Not Suffering Fools Gladly

Someone recently said that I ‘don’t suffer fools gladly’. This phrase essentially means that someone does not tolerate stupidity in others. Some can tolerate stupidity, but few gladly. The phrase is still in common use nowadays even though it originates in the Authorised translation of the Bible. In 2 Corinthians 11:19, the New King James renders it ‘For you put up with fools gladly, since you yourselves are wise’. Paul is being sarcastic, hailing the Corinthians’ wisdom in heeding the teachings of money-grabbing charlatans while questioning his own motives. The ‘fool’ in scripture is not an ill-educated fellow with a low intelligence quotient. Fools are those who reject sound teaching or divine revelation. Thus Richard Dawkins is far more intelligent than I am, yet God reckons him a fool. God has suffered human foolishness for millenia; the day is coming when He will put up with it no longer.

Suffering fools gladly is not something that God does, and neither did Paul advocate it. It was rather a trait of the Corinthian church and its spiritual immaturity. Do not mistake this, however, for being hot tempered or hard on other people. Ephesians 4:2 instructs us to carry ourselves with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love. We, too, are fools, and God puts up with us.

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