scoffing in the heart might contrast with outward words that profess commitment to Yhwh. Even an intellectual might not dare openly to deny God's reality―not a hesitation that survives into the modern world. But this psalm may have in mind a life and heart that match. The scoffing is not a superficial discounting of God. It takes place not merely on the lips but in the heart: it deeply characterize the person. Either way, saying "God is not here" (English versions: "There is no God") is not merely a statement of theoretical atheist conviction but a declaration that God can be discounted from everyday life (...). It is the attitude explicitly expressed by the Rabshakeh to Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:29-30) and implicit in the action of Nebuchadnezzar (cf. Isa. 14:14). Thus Targum's paraphrase "said in his heart, 'There is no rule of God in the land/earth'" may express the point, even if it is designed reverentially to hold back from expressing the conviction "God is not [here]" even on a scoundrel's lips.

[robrecht]

What do you think? I was just saying that that is what I heard/read.

I don't find it very convincing. This psalm does not seem to be addressing theoretical atheism, which I don't think was as common in ancient times as it is today, but rather a kind of moral atheism, whereby someone does not seem to believe that they will be judged or punished for evil deeds. I could be wrong, but that's my initial impression.

[robrecht]

Great minds think alike, but, as usual, John has the reference to back it up!

[Christianbookworm]

I don't find it very convincing. This psalm does not seem to be addressing theoretical atheism, which I don't think was as common in ancient times as it is today, but rather a kind of moral atheism, whereby someone does not seem to believe that they will be judged or punished for evil deeds. I could be wrong, but that's my initial impression.

Indeed! That does make sense. Especially since the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom(Proverbs). I would ask then to ingnore the ethiest part of my comment, then.

[John Reece]

Matthew 5:22

Via Accordance, from The Gospel of Matthew (NICNT: Eerdmans, 2007), by R. T. France:

adelphos

[KingsGambit]

Thank you for this post, John. I have only read snippets of France's Matthew commentary over time but I've seen enough to want to interlibrary loan it.

[John Reece]

Thank you for this post, John. I have only read snippets of France's Matthew commentary over time but I've seen enough to want to interlibrary loan it.

[Pat Ferguson]

I've heard that "fool" used to be mean someone who knew better but willingly blinded themselves on a matter, as opposed to someone who is just an idiot.

And Jesus reportedly said:

μωρε (mōre': dull, stupid, blockhead at Matt. 5:22; 7:26; 23:17, 19; 25:2-3, 8)

αφροσυνη (aphrosu'nē, indicating that a person is senseless, thoughtless, or reckless at Mark 7:22)

αφρονες (aph'rones: senseless, ignorant, unlearned at Luke 11:40; 12:20)

ανοητοι (ano'ētoi: senseless, ignorant, unlearned at Luke 24:25)

Also was wondering whether or not calling a brother "you fool," ..., could also be construed as calling your brother "idiot."

Yes (cp. ιδιwτης (idiōtēs) with αφρονες and ανοητοι, above, in your preferred lexica).

[John Reece]

Pat Ferguson alias Heterodoxus?