Intelligence is the capacity to constructively use knowledge according to reality. Folly is having that capacity but the inability to understand reality. Many intelligent people cannot discern truth from falsehood. Adam and Eve were created with intellect. Satan's chore was merely to short-circuit their knowledge base. They only knew what living was, even with an intellect in the image of God. Their knowledge base contained nothing about death. Those two smart people were outsmarted by the Serpent. He used truth to deceive. Although they were quite intellectual; Adam and Eve were not smart. If so, they would have been wary of the Serpent's motives.
The two needed God for protection, because their knowledge base included only "good" things. They didn't know what they were doing because they had no concept of evil. Once they did, they felt foolish, and endeavored to cover their naivete with fig leaves, not realizing that, that was silly! Adam and Eve were intelligent but their knowledge was limited. Knowledge should not be confused with intelligence. Smartness is knowledgeable - using intelligence for improvement. Using intelligence to support falsehoods is foolishness. Thus, smart and foolish are antonyms.
But to understand intelligence, knowledge must be understood. It is the accumulation of information. Most people have only knowledge of natural things. They have limited knowledge. They refuse to admit that they are only half smart, or like the proverbial glass - half foolish. Being half smart or half foolish is impossible. People are either smart or foolish!
Adam and Eve were not God. They only had half the knowledge available. They knew only of good. Satan took advantage of what they did not know, and used their limited knowledge to scam them, They needed protection from their own ignorance. They thought that they could cover their own sin with creating their own protective shield; in this case aprons of fig leaves. That was not efficacious for safety, and God made them cloaks of skin. Fig leaves were foolishness and skins were reasonable. They discarded their fig leaves and remained clothed in skins. That endowed them with wisdom. They quit depending on their own limited intelligence and trusted God. That was the beginning of wisdom as the wise man wrote, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding" (Prov 9:10).
Fearing the Lord is not what people think; it is fearing the inability of themselves to do what God can do. Fearing God is diminishing oneself while elevating God. That is what regeneration is all about. God holds the keys to salvation, and people don't. Christians must please God to obtain salvation. That "fear" is of not pleasing God; not that his penalty is feared. God does not desire to whip people into submission, but that they take up and carry their own cross for Him (Mark 8:34). That fear is wisdom because it leads to salvation.
It is foolish to not believe in the creation, because only the Creator can save. Many educated people have great intellect and are smart, but do not have knowledge of God. Usually, the greatest minds deny God because they can admit that there are things unseen. Therefore, they just won't submit to God because they have no way and no idea how to operationalize God. Intelligent people are most often "fools." They half only half the knowledge available and are enslaved to ignorance.
What does scripture mean? "The truth will set you free." Free from ignorance.
Intelligence is narrow. Knowledge has breadth, and includes the seen and unseen. Knowledge, thus, includes faith - "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Heb 11:1). Knowledge includes things seen, and also things that cannot be seen. Intelligent people are not usually "smart" but "foolish" because they know only half the truth.
I called my pastor "knowledgeable." I said that because he is a man of faith, and his knowledge-base includes all things - seen and unseen. While that is a smart thing to be, wisdom better describes that because smart people usually need tangible evidence. The "smartest man on Earth" - Stephen Hawking - has only half the knowledge that wise men have. It was not wise for him to deny the unseen just because he could not see those things. Hawking had faith in himself rather than God. That's not smart, and thus, smartness and knowledgeable must not be equated.
IQ is measured by tests of intelligence. IQ tests are measures of smartness. Wisdom, however, cannot be measured with the tools of psychology. The measure of wisdom is measured by faith. God created a scale for faith calibrated from "no faith" to "the faith of God." In between, are those of little faith, faith the size of a grain of mustard seed, the faith of Abraham, and great faith. The faith of God is only achievable with glorification when wise people regain their image of God. The faith of Abraham is a measure of the greatest human faith possible. Why? Because Abraham believed in the effectiveness of the blood of Jesus before Jesus was ever born! People today, only need to believe what is past, but Abraham believed what was promised! Perhaps the wisest an who ever lived was not Solomon, and certainly not Hawking, but Abraham whose bosom now comforts those souls now dead in Christ.
Intelligence is capacitance. It's the ability to absorb, retain and sort, and store knowledge. Smart people are great with cognition but often fail to derive truth. Something inside creates chaos in their mental capacity. That is the virus of sin inherited from Adam and transmitted from Satan who short-circuits the ignition of the cognition, or their absence of the "spark" to see the Light of God.
Wisdom is understanding truth and applying it. TRUTH: Regardless of suicidal thoughts, everyone loves themselves so much that they desire not to perish (Ephes 5:29). TRUTH: Most people will foolishly accept eternal death because they just won't submit to truth. Smart people effectually kill themselves each and ever day! If not for God, Adam and Eve would have died, even while thinking they were smart! TRUTH: Accepting the full knowledge-base can provide eternal life. So you don't believe in the Creator? Well, then, how did existence come about. Foolish people believe it happened by chance, and wise people recognize that it must have been created intelligently. TRUTH: That conclusion is the beginning of wisdom.
The conclusion, then, is that knowledgeableness and smartness are not the same. Some of those with IQ's of 85 are wiser than others with IQs of 180 because their knowledge-base is broader.
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