In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said something about not calling someone a fool. That is, in most English translations it comes out like that. If you are legalistic, you’d probably pass over the part later where Jesus called someone a child of Satan, an even worse insult.
You have heard that it was said to an older generation, “Do not murder,” and “whoever murders will be subjected to judgment.” But I say to you that anyone who is angry with a brother will be subjected to judgment. And whoever insults a brother will be brought before the council, and whoever says “Fool” will be sent to fiery hell. (Matthew 5:21-22 NET)
Context is everything, especially in Hebrew teaching. The context is the definition of wisdom versus folly. In the Ancient Near East it was universally understood that wisdom was not some deep thinking alone, but moral discernment. While assessing what you see with clarity and intelligence is a good thing, wisdom is not a question of interpreting facts. It was about recognizing the moral implications of things. There was no higher knowledge possible than moral insight.
By contrast, folly was moral stupidity. Seeing beyond mere words, we recognize that Jesus was talking about allowing anger to control your decisions. Even then, it’s not the same anger that drove Him to clear the Bazzars of the Sons of Annas out the Court of Gentiles. Anger was not the focus of danger here, but Jesus goes on to say things about reconciliation. There is a delicious play on words here about calling someone else a fool when you are the person with a moral problem.
Keep in mind that social stability is the summum bonum in Hebrew law. Not all killing is murder; murder is unjustified killing. So much is obvious from the Law of Moses, which is the broader context here as Jesus teaches according to the Covenant. It’s a paradox that people of good conscience are slow to kill and have to be prodded into executing, especially when their own blood kin get too far out of line. It’s folly to overindulge your kin, as King David did too often, allowing serious evil to overcome the social stability he was supposed to bring. But anyone quick to kill, the way David’s cousin Joab did, was also a fool. Everyone knew this from reading the Old Testament.
We also know that false accusation could get you in trouble. Western democratic traditions make something of this, but we simply have no law against, and only a pretense of social disapproval of, deception in general. In Hebrew cultures, there was no pretense about it. So people like Apostle Peter might be full of crap, making big promises they couldn’t keep, but he would be loathe to lie outright. Yet he did that very thing during Jesus’ trial. It was culturally equivalent to treason. Our Lord’s response to Peter was more painful than death, and it broke him.
Net result: Be very reluctant to close the door on people. Nobody says you can’t protect your calling and your divine stewardship. It’s one thing to recognize you can’t do any more and put as much distance as you reasonably can between yourself and them. That’s not the same as marking them for final disposition. You leave the door open for when/if they change whatever it was that forced you to stop dealing with them. It’s not the words of denuciation, but the failure to turn things over to God. When the New Testament refers to turning someone over to Satan for discipline, notice that it’s not permanent or eternal. It’s just letting Satan do the job God assigned to him. The door to repentance is always open.
That’s the point: Leave room for repentance in your soul, for yourself and others.
