Romans 1:22-23: "A Foolish Substitute"

In v.19-21, we learned that God has made His existence evident to us and our proper response is to give Him glory and thanks. Paul explained that man has a darkened heart that wants to make itself God and deny any glory to God who deserves it. Paul will further explain in v. 22 and 23 the foolishness of man and where they turned their affection to.

Paul explains that man's problem is that they are blinded by their own sinfulness. Paul states that man "professing to be wise, they became fools". The foolish world will think that they have all the answers. In their eyes, they have the wisdom and knowledge to figure everything out. In this day of science and technology, man thinks they can solve anything that comes at them. However, they are only wise in their own eyes. God's Word tells us that they "have become fools". What is important to understand is what we have our knowledge and wisdom in. Even using the world's standards it is most efficient to be knowledgeable in the things that are important. It would do the plumber no good if he knew how to fix a car. As Christians, we understand the most important thing to understand and know is God. God will decide our eternities, and on that judgment day, no amount of knowledge will help us from incurring the wrath of God except for our relationship to Christ. To the world this may seem foolish to spend our time learning and practicing the things of God, because it often goes against the way of the world. Why spend so much time reading your scriptures and attending church when you can sleep in, make more money, or party a little harder? Why follow all of these strict rules? Just have fun. This is the thinking of the world. However, as believers we know the importance and the benefits of knowing Christ and following His ways. Paul explains this further in I Cor. 1:20, "Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" David also understood this in Ps. 14:1 "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; there is no one who does good." The worst part of all this is that they "profess to be wise". They think that they are the smart ones. What they do not understand is they are storing up wrath for themselves on the day of judgment. So basically Paul starts off v. 22 by explaining that because they thought they were wise, they became even more foolish.

In v.23, Paul explains that in their foolishness they turned to man-made religion. MacArthur states, "In their spiritual blindness, intellectual darkness, and moral depravity, men are by nature inclined to reject the Holy Creator for the unholy creature. Because something even in their fallenness demands a god, but one they like better than the true God, they devise deities of their own making." What powerful words. It is natural for man to reject God, he would much rather make his own god that he can control, and make his own rules with, rather than follow and submit himself to the true God. Man has "exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man". This statement is a proof for man's foolishness. It says that they have exchanged a mighty, powerful, immortal, all-knowing, ominpresent God, and exchanged it for a fallen, decaying, limited in knowledge mortal. This is foolishness. To put it in terms they would understand, it would be as if I traded away the winning lottery ticket for a pack of gum. Yet, in their own eyes they think they are wise for doing this. Their thinking that they now have a god that does what they want, a god that lets them do as they please, they have no one to answer to. Yet, in the end, this god is no more than themselves, unable to save. MacArthur explains, "Every form of idolatry is a form of self-worship, just as every form of idolatry is a form of demon, or Satan, worship. Whether his idols are fashioned out of his own depraved thinking or are inspired by Satan, every false god appeals to man's fallen nature and entices him to glorify and indulge himself."

Not only does man worship and glorify himself, but even more ridiculous, Paul shows us they turned to "birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." Isaiah has a great commentary on this behavior. "Those who fashion a graven image are all of them futile, and their precious things are of no profit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame. Who has fashioned a god or cast an idol to no profit? Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them tremble, let them together be put to shame" (Isa. 44:9-11). Basically Isaiah is pointing out the foolishness of worshipping things that don't even have the power to create themselves. Would you want to worship anything that was dependent upon the work of you or another man to create it. This is the foolishness of man and how they do everything in their power to take away the glory that is due to God.

It is easy for us as believers to look on the actions of other religions that glorify and lift up animals and carved images, and see the foolishness in this. However, do we look past our own actions. How many times have we put our hope in faith in another person? How many times have we looked upon another of the opposite sex for our happiness? How many times do we look to ourselves for the strength to accomplish something? How often do we look to materialism for our happiness? We must not read these verses and be thankful that we are exempt from such foolish behavior. Instead, we must look intently into our hearts and see where our foolishness lies.