VB139 Diaphragm
Diaphragm
Word Study – Fool, Foolish
[Eph 5:17; 1Pet 2:15; Gal 3:1,3; Titus 3:3]
When I was kid (60+ years ago) foolishness was involved. I climbed up in a big wild cherry tree. I enjoyed the view from up there. I even ate a few of the little cherries. Lots of fun, until I started to clime back down. I grabbed hold of the wrong branch, it broke, and down I fell. I landed flat on my chest in the tall grass. I couldn’t breathe, and for few moments felt like I was going to die.
Eventually I was able to get up off the ground and walk home. The sudden shock to my diaphragm on the hard landing had knocked the wind out of me. I survived, but felt like a fool for not being more cautious in my tree climbing. I never told Mom.
There are many references to “fools” and “foolish” in the Bible. One Greek word for fool is aphron [G878]. This word comes from a very interesting root word “phren,” pronounced, frane.
Greek scholar, Spiros Zodhiates wrote that the word, phrenós (fem. noun) is, “Literally the diaphragm, which curbs or restrains. Figuratively, the supposed seat of all mental and emotional activity. The New Testament uses synonyms of this word meaning the mind, intellect, disposition, and feelings. And in 1Cor 14:20 it is translated “understanding” (compared to Simple, devoid of understanding in Pr 7:7; 9:4). Phrenós was regarded as the seat of intellectual and spiritual activity. It is the diaphragm which determines the strength of the breath, and hence also the human spirit and its emotions. It precisely refers to the ability not only to think, but also to control one’s thoughts and attitudes. It is the heart as the seat of passions, as well as the mind as the seat of mental faculties.”1
Derivatives of phrenós include: [G878], a fool; [G3675], of the same mind; [G4998], of sound mind; [G5422], to deceive; [G5426], to think.
Synonyms: [G3563], mind; [G4907], discernment, which is the ability to understand the relationships between ideas; [G1271], intellect, mind.
All of these words come out of the root word, frane (diaphragm).
In the likeness of God, we have our features; eyes, ears, mouth, arms, hands, and apparently a diaphragm.
Holy Spirit gives us the ability to (like a diaphragm) curb, restrain, or regulate our mental, and emotional activity. Our mind, understanding, intellect, disposition, and feelings should be controlled by our born-again spirit. We cannot only think, but also control our thoughts and attitudes. Our heart is the seat of passions, and our mind is the seat of mental faculties. Thank God for the mind of Christ!
Just as a great singer or athlete exercises for increased air capacity, our spiritual diaphragm can be exercised to strengthen the ability to think, and control our thoughts and attitudes. I believe this has to do with the fruit of the Spirit (temperance, self-control, Gal 5:23)2
The ability to involuntarily breathe the inspired Word of God, and to deliberately take a deep breath to prophesy or decree, sends forth God’s Word into the world. I believe this happens as we speak forth God’s Word with our prayers. The gates of Hell will not prevail!
When the prefix “a” is added to a word, it creates the exact opposite meaning. So with the “a,” frane becomes aphron meaning the opposite. In all the other occurrences of aphron in the New Testament are translated fool, fools, or foolish.
A fool then is a person who not only does not think correctly, but also cannot control the thoughts and attitudes he has. A fool is senseless, cannot form a complete thought, yet continues to talk! These people have no place in leadership, nor the ability to serve others.
Joseph Thayer, nineteenth-century Greek scholar, defines it this way: “Without reason … senseless, foolish, stupid, without reflection or intelligence, acting rashly.”3
We need to thank God that we no longer need to act like the fool, but that we can think straight because we are led by the Spirit, and His Word dominates our minds.
Another characteristic of the fool is to be “unwise,” as aphron is used in Eph 5:17.
Eph 5:17 (NKJV) –Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
The Bible says we can silence the foolish, according to 1Pet 2:15.
1Pet 2:15 (NASB) –For such is the will of God, that by doing right you silence the ignorance of foolish people.
There are a lot of foolish Christians today.
Another Greek word translated fool (or “foolish”) is an-o’-ay-tos [G453]. Paul gave the example of foolish Christians when he wrote to the Galatians, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth.… Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh” (Gal 3:1,3)?
By using an-o’-ay-tos, Paul called these people mindless – without understanding, reason, or thought, people who had abandoned the very truth they had been taught.
That is just as true today as then. With the growing denial of justification by faith alone, the continuing onslaught against the true Gospel message, and the growing challenge to biblical ministry, there are countless “foolish” Christian teachers, and followers. That type of fool can be described in several ways.
A fool is concerned about ideals instead of the absolutes. For many today, facts get in the way of truth.
They are concerned more about wants than the Word. Many churches today – even so-called evangelical ones – are not based upon a ministry of the Word of God, but upon what people want, such as entertainment and every attention-getting program imaginable. But the Bible teaches none of that.
The challenge to each of us is to be ruled only by the truth of God’s Word.
A common cause of foolish behavior, is to focus on acquiring earthly things, power, and popularity, rather than a deeper relationship with God (See, 1Tim 6:9).
We should remember, “we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another” (Titus 3:3).
Whatever stands between you and your Bible, is a tool of the enemy!
God bless you my friend,
1Zodhiates, Spiros. The Complete Word Study New Testament, KJV (Chattanooga: AMG, 1992), G5424.
2Strong, James. Exhaustive Concordance: Dictionaries of the Hebrew and Greek Words (Nashville: Abington, 1890; 34th Printing 1976), [1468]
3Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon, ref. no. 40.
