Leadership Communication

Proverbs 26:4-5 (NASB) Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him.  Answer a fool as his folly deserves, that he not be wise in his own eyes.


What appears to be contradictory in these verses is not. Verse four admonishes us that sometimes it is best not to answer a question whose foundation is foolishness:  silence is golden for the question was not asked to learn, but only for selfish purposes. But there is a time to answer the foolishness of this world:  and that time is when the truth is at stake. In this instance, to not be ready with an answer might lead the foolish person to swallow their own foolishness and contaminate others, leading them to believe that the fool’s words were unanswerable. This is why Believers are admonished to “Work hard so God can approve you. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.”

Copyright ©2006 by P. Griffith Lindell