The Fool’s Errand

being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;  Ephesians 4:17-18 NASB

Ignorance – Biblical fools are not stupid.  They aren’t uninformed either.  If you thought Paul claimed that these people whose spiritual and moral sense has been dimmed, were excluded from the life of God because they were untutored, unintelligent, or empty-headed, think again.  The Greek term agnóēma is not about mental incapacity.  “This ignorance entails disobedience (Rom. 10:3); hence it is not just pardonable lack of information but a failure to understand that needs forgiveness.”^[1]  You may notice that agnóēma has a close connection to ágnōstos from which we get the English “agnostic,” “a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God.”  Since agnosticism was a capital offense in the Roman Empire, it’s not surprising that agnóēma entails disobedience of divine commands.  There were no “unbelievers” in Rome.

From a biblical perspective, agnóēma is about a mistaken lifestyle, that is, the tragic mistake of not following the instructions God gives about life.  Notice Paul’s explanation of this situation.  It didn’t come about because the person was uninformed.  It came about because the person was pṓrōsis—hardened of heart.  Resistance, either deliberate or unintentional.  agnóēma is about  “the thoughts of hardening and judgment by God on the one side and self-hardening and self-judgment on the other.”^[2]

Let’s recall Adam’s original disobedience.  Was he ignorant (in the modern sense)?  Not at all!  He knew exactly what God demanded.  He just didn’t follow it.  And when he communicated God’s directive to the woman, he altered it—perhaps with good intentions, but nevertheless, just enough that the serpent had opportunity to challenge God’s word.  Furthermore, despite Adam’s first-hand communication about God’s expectation, he remained silent when the woman suggested an act that he knew was disobedient.  His sin was both commission and omission.  And it was deliberate.  Paul might call Adam’s act an act of agnóēma.  As the Greek root suggests, this act was the opposite (the negative particle a) of nŏiĕō, that is, the negation of the proper exercise of the mind and body, the opposite of observance.  Since the Hebrew worldview does not separate Man into categories like body, mind, and soul, agnóēma is a condition of existence without acknowledgement of place and position of God in living.  A true fool.  And all because of pṓrōsis of the heart—the fossilization of spiritual and moral sensitivity.

How many in this world fit Paul’s description?

Topical Index: agnóēma, ignorance, disobedience, pṓrōsis, hardness, Ephesians 4:18

^[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). In Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 18). W.B. Eerdmans.

^[2] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). In Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 816). W.B. Eerdmans.