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FOOL.—This word occurs 6 times in the AV of the Gospels as the translation of ἀíüçôïò (Luk_24:25), ἄöñùí (Luk_11:40, Luk_12:20), and ìùñüò (Mat_5:22; Mat_23:17; Mat_23:19). In the RV it occurs only twice (Mat_5:22; Mat_23:17), being in Mat_23:19 omitted from the text, and in the three remaining places the rendering given is ‘foolish.’ Further, ìùñüò occurs in Mat_7:26; Mat_25:2-3; Mat_25:8, and in these places, both in AV and RV, it is translated ‘foolish.’
These three Greek words, confused more or less by the principal versions,—the Harklean Syriac and Coptic are exceptions,—are not synonyms. Ἀíüçôïò implies a lack of comprehension or understanding, and so is very fittingly used in Luk_24:25. Ἄöñùí , signifying ‘mindless’ or ‘senseless,’ frequently carries with it, in Biblical usage (cf. its constant employment in the LXX of Proverbs), an underlying meaning of moral defect, impiety, or unbelief; while in ìùñüò (cf. ìùñáßíåóèáé , Mat_5:13 ‘to become insipid’) the predominant meaning is ‘dull,’ ‘witless,’ ‘stupid.’
The meaning of ìùñÝ in Mat_5:22 has been much discussed. Alford mentions three interpretations: (1) that it is to be understood as the ordinary Greek word for ‘fool’; (2) that it is a transliteration of the Heb. ëֹøָä (môreh), meaning ‘rebel’ or ‘perverse’ (cf. Num_20:10), a word which is put in RVm as an alternative to ‘fool’; (3) that it bears the sense of ἄèåïò according to the Heb. usage of ðָáָì (nâbâl, and cf. 1Sa_25:25). However, there seems to be no real reason for supposing the word to be other than the Greek ìùñüò used in its ordinary Biblical sense.
Our Lord wished to emphasize the enormity of murder. He said, ‘Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill, and Whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry [the inward feeling] with his brother, is in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca [a contemptuous utterance arising from the inward anger, and probably no definite word; see Raca], shall be liable to a more solemn judgment; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool [the angry feeling formulated in a definite word of contemptuous depreciation], shall be worthy of a more dreadful doom.’ This is, in the main, Augustine’s explanation (de Serm. Dom. in Mont. i. ix.); and thus our Lord leaves it to be inferred how heinous actual murder is in His eyes.
Every use of the word ‘fool’ is not, of course, condemned. Our Lord Himself (see above) and St. Paul (Gal_3:1) employed it in needful rebuke; but that use of it is condemned which springs from angry feelings, and which is one step on the way to violence or even to murder.
Literature.—Grimm-Thayer, Lex., under the Greek terms; Expos. Times, iv. [1893] 495, 514, xi. [1900] 381; Law, Serious Call, ch. xxi.; Dykes, Manifesto of the King, 232.
Albert Bonus.