The bible says call no man fool, and yet fool is in the bible over 99 times.
Is the ancient translation different? Is the word it uses for fool in greek/hebrew a different word for fool when it says call no man fool than it is the other 99 times it is mentioned?
Does this simply mean don't call anyone fool to their FACE. Or does it mean don't call anyone a name with 'hatred' in your heart? or is it a double standard? Does God hold the right to call people fool, and WE don't ?
Jesus' condemnation is coupled with don't say to someone "raqa!", Aramaic for "worthless" "idiot" etc.
It's not calling out foolishness, or rebuking someone for being foolish. It's the act of dehumanizing someone. It's not the words "fool" and "raqa" that are themselves the issue, but the act of verbal abuse that is the problem. When you are demeaning, wishing to hurt someone, by calling them an idiot, or worthless, or any sort of speech which puts them down (and, often, with the intent to lift yourself up, to make yourself feel better) you are transgressing the commandment to love your neighbor and to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
If you wouldn't want to be treated this way, then don't treat others that way.
As we begin to understand that the rule by which we are to conduct ourselves in regard to others is always love; and anything that is unloving is therefore a failure on our part to abide by that rule and command, we will begin to notice just how deep this problem of sin goes in ourselves.
It can be easy to fall into a trap of thinking that "sin" is limited to just particular external acts, this is a sin, or that's a sin. But Scripture tells us, and we can see this for ourselves as we learn more about what God's commandment to us is, that the infection of sin runs deep--all the way to the very center of ourselves. The Prophet Jeremiah wrote, "The heart is deceitful above all else, and desperately sick, who can understand it?" St. Paul in his letter to the Romans speaks of sin as though it were a law imposing itself on him, that sin seemed to be laying in wait to pounce right in his bodily members--as though it's down deep in his very bones.
The myriad ways in which we, routinely, fail to love God with all our heart, and love our neighbor as ourselves; the ways we fail in our actions, in our words, in our thoughts, and even in our feelings, cuts deep. And God's commandment, that we love, is actually a hammer that comes crashing down upon us. This hammer of the Law condemns us, all the time. Not because God wants to condemn us with His Law--the Law is good, the Law were it to be followed perfectly would bring life--but because of sin, the Law does not make us alive, but strikes us down.
This is, by the way, why Paul says that no one can be righteous by the Law, the Law cannot make the unrighteous sinner into a righteous saint. Therefore, "All have sinned and fallen short". You, me, everybody is guilty, condemned, and struck down by the hammer of the Law, the gavel is sounded, and every human person who has ever existed is justly and rightly pronounced guilty.
The Gospel, on the other hand, is not like the Law. For, Paul says, where "the Law could not do because of sin" "God has done by sending His Son" who is the one and only actually righteous human person. Jesus alone is just, righteous, and holy--the only one to have ever been conceived. And Jesus has perfectly satisfied the Law, and by His death and resurrection He has rendered you and I--the unjust sinners--just on His account. This is why there is a righteousness apart from the Law, the righteousness that is by faith. It is not that the "act" of believing makes us righteous; it's that faith trusts in Christ,
and Christ Himself is our righteousness. We are therefore justified--declared right before God--in Christ. We stand before the Father in Christ, through faith, and in Christ we are declared not guilty and forgiven.
So in this way, the Law teaches us the depths of our sin and just how desperately we need Jesus. And the Gospel always declares Jesus to us. Our need of the Savior is supplied, freely, out of God's compassion and love for us, and the Gospel delivers this to us, and faith trusts this.
So, then, why should we be concerned with the commandment of God if it cannot justify us, and in fact it strikes us down as condemned sinners? Because the God who loves you also loves your neighbor, and so should you.
Your fellow human beings are real people, with real feelings, real needs, real struggles. Your neighbor still has a hungry belly, so feed him. Your neighbor still gets thirsty, give her water to drink. Your neighbor still depends on you, just as you depend on your neighbor.
God doesn't need our good works, but our neighbors do. Therefore, call no one fool, call no one raqa. Love your neighbor as yourself.
-CryptoLutheran
