CONTRADICTIONS: Was Jesus a Hypocrite Regarding ‘Fools?’
(THREE-MINUTE READ) — EDITOR’S NOTE: Most Wednesdays readers will find on HillFaith a “CONTRADICTIONS” post that addresses one of the arguments in which skeptics claim the Bible cannot be the inspired Word of God because of an alleged contradiction.
Anvils are stronger, more durable than hammers. )Photo by Salah Ait Mokhtar on Unsplash)
Jesus forbade at Matthew 5:21-22 using the word “fool” to describe any person and warned that doing so put the offender “in danger of Hell fire.” Note, too, that in the immediately preceding verse, Jesus, who is speaking during His Sermon on the Mount, says that “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Okay, but then in other places in the Gospels Jesus Himself refers to other human beings as acting “foolishly.” As Eric Lyons of the Apologetics Press and author of the three-volume “The Anvil Rings: Answers to Alleged Bible Discrepancies” study of alleged biblical contradictions notes:
“Whereas in this passage [Matthew 5:21-22] Jesus warned against the use of the word ‘fool,’ in other passages, Jesus openly used this term to describe various people. Near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus likened the person who heard His teachings. but did not follow them to “a foolish man who built his house on the sand.” (Matthew 7:26).
Lyons continues, noting that Jesus referred to the five “foolish virginis” at Matthew 25: 1-12, as well as branding the Pharisees who swore by the gold of the temple as “fools and blind” men [Matthew 23:16-17].
So, should we compare these verses and walk away with the conclusion that Jesus was, at best, a hypocrite and at worst a liar? Does this perhaps tell us something about who He really was, contrary to what His followers called Him?
Lyons makes two critical point in response:
First, the Greek term “Raca” used by Jesus in verse 22 is a derivative of an Aramic term the meaning of which is disputed among language scholars. Lyons argues that the most likely meaning is “an empty one who acts as a numbskull.”
Similarly, the Greek word “more” that is translated as “fool” was more likely to be heard by Jews as “moreh,” which was a description of rebels like the disaffected Hebrews at Numbers 20:10.
Second, Lyons reminds us that:
“Jesus’ comments in Matthew 5:22 were made with a context where He was un-righteous anger. Whereas the Pharisees condemned murder but overlooked the evil emotions and attitudes that sometimes led to the shedding of innocent blood, Jesus condemned both the actions and the thoughts.”
In other words, Jesus was saying don’t maliciously call somebody a fool if that term doesn’t apply to their actions, but He was not condemning its use if the actions of the individual being so named justified the term.