Use of FOOL In Scripture

Ephesians 5:15

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,”King James Version (KJV)

1 Corinthians 2:15

“But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.”King James Version (KJV)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=anGwjfGeKWM&lc=Ugwg1Cl9Fc0Ey7dk8IF4AaABAg&si=-abL_gNiHlj0GvZX

The purpose of this Blog is to teach why I use the words fool or idiot or moron referring to false teachers, false prophets and the wolves who have crept into the flock.  Even those who seem so sweet and gentle and meek are operating in a false humility * Colossians 2:18 KJV * are not by their fruit.  Often I have received comments saying I have violated Matthew 5 (sic: say fool and go to hell) or I am angry and sinning etc.

Let's lay it all out here so we're not void of understanding. The bottom line is I know in my heart I am acting in accordance with scripture and I am at peace in my heart (spiritually knowing) that I have the liberty (license) to do so. If you are knew to my channel and blog please researchthe meaning of Judging by FRUIT; SPIRITUALLY KNOWING; and the meaning of LIBERTY .

https://www.thethirdheaventraveler.com/2025/02/believe.html

https://www.thethirdheaventraveler.com/2025/03/what-is-sin-case-study-of-philosophy-vs.html

https://www.thethirdheaventraveler.com/2025/02/case-study-of-fruit-inspection-what.html

https://www.thethirdheaventraveler.com/2025/07/teaching-charlie-kirk-bible-lesson.html

AI disclosure: I use AI (Claude, Opus 5.5 and higher by Anthropic - mostly as well as Super Grok XAI and Perplexity to scrape - Scraping is a gathering step, not an understanding step: )  as a research tool for concordance, lexicon and etymology work and for historical context from my approved pre-1876 KJB commentators, per my 2022 post on how to study the King James Bible.

Idiot

2 Timothy 4:3

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;”

King James Version (KJV)

Romans 1:22

“Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,”

King James Version (KJV)

A FOOL - IDIOT - MORON posing as a teacher and a prophet using scripture:

  I found the the word IDIOT is so applicable when I had studied it once.

IDIOT (n.)

early 14c., "person so mentally deficient as to be incapable of ordinary reasoning;" also in Middle English "simple man, uneducated person, layman" (late 14c.); from Old French idiote "uneducated or ignorant person" (12c.), from Latin idiota "ordinary person, layman; outsider," in Late Latin "uneducated or ignorant person."

This is from Greek idiōtēs "layman, person lacking professional skill," literally "private person," as opposed to a magistrate or others one taking part in public affairs, also used patronizingly for "ignorant person; unskilled workman." New Testament "an unlearned man." More generally, someone unskilled or untrained in a particular field.

Acts 4:13

idiōtai

“ignorant men”

The Sanhedrin perceives Peter and John as “unlearned and ignorant” (agrammatoi kai idiōtai) — ordinary men without formal rabbinic training.

The Difference:  They truly spoke by the Holy Ghost whereby these false Prophets babble from their darkened minds leaning on their own understanding.

1 Cor 14:16

idiōtou

“the unlearned”

Someone without the gift of tongues who cannot say “Amen” because he does not understand.

1 Cor 14:23

idiōtai

“those that are unlearned”

Outsiders or ungifted people who come into the assembly.

1 Cor 14:24

idiōtēs

“one unlearned”

An outsider or inquirer who is convicted when all prophesy.  A different study for a different day.

2 Cor 11:6

idiōtēs

“rude in speech”

Paul admits he is idiōtēs tō logō (“unskilled/amateur in speech”) but not in knowledge.  Repeat:  BUT NOT IN KNOWLEDGE..

In old English law, one who has been without reasoning or understanding from birth.

FOOL 

Jesus’  uses of FOOL

•  Matthew 5:22
“But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”

•  Matthew 7:26
“And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:”

•  Matthew 23:17
“Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?”

•  Matthew 23:19
“Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?”

•  Matthew 25:2 (and vv. 3, 8 — Parable of the Ten Virgins)
“And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.”

•  Luke 11:40
“Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?”

•  Luke 12:20 (Parable of the Rich Fool)
“But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”

•  Luke 24:25
“Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:”

•  Mark 7:22 (in the list of things that defile)
“…pride, foolishness:”

Paul

•  Romans 1:21–22
“…but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,”

•  1 Corinthians 1:18
“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”

•  1 Corinthians 1:20
“…hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?”

•  1 Corinthians 1:21
“…it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”

•  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 hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise…”

•  1 Corinthians 3:18–19
“Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God…”

•  1 Corinthians 4:10
“We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.”

•  1 Corinthians 15:36
“Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:”

•  2 Corinthians 11:16, 19, 23
“I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little. … For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. … (I speak as a fool) I am more…”

•  2 Corinthians 12:6, 11
“…I shall not be a fool… I am become a fool in glorying…”

•  Galatians 3:1
“O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth…”

•  Galatians 3:3
“Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”

•  Ephesians 5:15
“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,”

•  Titus 3:3
“For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived…”

Resolving the Paradox of Matthew 5 :

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:14–16)

What the verse actually says

The word translated “judgeth” / “is judged” is the Greek anakrinō (ἀνακρίνω). It means to examine, sift, discern, or evaluate carefully—not the angry, contemptuous condemnation forbidden in Matthew 5:22 or the hypocritical judging warned against in Matthew 7:1.

•  The spiritual person (one who has the Spirit and the mind of Christ) is able to discern and evaluate all things—truth from error, wisdom from foolishness, the things of God from the things of the natural man.

•  Yet that same person is not properly “judged” (evaluated or understood) by the natural man, because the natural man lacks the Spirit and therefore cannot grasp spiritual realities (they appear as “foolishness” to him—see 1 Corinthians 1:18–25).

This is part of Paul’s larger argument in 1 Corinthians 1–2 that the message of the cross looks like foolishness to the world but is the wisdom and power of God to those who are being saved.

How this relates to the “fool” paradox

1.  Spiritual discernment is not the same as sinful insult.
Matthew 5:22 condemns calling someone “Thou fool” out of angry contempt that devalues a person made in God’s image.

Note on Matthew 5 in the context of the Kingdom Gospel

Matthew 5 opens the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3–12), which describe the character and blessings of those who belong to the Kingdom of Heaven. The rest of the chapter (including the “You have heard… but I say…” antitheses) then spells out what perfection looks like in that Kingdom:

e e therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)

In this framework, the teachings of Matthew 5 (sometimes called “parables” or living examples of Kingdom righteousness) are not ordinary moral advice. They set the standard of the Kingdom of Heaven—an internal, heart-level righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20).

How this relates to Matthew 5:22 and the “fool” question

•  The warning against saying “Thou fool” (moré) is one of those Kingdom standards. It shows that even the root of anger and contempt is already serious before God, because the Kingdom demands a heart free from the attitudes that lead to murder.

•  It is not a legalistic vocabulary rule for ordinary life; it is an illustration of the perfection required in the Kingdom. Jesus is exposing the gap between external rule-keeping and true Kingdom righteousness.

•  This is why the same chapter can contain both the severe warning (5:22) and the call to perfection (5:48). The entire section is teaching what Kingdom character looks like—meekness, purity of heart, mercy, and love—rather than giving a code of case-law for everyday speech.

See my study of the Dispensation of the Kingdom and the Dispensation of GRACE

https://www.thethirdheaventraveler.com/2021/12/dispensations-rightly-dividing-bible.html

Consistency with Jesus’ and Paul’s later uses of “fool”

When Jesus later calls the Pharisees “fools and blind” (Matthew 23:17) or corrects the disciples as “O fools” (Luke 24:25), and when Paul uses similar language, they are not violating the Kingdom standard of Matthew 5. They are speaking as those who already possess (or are proclaiming) the mind of Christ and the Spirit’s discernment (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:15). Their words function as prophetic exposure of spiritual reality or pastoral correction—exactly the kind of Spirit-enabled evaluation that belongs to those who are living under the Kingdom Gospel, not as angry contempt that falls short of the perfection the Beatitudes describe.

 1 Corinthians 2:15 affirms the right and ability of the spiritual person to examine and identify what is actually foolish (or wise) in the light of God’s truth. Paul himself does exactly this throughout 1 Corinthians when he calls the wisdom of the world “foolishness,” tells the Corinthians to become “fools” in the world’s eyes so they may be wise, and addresses the objector as “Thou fool” in the resurrection argument (1 Cor 15:36).

2.  Jesus and Paul operate in this category.
When Jesus rebukes the Pharisees as “fools and blind” (Matthew 23:17) or corrects the Emmaus disciples as “O fools, and slow of heart” (Luke 24:25), and when Paul calls the Galatians “foolish,” they are exercising Spirit-given discernment to expose real spiritual error. They are not violating Matthew 5:22; they are doing what 1 Corinthians 2:15 describes.

3.  The natural man cannot rightly judge the spiritual.
This also explains why Jesus’ and Paul’s language is often misunderstood or attacked. The unspiritual person sees the cross, true wisdom, and corrective speech as foolishness and may accuse the speaker of hypocrisy or harshness. But the spiritual person is ultimately accountable to God, not to the judgment of those who lack the Spirit (“yet he himself is judged of no man”).

Summary resolution

•  Matthew 5:22: Do not use “fool” (or any insult) as a weapon of angry contempt.

•  1 Corinthians 2:15: The spiritual person is able and responsible to discern and evaluate all things—including recognizing and naming true foolishness—because he has the mind of Christ.

•  These are not in conflict. One forbids sinful heart-motives and devaluing speech; the other affirms Spirit-enabled discernment and truthful evaluation. Jesus and Paul consistently operate on the side of the latter.