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Summary
- The Bible never uses the word “sarcasm,” which comes from the Greek sarkazein, “to strip off the flesh.”
- Scripture records sarcasm from Elijah (1 Kings 18:27), Job (Job 12:2), Paul (1 Corinthians 4:8) and God’s reply to Job (Job 38:21).
- Jesus used irony and exaggeration against religious leaders (Mark 7:9; Matthew 23:24), and was himself mocked at the cross (Mark 15:31–32).
- Proverbs condemns the “scoffer” and the man who wounds and says, “I am only joking!” (Proverbs 21:24; 26:18–19).
- Thomas Aquinas judged derision by the speaker’s intention to shame; the Catholic Catechism (2481) and the Westminster Larger Catechism (question 145) name malicious irony and scoffing as sins.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version: 2 Samuel 6:20; 1 Kings 18:27; Job 12:2; 38:21; Psalms 1:1; 2:4; 22:7; Proverbs 21:24; 22:10; 26:18–19; Ecclesiastes 3:4; Isaiah 44:16–17; Matthew 5:22; 7:3–5; 12:36; 23:24; Mark 7:9; 15:17–18, 31–32; Luke 6:45; 13:33; John 10:32; 1 Corinthians 4:8, 10; 2 Corinthians 11:19; 12:13; Ephesians 4:29, 31–32; 5:4; Colossians 4:6; James 3:9–10. Greek of Ephesians 5:4 from the SBL Greek New Testament.
- “Sarcasm,” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/sarcasm
- Strong’s Hebrew 3887 (luts; lēṣ in Proverbs 21:24), Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3887.htm
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II, question 75 (“Of Derision”), question 113 (“Irony”) and question 168, article 2. https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3075.htm
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2481. https://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2481.htm
- Westminster Larger Catechism, question 145. https://opc.org/lc.html
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