Proverbs 26:4 Commentary and Bible Study

The next two proverbs appear at a superficial level to contradict each other since they propose two opposite courses of action, but in fact they present two opposite mistakes that we can make in dealing with the foolish, both of which should be avoided. In any encounter with a fool we have to be aware of these two problems: we must avoid being dragged down to their level, and we must avoid simply letting them get away with their foolishness. The first mistake comes from not being different to the fool. The verse assumes the folly of unbelief and the wisdom of faith. This is the way that the word foolishness is used throughout the Book for Proverbs, for it is a spiritual book which is consistent with the analogy of faith.Answer not a fool according to his folly, because if you know the living God you must not speak as the fool speaks or behave as he behaves. You must not exaggerate to make a point as he does, or bend the truth to suit your purpose; you must not get angry as he does, or speak error as he does, or deny God as he does. You will inevitably encounter the fool often in everyday life and it is your duty and privilege to shine as lights in the world and have a testimony to many fools. They may be intelligent fools, and they may be more intelligent than you, with more knowledge in some area of human learning, but they do not know God and therefore their learning makes them all the more foolish in rejecting God’s word, for they show they are without excuse. Some will reject you and set no value on the light that is in you, but some may be brought to repentance and come to know the living God through your words. There is a line between us and them and we must not cross that line in order to relate to them, teach them, reprove them. There may be a temptation to do so, both because it is the natural way we relate according to the old nature that is still in us, and because it is simply easier to respond in kind when we are being attacked or hurt or pressured by them. When it comes to arguing with them, we must also be careful not to take on board their presuppositions or to abandon our own high ground of theism, because they invite us to debate on some imaginary neutral ground where all arguments have equal status. The word of God and all that it teaches is the only safe ground, and we must never leave it or give up any of its truths in order to engage with them.