Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.
Proverbs 26:4–5
If you have ever stumbled across a text like the one above and wondered, “what on earth did I just read?” then you are not alone. While it would not be possible to untangle all of the mysteries contained in the Bible’s wisdom literature , I do in part wish to make such an effort, with the free admission that such a task may require many entries like this. So, as we begin a survey of the wisdom texts, let us focus our minds upon their content and purpose, for as is the case with all of God’s Word, “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4).
Finding A Hold
It was some time ago that a friend of mine was attempting to teach me rock climbing. Despite my lack of experience, I was able to learn much from their instruction about the importance of finding good holds. A hold is the term climbers use for anything that can be gripped in order to navigate various climbs. What makes the difference between a successful climb, and slipping, is finding the right hold. For some climbs, this involves trial and error, and for inexperienced climbers it involves heavy reliance on learning from those who have gone before.
Interpreting wisdom literature is a bit like finding the right holds. If we treat such texts as though they communicate truth to us in the same way that Paul’s Epistles communicate truth, then we are setting ourselves up for quite a tumble.
What is the right hold? In the Proverbs, the hold is given within the first few verses, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7). The Proverbs do not deal with questions of salvation nor justification, but rather, they teach us how to operate within the parameters of God’s world. The presupposition of the text is that a God created everything we observe in creation and that it is wise to follow his design for living within the boundaries of this creation. Saints need both wisdom for life and knowledge of eternal life to form a robust theology. This will cause us to find our eschetalogical hope of redemption in Christ, but also allow us to recognize God’s ordinary blessings. All of Scripture is revelation from God, but we make an error if we say that it is the same kind of revelation.
Understanding Wisdom
To understand wisdom, we must make some initial observations about what exactly wisdom is and what it is not. We can use the text of Proverbs 26:4–5 to help us look closely at the nature of wisdom itself. If we put these two texts side by side (as they are arranged in the text) they could be misconstrued as contradictory. One says to answer the fool, and the other says not to answer the fool. However, they are both governed by the context of the entire book which sets out guidelines for living wisely. Sometimes wise living is clear cut: Don’t commit adultery for it will bring ruin upon your life (Proverbs 6–8). At other junctures, wise living can be a matter of applying discernment to a particular circumstance. Sometimes you need to answer fools, and other times you need to let them and their arguments go without retort.
Much of God’s word tells us how to answer a foolish person and all of their unsound doctrine. So we need a hearty portion of God’s word to know what we are to say, but sometimes knowing what to say and saying it would be unwise. Paul advises Timothy not to engage in vain discussion (1 Tim. 1:6; 4:7), which is interesting because Paul also knows that Timothy is capable of refuting such teaching. What then can we conclude? Wisdom is more than knowledge. Knowledge is knowing what to answer a fool, wisdom is knowing when to answer a fool.
Gaining Discernment
While we must be a church that is founded upon the hope we have in Christ Jesus which will make us into mature saints, such a hope does not exclude the wisdom of living within God’s world according to his design. We can be new creations who are awakened to a knowledge of sin and have no further appetite for old, carnal activities, but we should also orient our lives in such a way that we do not put ourselves in positions to commit gross sin. Wisdom is a requisite for the one who wishes to live maturely in God’s world.
This is not as simple as going to Scripture every time we have a question and thinking that one of the proverbs will supply a perfect answer. If we were to do so with Proverbs 26:4–5, then we would find ourselves with two different answers. Rather, we must be saturated in the word of God so that our minds are renewed and we begin to think and process as one who is being conformed into the image of Christ (Rom. 12:1–2). Scripture’s wisdom literature teaches us to apply what we learn elsewhere in the Bible, and in many ways it is a genre of Scripture that the Church has long forgotten. Ironically, many secular authors have written bestselling books simply by stripping the ideas from Scripture and applying them to our day.
As we continue this venture at perusing the various wisdom texts in Scripture, let us ask the God from whom all good things proceed for grace to grow in wisdom, and discipline to apply that wisdom as we carry out our daily activities.
