Memoirs of a Geisha
For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. Titus 3:3 NASB
Foolish – “No fool like an old fool.” But we were all “old fools” once, weren’t we? Even Paul says so. The Greek term is anóētos. If you look carefully, you’ll see that this word is constructed from the negative particle (a) and the root noéō, “The verb noéō means ‘to direct one’s mind to.’ At first it is used in the broad sense ‘to perceive,’ but later it means only ‘to perceive mentally’ and then ‘to think,’ ‘to understand,’ ‘to intend,’ and ‘to know’ as a function of the mind (noús). In the LXX the organ of noeín is often the heart (kardía), but the sphere of noeín is always mental. In the NT the verb has such senses as ‘to note,’ ‘to grasp,’ ‘to recognize,’ ‘to understand,’ and ‘to imagine.’”[1] It might be useful to list each of these meanings in the negative. So, “foolish” means:
Not directing your mind toward something
Not perceiving
Not thinking
Not understanding
Not intending
Not knowing
Not noting
Not grasping
Not recognizing
Not imagining
Behm adds, “In the rare passive this word means ‘unthought of,’ ‘unsuspected,’ ‘unintelligible,’ or ‘inconceivable,’ and in the more common active it means ‘unwise,’ ‘irrational,’ or ‘foolish,’ with a moral as well as an intellectual nuance.”[2]
“Stupid is as stupid does.” That about sums it up, with the clarification that this is not simply mental in the biblical sense. One can be morally stupid too. In fact, if we look close enough at that person in the mirror, we’ll probably see the telltale signs of stupidity. Those crease marks from anxiety despite a claim of God’s care and sovereignty. Those crow’s feet from too much egocentric actions. A little moral scar here and there. Probably no one else would notice—and if you just look away quick enough, you can pretend to forget. But the next morning, the mirror still tells the truth.
Look at the list again. Ah, so much packed into such a tiny word. Isn’t it nice that Paul says we were once anóētos? But no longer. Now it’s just memoirs in the glass darkly.
Topical Index: foolish, anóētos, moral, mental, stupidity, Titus 3:3
[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 636). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
[2] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 638). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
This is a powerful description of our unwillingness to be responsible for our own lives, in the realm where it all begins – our thoughts. Thank you, Skip.
Paul conveys a more complete image of the nature of this foolishness in 1Corinthians 1:17-21 by contrasting the effect of the wisdom of this age/world (whether Jewish or Gentile) with the effect of “God’s folly”— the preaching/proclamation of the cross… “Christ crucified, to the Jews a cause for stumbling, but to the Gentiles foolishness; but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human power.”