Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. (Romans 1:22-23, NIV)
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.
Early in the letter to the Romans Paul makes the case that God’s wrath is being revealed in the world because mankind has suppressed the truth by their wickedness. Although Paul’s statement is shocking it’s not out of line, especially when one considers the storyline of the Scriptures. Nevertheless, he anticipates an objection he knows will be made that it’s unfair for God to reveal his wrath in the world. Specifically, because (it is assumed) he hasn’t made himself known. Paul knows this objection is coming and before it can make its stand he cuts it off at the knees by saying that “…what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them” (Romans 1:19).
All human beings everywhere know God enough for God to hold them accountable for their response to him. They know God enough because (contrary to the opinion of many) God has made himself known to them.
Why then, you might ask, didn’t all in Rome believe? If God has made himself known why is his wrath being revealed?
Because, even though God has made himself known, some of them decided to ignore him—to reject his own revelation of himself. They’ve said things like: it’s not good enough or we want more or that doesn’t make any sense. In other words, they wanted God’s own personal revelation not to be on his terms, but on theirs. They believed in themselves first and foremost and, therefore, they decided what revelation they would accept and what revelation they would reject. They did this because they trusted themselves. They trusted their feelings. They trusted in their own wisdom.
The problem is, Paul says that in their wisdom that brought them to denying and rejecting God, they have become fools.
And it didn’t end there.
Paul tells us that in their “wisdom” they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like human beings. Do you see what they did? They had the God of the universe reveal himself to them in such a way that they were capable of making a real decision and in their wisdom they decided to worship not the creator of all things but images they had made with their own hands. They decided to bow down to images made to look like another person or birds or animals or reptiles. Instead of worshipping the Creator, they decided to worship the things made by the people who were made by God. Not only that, but they decided to worship the birds, animals, and reptiles that God put human beings in charge of in Genesis 1.
In all their “wisdom” they became fools through rejecting the One who made them and gave them order. The question, then, for us is: How different are we from those in 1st Century Rome? The answer is: We’re exactly the same, if….
We’re exactly the same if in our “wisdom” we exchange true glory for the fake stuff. We’re exactly the same if in our “wisdom” we demand God reveal himself on our terms instead of his. We’re exactly the same if in our “wisdom” we look at Jesus and seem him as someone other than God in the flesh.
“If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.” (1 Corinthians 3:18b-19a)