© 09 Colin Melbourne
The origin of; to suffer fools gladly
Q: Is it true that the common phrase to “not suffer fools gladly” originates from the Bible?
A: The phrase is used in everyday English conversation to describe a person who is impatient or intolerant of people he, or she, regards as dim-witted or foolish. So they may be sharp-tongued with them, or hold them up to public ridicule for their folly.
Therefore one student may warn another, “Be careful to ask only perceptive questions in the Professor’s tutorials because he doesn’t suffer fools gladly.”
The student who ignores this warning, and asks a daft question, can expect to be rebuked by the Professor, and made fun of in front of his fellow students.
The phrase does indeed originate in the Holy Bible.
It is an example of the wonderful translating ability of William Tyndale, which was later copied into the KJV. He had a splendid knack for finding a ringing English equivalent in meaning to what he read in the original Greek Textus Receptus. So in his 1534 translation he translated the mocking rebuke to the Corinthian believers taken in by false apostles and ministers of Satan in 2 Co. 11:19 as:
For ye suffer fools gladly, because that ye yourselves are wise.
Read the whole passage in context for the full import of this withering rebuke from the Lord. Notice that Paul prefaced the remark by emphasising he was not speaking as the Lord would speak (v.17) but was using irony to make his point. Nonetheless, the Lord has included it in the canon of His word, indicating He approved of Paul’s writing.
The word “suffer” here means to tolerate, rather than its more usual meaning of enduring discomfort or pain.
Many fellowships today need to study the rebuke and take it to heart, for they too tolerate Satan’s false apostles. False teachers feed them lies and trickery to nullify God’s word. Don’t try and tell me that God has anything to do with the Gold dust anointing, “angel feathers”, “the shepherding movement” or “female submission teaching”. And who have those silent women believers been listening to: God or the Devil?
Sufficient unto the day: What does it mean?
© 09 Colin Melbourne