The Intelligent Fool

Your IQ does not measure your wisdom, just your intelligence.

Reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser. Teach a righteous man, and he will increase his learning. (Proverbs 8:8b-9)

How many intelligent men (or women) are so proud that they can’t be reproved; that they can’t be instructed; that they can’t be taught?

That proverb goes on to say, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

It’s too easy to talk about the fear of the Lord without understanding what it is. A person who fears the Lord wants to know his will. A person who fears the Lord does not trust his own knowledge.

No matter how intelligent you may be, no matter how high your IQ, God judges wisdom by your response to criticism. Your response to criticism reveals your regard for the will of God. If you return insults for reproof or dishonor for correction, then God considers you a wicked scoffer, not a wise man (Prov. 9:7-8).

Note the words that God considers synonyms:

Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser. Teach a righteous man, and he will increase his learning.

“Wise” and “righteous”; they are synonyms in the eyes of God.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Prov. 9:10)

About Paul Pavao

I am married, the father of six, and currently the grandfather of five. I teach, and I am always trying to learn to disciple others better than I have before. I believe God has gifted me to restore proper theological foundations to the Christian faith. In order to ensure that I do not become a heretic, I read the early church fathers from the second and third centuries. They were around when all the churches founded by the apostles were in unity. My philosophy for Bible reading is to understand each verse for exactly what it says in its local context. Only after accepting the verse for what it says do I compare it with other verses to develop my theology. If other verses seem to contradict a verse I just read, I will wait to say anything about those verses until I have an explanation that allows me to accept all the verses for what they say. This takes time, sometimes years, but eventually I have always been able to find something that does not require explaining verses away. The early church fathers have helped a lot with this. I argue and discuss these foundational doctrines with others to make sure my teaching really lines up with Scripture. I am encouraged by the fact that the several missionaries and pastors that I know well and admire as holy men love the things I teach. I hope you will be encouraged too. I am indeed tearing up old foundations created by tradition in order to re-establish the foundations found in Scripture and lived on by the churches during their 300 years of unity.

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1 Response to The Intelligent Fool

Evan says:

08/26/2014 at 2:21 pm

Seminaries teach for knowledge. Seminary grads who then pastor churches teach for knowledge. We thirst after knowledge instead of thirsting after righteousness/obedience as if knowing about God is the equivalent of knowing God. Both our doctrine and our walk with the Lord are requisite (1 Tim 4:16) but we have emphasized the former (most churches have even gotten that wrong!) while neglecting the latter. Woe is us.