Suffer Fools Gladly?

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You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! (II Corinthians 11:19, NIV)

Dirk Willems rescues his naive pursuer.

This saying from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is rendered in such a variety of ways in translations and paraphrases that it’s hard to know whether he’s for or against putting up with “fools.” Or likely, whether any current interpretation does his comment justice.

Certainly, politicians who use it to denigrate opponents should stop, read the verse in context and consult Bible scholars before saying, “I don’t suffer fools gladly.” Perhaps Paul (who was skillful in exercising soft persuasion, even humour in his preaching and writing) was employing political skill to endear himself and his cause to the Corinthian audience. Corinth, a Greek city, was a centre of learning in Paul’s time, comparable to a university city like Oxford, UK in ours.  We mustn’t forget that Paul also wrote, “but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:23, NKJV).

To Corinthian logic, Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, with all they purport, are foolish--not wise, but silly. Meanwhile the Jews couldn’t embrace the story because it didn’t match their image of a Messiah.

Wise, foolish. So much hinges on how words are understood. Small children are foolish, their parents are wise? And because the parents know the difference between foolish and wise actions, they tolerate their children’s foolishness while correcting them? When you’re standing on firm ground, you’re more likely to tolerate, even help the drowning man who foolishly wades beyond his depth? This is basically Paul’s argument for being heard (although I'm a fool in your eyes), achieved via a compliment (you people are wise, and therefor equipped to be tolerant without discomfort.)

I am reminded that half the US population seems to consider the other half to be foolish. The established news media cast themselves as wise in comparison to the “fools” who follow Donald Trump; their recitation of facts, however, bears no quality of tolerance, no “suffering fools gladly.” Should it? And if those of us who consider ourselves wiser than the MAGA crowd were to be tolerant, like concerned parents, what would we do to put our wisdom and tolerance into practice?

You can’t beat your children into becoming wise adults. The media derision, the exposing of lies and misinformation, not even the conviction of Trump as a felon has made a dent in MAGA numbers.

I repeat: so much depends on how we use words. Paul surely didn’t mean “fools” as it’s flippantly used today; whatever the Greek word was, translators likely should have translated it as “naïve.”  It’s a better word to describe those who do and think illogically because they don’t yet know better ways, or have been deliberately misinformed, misled. And for followers of Jesus, it puts a clearer slant on how we are to be salt and light, beginning with an admission that we, too, are often “naïve,” and in need of enlightenment.

‘Nough said.

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