AC 44 - wise & foolish

AC 44
Man, like the earth, can produce nothing of good unless the knowledges of faith are first sown in him, whereby he may know what is to be believed and done. It is the office of the understanding to hear the Word, and of the will to do it. To hear the Word and not to do it, is like saying that we believe when we do not live according to our belief; in which case we separate hearing and doing, and thus have a divided mind, and become of those whom the Lord calls "foolish" in the following passage: --

Whosoever hears My words, and does them,
I will liken to a wise man who built his house upon a rock:
but every one that hears My words and does them not,
I liken to a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand.
(Matthew 7:24,26)