The Foolishness of Turning from the Incorruptible God to Corruptible Idols
Studying Romans 1:22-23.
Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. (Romans 1:22-23)
God’s judicial wrath was revealed against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of those who suppressed the truth of God (Romans 1:18-19). Because God had shown them the truth and created so gloriously, the Gentile world had no excuse for rejecting the Lord God.
Humanity must worship something or someone.
There was still a desire and a need to worship something - so the Gentile world created “images” in their own image and in the image of animals. Humanity will always worship someone or something - whether it be the Lord God, an idol, self, the stars, or wealth.
When the Gentile world turned away from the truth of the Lord God, they replaced Him with various idols. The spiritual confusion only grew worse over time.
Whenever the mind of man is substituted for the mind of God, there is bound to be tragedy in the spiritual life of an individual. - Barnhouse, Romans Vol 1, 266
While many intelligent people were living in Gentile societies, they had set aside the will of the Lord God and served all kinds of idols and superstitions. They “professed to be wise,” but they had missed the most important thing of all.
If a man doesn’t major in living honorably with the known will of God then it doesn’t matter how much else he gets to know. - McGuiggan, Romans, 80
The foolishness of worshipping a “corruptible” idol.
Paul wrote that the Gentile people had “changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.”
They set aside the Lord God, who will never grow old and continues to live forever, images that only last a short time and then have to be replaced or repaired. Psalm 102:25-27 speaks of the Lord God as having no end.
Of old You laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
They will perish, but You will endure;
Yes, they will all grow old like a garment;
Like a cloak You will change them,
And they will be changed.
But You are the same,
And Your years will have no end.
Worshipping anyone or anything other than the Lord God is pure foolishness because everything else is “corruptible” or has a limit on how long it will last.
Of course, let’s not think that only ancient people could be so foolish as to replace the living God with an idol.
What would the Bible say of the [21st] century people? They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into DEMOCRACY? AMERICANISM? SUCCESS? CORRECTNESS? EDUCATION? ATHLETIC PROWESS? WEALTH? HEALTH? Those ancients were fools but so are moderns. - McGuiggan, Romans, 80
Maybe humanity’s idols look a little different today than when Paul wrote the letter to the Christians in Rome. But the problem is still the same: the idol pales in comparison to the glory of the Lord God - the incorruptible One.
True wisdom is found in humbling ourselves before the Lord God and serving Him (Proverbs 1:7).