How Can I Discern Whether or Not to “Answer a Fool according to His Folly,” as Proverbs 26:4–5 Says?

The book of Proverbs is a trusted companion in the Christian life, helping us exercise wisdom in our daily lives. Today, Stephen Nichols helps us think through how to respond in wisdom when we’re met with folly.

NATHAN W. BINGHAM: Joining us today is Dr. Stephen Nichols. He’s Ligonier’s chief academic officer and also the president of Reformation Bible College. Dr. Nichols, as it says in Proverbs 26, how can I discern whether to answer a fool according to his folly?

DR. STEPHEN NICHOLS: Yeah, so here we have a very fascinating example. As you mentioned, in verse 4 of chapter 26, we are told, “Answer not a fool,” and then, in the very next verse, we are told to answer a fool. So, it leaves us wondering, first of all, “Is the Bible contradicting itself?” and secondly, “What do we do with this text?”

Well, let’s just talk about proverbs in general. Every language has proverbs. Every culture has proverbs. So, we have proverbs that are contradictory. We’ll say, on the one hand, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” and then we say, “Out of sight, out of mind.” The question is, “Well, which is it?” The answer is, “Well, it’s circumstantial,” isn’t it? In different circumstances, different proverbial wisdom applies.

But we’re not talking about cultural proverbs; we’re talking about the Bible. And so, the Proverbs, just as every other word in the Bible, is inspired, is inerrant, is authoritative, and true. So, we’re left with asking the question, “This genre of the Proverbs, how do we interpret them, especially in chapters 10 to 31, where we have all these true proverbial sayings of statements?” And I think a good way to look at this is, the Proverbs are true—absolutely. It’s inerrent. It’s inspired. But they’re true as generalizations, not true as laws.

And so now, we can come back to these two, and we can say, “You know, in some situations, there is wisdom in answering a fool,” and maybe even add, “There’s obligation in answering the fool.” Whereas in other situations—how does Jesus say it in the Gospels?—“You’re throwing your pearls before swine.” In other situations, it’s not only not helpful—it can make the situation actually worse.

Part of the help is in the verses themselves. In verse 4, we’re told:

Answer not a fool according to his folly,
lest you be like him yourself.

It’s very easy to get dragged into an argument. It’s very easy to think you’re going to help this person and bring them out of their position when, just because of the nature of the conversation or their disposition, they’re actually going to pull you down, and you’re going to find that you sort of get caught up in it, and you begin to sound a little foolish in the process. So, you don’t want that. You need to steer clear of that. And so, there are clear cases where it simply is the wiser thing not to engage.

But then you go to verse 5, and we’re told:

Answer a fool according to his folly,
lest he be wise in his own eyes.

So now, the corresponding teaching reminds us that we have an obligation to this person. And so, in their foolishness, they think they’re being wise; we know it’s foolishness, so we can help them, in some cases, point that out—help them see the logical ends of their point of view, sometimes even just getting them to repeat what they said. And then: “Are you paying attention to the words that are coming out of your mouth? Because they don’t make sense, and that’s foolish.” And, you know, even as parents, we can apply this. At what point do we hear faulty thinking and faulty expressions? Well, we have an obligation, don’t we, to help them seek wisdom.

I think this applies in apologetics as we engage with conversations with people about the gospel. There are times where they’re picking a fight and throwing up contradictions, or just sort of being generally—the old word is persnickety—just being challenging to us. Well, at that point, we’re just going to let the conversation sort of devolve. And that may very well be the category of “don’t answer.” But if someone genuinely is ignorant or lacks knowledge, and they don’t realize it and so they’re saying something foolish, well, I think at that point we have, again, an obligation, a burden to speak into that foolishness.

What we’re talking about here is how to read the Proverbs. And the Proverbs is that book of practical application of theology. And it takes wisdom, it takes maturity to know when to speak, when not to speak; when to apply a proverb, when not to, because again, they’re generalizations. And so, through prayer, and just through seeking to be faithful to Scripture and a faithful disciple, I think we can see over time how we can apply the Proverbs wisely in situations, whether we’re talking to fools or whoever we’re talking to.