New Living Translation
Romans 1:22
22Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.
Romans 1:22 in other versions
Context of Romans 1:22
20For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. 21Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. 24So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.
Read all of Romans 1Romans 1:22 word by word
φάσκοντες εἶναι σοφοὶ ἐμωράνθησανRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Romans 1:22
- Romans 11:25I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ.
- Proverbs 25:14A person who promises a gift but doesn’t give it is like clouds and wind that bring no rain.
- Proverbs 26:12There is more hope for fools than for people who think they are wise.
- Isaiah 47:10“You felt secure in your wickedness. ‘No one sees me,’ you said. But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray, and you said, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.’
- Jeremiah 8:8“‘How can you say, “We are wise because we have the word of the Lord,” when your teachers have twisted it by writing lies?
- Jeremiah 10:14The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge! The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make, for their carefully shaped works are a fraud. These idols have no breath or power.
- Matthew 6:23But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!
- 1 Corinthians 1:19As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”
- 1 Corinthians 3:18Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise.
Commentaries on Romans 1:22
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 22Professing themselves to be wise - This is most strikingly true of all the ancient philosophers, whether Greeks or Romans, as their works, which remain, sufficiently testify. The word signifies not merely the professing but the assumption of the philosophic character. In this sense the word is used by the best Greek writers. See Kypke. A dispassionate examination of the doctrine and lives of the most famed philosophers of antiquity, of every nation, will…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 22Professing themselves to be wise - This was the common boast of the philosophers of antiquity. The very word by which they chose to be called, “philosophers,” means literally “lovers of wisdom.” That it was their boast that they were wise, is well known; compare Romans 1:14; 1 Corinthians 1:19, 1 Corinthians 1:20, 1 Corinthians 1:22; 1 Corinthians 3:19; 2 Corinthians 11:19. They became fools - Compare Jeremiah 8:8-9. They became really foolish in their…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 18-25Verses 18-25 The apostle begins to show that all mankind need the salvation of the gospel, because none could obtain the favour of God, or escape his wrath by their own works. For no man can plead that he has fulfilled all his obligations to God and to his neighbour; nor can any truly say that he has fully acted up to the light afforded him. The sinfulness of man is described as ungodliness against the laws of the first table, and unrighteousness against…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 18-32Paul waits to explain righteousness through faith (see 3:21) until he first teaches about the sinfulness of all people. Both non-Jews and Jews are equally under the power of sin (1:18–32; 2:1–3:8). Because of this, both groups are in the same situation before God. No one can gain God’s favor by their own actions or obedience (3:9–20). All people need God’s saving action, not their own efforts.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 22-2322-23. Professing themselves--"boasting," or "pretending to be" wise, they became fools--"It is the invariable property of error in morals and religion, that men take credit to themselves for it and extol it as wisdom. So the heathen" (1Co 1:21) [Tholuck].Read the comment
Topics related to Romans 1:22
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Romans 1
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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