Sapate Sune 6, 2021
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
KUO pehē ‘e he vale ‘i hono loto, “Oku ‘ikai ha ‘Otua.
(14:1-2) 1 KUO pehē ‘e he vale ‘i hono loto, “Oku ‘ikai ha ‘Otua.” Kuo nau fakaka‘anga, kuo nau fakalielia‘i ‘enau ngaahi tō‘onga; ‘Oku ‘ikai ha fai lelei ‘e toko taha. 2 Ne ‘afio hifo mei langi ‘a Sihova ki he hako‘i tangata, Ke vakai pe ‘oku fakapotopoto ha taha, Pe ai ha taha ‘oku kumi ki he ‘Otua.
(14:1-2) 1 The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none
who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see
if there are any who understand, who seek after God.
* G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible*
Here the psalmist utters his own consciousness of the meaning of godlessness. In its essence it is folly. The word "fool" here stands for moral perversity rather than intellectual blindness. This is repeated in the declaration, "They are corrupt,'' and in the statement that their works are abominable. To his own testimony the psalmist adds the statement of the divine outlook on humanity. It is the same. Men do not recognize God and their doings are therefore evil.
The psalmist then looks at certain
occasions without naming them. "There" refers to some occasion of
God's deliverance of His people. The thought is that when God was recognized by
His people their enemies were filled with fear. Then there is a contrasting
picture of the oppressed people of God put to shame, "because Jehovah is
his refuge"; the thought being that the refuge was neglected and the
chosen therefore rejected (see Psa 53:5 ). The thought of the whole psalm is of
the safety of godliness and the peril of ungodliness. Jehovah cannot be
deceived. He knows and this events always prove. The psalm ends with a sigh for
the coming of the day of deliverance.
*Commentary: David Guzik – Study Guide on the Psalms*
The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God": David looked at those who denied the existence of God and came to the conclusion that they are fools. The idea behind this ancient Hebrew word translated fool is more moral than intellectual. David did not have in mind those not smart enough to figure God out (no one is that smart); he had in mind those who simply reject God.
"That is, 'No God for me.' So his is a practical as well as theoretical atheism. Not only does he not believe in God, he also acts on his conviction." (Boice)
David says this because of the plain evidence that there is a God; evidence in both creation and human conscience that Paul described in Romans 1. The fact that some men insist on denying the existence of God does not erase God from the universe; it instead speaks to their own standing as fools. As Paul wrote in Romans 1:22, Professing to be wise, they became fools.
"The Hebrew word for fool in this psalm is nabal, a word which implies an aggressive perversity, epitomized in the Nabal of 1 Samuel 25:25." (Kidner)
The God-denying man is a fool because:
- He denies what is plainly evident.
- He believes in tremendous effect with no
cause.
- He denies a moral authority in the
universe.
- He believes only what can be proven by
the scientific method.
- He takes a dramatic, losing chance on
his supposition that there is no God.
- He refuses to be persuaded by the many powerful arguments for the existence of God.
There are many powerful arguments for the existence of God; among them are these:
- The Cosmological Argument: The existence of the universe means there must be a creator God.
- The Teleological Argument: The existence of design in the universe means there must be a designer God.
- The Anthropological Argument: The unique nature and character of humanity means there must be a relational God.
- The Moral Argument: The existence of morality means there must be a governing God.
"Which is cause, and which is effect? Does
atheism result from folly, or folly from atheism? It would be perfectly correct
to say that each is cause and each is effect." (Morgan)
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