April 16 - The Evil of Saying, “You Fool”

“‘Whoever says, “You fool,” shall be guilty enough to go into fiery hell’” (Matthew 5:22).

No one wants to be called a fool, and on the other side of the coin, no one should fix that label on someone else. That’s especially true when we realize that the word in this verse translated “fool” is from the Greek word from which we get moron. The word also denotes one who is stupid or dull. Greek literature sometimes used it to refer to a godless or obstinate person. And it was perhaps parallel to a Hebrew word that means “to rebel against.”

Twice the psalmist tells us “the fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Ps. 14:1; 53:1; cf. 10:4). The book of Proverbs contains many negative references and warnings to fools (1:7; 10:8, 10; 14:9). Jesus used a related but less severe term when He reprimanded the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25).

Because of these and other testimonies in God’s Word, we know people engage in foolish thoughts and actions. Therefore it is not wrong for us to warn or rebuke someone who is acting or speaking foolishly and clearly opposing God’s will. In fact, we are supposed to take this action! The Lord is warning us here, however, that it is sin to slanderously call someone a fool out of personal anger or hatred. Maliciously calling another a fool is again equivalent to murder and worthy of eternal punishment in hell if not repented of.

Most of our slanderous remarks are not made to others’ faces but rather behind their backs. What guiding principles can you set in place to guard yourself from being ugly and unkind to others, even when speaking about them in private conversation?

The fool in Bible terms is not quite what we might think. Why does calling someone a “fool” put a person in danger of going to hell, according to Jesus? The answer is, it does, and it doesn’t.

There is a marked difference in how we use the word today contrasted with what Jesus meant. Today, we likely think a person is a fool if he does something ill-advised. But in Bible times it meant far more than that. ...

To grasp the meaning of this warning, we need to understand the context.

In that day, some had reduced Judaism to a matter of externals. Act the right way, and perform the right rituals, and you were a good Jew. Matters of the heart were being ignored. But using several commandments of the Old Testament Law, Jesus demonstrates to His hearers that God’s standard involves not only outward acts (as the Pharisees taught) but inward attitudes (cf. vs. 27-28). In vs. 21-22, the discussion concerns the act of murder and the underlying attitude that can lead to it, malicious anger. In vs. 22, three levels of severity are described, each falling short of physical murder, but each sinful and destructive.

If a person nurses a hateful and malicious attitude toward a fellow Jew (“his brother”), he could well be brought up before the local magistrate (“the judgment”).
If his hatred is expressed in words of angry contempt (such as “Raca!”–the equivalent of “You stupid idiot!”) it could be a matter for the Jewish supreme court, called the Sanhedrin (“the council”).
Worse still, the one who calls his brother a “fool” thereby suggests his own unsaved condition, which therefore means he is in peril of eternal damnation.

In our own culture, there would seem to be little difference between the last two of these. But the latter term is given a much stronger meaning in the Old Testament.

http://wordwisebiblestudies.com/the-fool-why-christ-condemned-calling-someone-a-fool/

Read the rest for more explanation at the link-

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