THE BIBLICAL FOOL


"Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good!" (Psalm 14:1 NLT)

The portrait of the Biblical fool is succinctly captured in the Scriptural text above. 

This is God's own description of who a fool is.

The Legacy Study Bible states it this way:

The wicked fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

What does this mean in essence and practice?

First notice that it doesn't say the fool says with his mouth or lips but in his heart.

What is the "heart" that is being referred to here?

We are not talking about the physical organ in the human body that pumps blood for the body. 

We are speaking of the heart in a spiritual sense.

What does the Scripture say about the heart?

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

"Guard your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life." (Proverbs 4:23)

The Lord Jesus said this about the heart:

"For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander." (Matthew 15:19)

We can see from the above Scriptural texts that the heart is the centre of being or fountain of life.

The heart is the essence or real nature of a person. 

It informs our core values and outlook on life.

It determines the fundamental or basic perception, personality and character of a human being.

But it also aptly refers to the central part of a thing. 

An example of these two distinctive meanings of this same word “heart” in everyday application is this: the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.

According to God’s Word, the matter or subject of the heart, not the mind or intellect, is what defines a person as either truly wise or unwise.

It determines if one is a biblical fool or not.

The heart of the unbeliever is wicked, deceitful, hardened, spiritually dead and unchanged.

In contrast, the heart of the believer (child of God) is new, true, softened, alive to God and changed by The Spirit and Word of God. 

The unsaved or unbelieving heart does not have the life of God. It does not have the awareness of God and thus does not take God's Word as its reference for truth, wisdom, knowledge and understanding. 

In daily living, the unsaved world does not submit to God's Truth and Wisdom as the guiding principle and governing instruction of their life.

Therefore, the unsaved heart is spiritually ignorant and unwise as it does not ascribe or acknowledge (in essence and practice not just paying lipservice to) God's Word as the ultimate, effective or absolute standard of truth and wisdom.

God is the Standard or Reference of Absolute Truth. 

He has revealed this Truth in His Holy Scripture.

Scripture is God's holy and righteous standard.

The true believer is fully persuaded of this verity.

The godly acknowledges God as his Lord, Master and Owner. This practically means that he references God's Truth as his "true north", orienting point, plumbline, guideline or guidance for defining, evaluating and navigating his life. 

Simply put, he walks in the light of God's Word.

This is the beauty and benefit of obedience to God's Word. It is born out of faith in God and love for God.  

To capture the meaning of the opening Biblical text in other words: 

The person whose heart does not truly acknowledge that there is a Standard Reference for Absolute Truth is spiritually ignorant and unwise.

To further repharse it:

He is spiritually unwise and ignorant who doesn't know or submit his knowledge to the Standard of Scripture.

We were all spiritually unwise and ignorant before God in His Mercy saved us by His Grace.

The child of God however is one who sees and submits to God's Word (and thus to God), albeit imperfectly yet progressively, as the Standard or Reference of Absolute Truth and Highest Wisdom.

The unsaved man is the Biblical fool.

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