Fools?

When the Old Testament talks about “the fool,” it’s not referring to the person who is intellectually deficient, but the one who falls short morally. Such a person acts without any thought of the future. The fool’s heart is bent on evil; he practices ungodliness, spreads error concerning the Lord and doesn’t provide for the needy (Isa. 32:6). The fool is not misguided; he is aggressively defiant. His attitude is in stark contrast with the attitude of faith and faithfulness found in Jesus and his disciples, which Paul expounds in these chapters of Romans.

This gives us some insight into what appears to be blindness in those who do not believe. Although they may appear to reject God on intellectual grounds, the root problem is more moral than intellectual. They are more likely to be won over by Christian acts of kindness and mercy than by argument. Contrasted with fools in this psalm is “the company of the righteous” (5), who express their faith in practical acts of love.

The psalmist sees the world in black and white, as is common in wisdom literature. Although he says in v. 3 that all have turned away, he goes on to talk about “the company of the righteous” in v. 5. Paul gives these words a new twist. Human beings cannot actually be divided into two camps, good and evil. He quotes this psalm to support his argument that Jew and Gentile alike sin: “All have turned away, all have become corrupt” (3). The psalmist’s prayer in v. 7 was exactly answered. Now that salvation has come out of Zion, some receive Christ’s salvation, others do not. Those who accept Christ know that it is in Christ’s death for us that true life is to be found. We know life in a way they never could have known.

Christ’s foolishness is wiser than our wisdom, and his weakness is stronger than our strength (1 Cor. 1:23-25). Meditate on that carefully for a moment. What does it say to you?