Romans 1:22
New International Version
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools

New Living Translation
Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.

English Standard Version
Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

Berean Standard Bible
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,

Berean Literal Bible
Professing to be wise, they became fools,

King James Bible
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

New King James Version
Professing to be wise, they became fools,

New American Standard Bible
Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

NASB 1995
Professing to be wise, they became fools,

NASB 1977
Professing to be wise, they became fools,

Legacy Standard Bible
Professing to be wise, they became fools,

Amplified Bible
Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

Christian Standard Bible
Claiming to be wise, they became fools

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Claiming to be wise, they became fools

American Standard Version
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And when they thought in themselves that they were wise, they became insane.

Contemporary English Version
They claim to be wise, but they are fools.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

English Revised Version
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

GOD'S WORD® Translation
While claiming to be wise, they became fools.

Good News Translation
They say they are wise, but they are fools;

International Standard Version
Though claiming to be wise, they became fools

Literal Standard Version
professing to be wise, they were made fools,

Majority Standard Bible
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,

New American Bible
While claiming to be wise, they became fools

NET Bible
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools

New Revised Standard Version
Claiming to be wise, they became fools;

New Heart English Bible
Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

Webster's Bible Translation
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools:

Weymouth New Testament
While boasting of their wisdom they became utter fools,

World English Bible
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Young's Literal Translation
professing to be wise, they were made fools,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
God's Wrath against Sin
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.…

Cross References
Isaiah 44:20
He feeds on ashes. His deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, "Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?"

Jeremiah 4:22
"For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good."

Jeremiah 8:8
How can you say, 'We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us,' when in fact the lying pen of the scribes has produced a deception?

Jeremiah 10:14
Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.

1 Corinthians 1:20
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?


Treasury of Scripture

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Romans 11:25
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Proverbs 25:14
Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain.

Proverbs 26:12
Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

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Romans 1
1. Paul commends his calling to the Romans;
9. and his desire to come to them.
16. What his gospel is.
18. God is angry with sin.
21. What were the sins of mankind.














(22, 23) Relying upon their own wisdom, they wandered further and further from true wisdom, falling into the contradiction of supposing that the eternal and immutable Essence of God could be represented by the perishable figures of man, or bird, or quadruped, or insect.

(22) They became fools.--They were made fools. It is not merely that they expose their real folly, but that folly is itself judicially inflicted by God as a punishment for the first step of declension from Him.

Verses 22, 23. - Professing themselves to be wise, they Became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the similitude (literally, in similitude; cf. Psalm 106:20, whence idea and words are taken) of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. The expression, γνόντες τὸν Θεὸν, refers to what has been said of τὸ γνωστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, having been "manifest in them." It implies actual knowledge, not mere capacity of knowledge. Mankind is regarded as having lost a truer perception of God once possessed, idolatry being a sign of culpable degradation of the human race - not, as some would have us now believe, a stage in man's emergence from brutality. Scripture ever represents the human race as having fallen and become degraded; not as having risen gradually to any intelligent conceptions of God at all. And it may well be asked whether modern anthropological science has really discovered anything to discredit the scriptural view of the original condition and capacity of man. The view here presented is that obfuscation of the understanding (σύνεσις) ensued from refusal to glorify and give thanks to known Deity. "Gratias assere debemns ob beneficia; glorificare ob ipsas virtutes divinas" (Bengel). Hence came ματαιότης, a word, with its correlatives, constantly used with reference to idolatry; cf. Acts 14:15; 1 Corinthians 3:20; Ephesians 4:17; 1 Peter 1:18; also in the Old Testament, 1 Kings 16:26 (ἐν τοῖς ματαίοις ἐπορεύαὐτῶν, LXX.), 2 Kings 17:15 (θησαν ὀπίσω τῶν μαρταίων, LXX.); Jeremiah 2:5; Jonah 2:8 (φυλασσάμενοι μάταια καὶ ψευδῆ). Two forms of idolatry - both involving unworthy conceptions of the Divine Being - are alluded to, suggested, we may suppose, by the anthropomorphism of the Greeks and the creature-worship of Egypt, which were the two notable and representative developments of heathen religion. The expression, φάσκοντες εῖναι σοφοὶ, with the previous ἐν τοῖς διαλογισμαοῖς, have led some to suppose in this whole passage a special reference to the schools of philosophy. But this is not so. The degradation spoken of was long anterior to them, nor is this charge, as formulated, applicable to them. The idea is, generally, that boasted human intellect has not preserved men from folly; not even "the wisdom of the Egyptians," or the intellectual culture of the Greeks (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:19, etc.; 1 Corinthians 3:19, etc.).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Although they claimed
φάσκοντες (phaskontes)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 5335: To assert, affirm, profess. Prolongation from the same as phemi; to assert.

to be
εἶναι (einai)
Verb - Present Infinitive Active
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

wise,
σοφοὶ (sophoi)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 4680: Wise, learned, cultivated, skilled, clever. Akin to saphes; wise.

they became fools,
ἐμωράνθησαν (emōranthēsan)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 3471: From moros; to become insipid; figuratively, to make as a simpleton.


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NT Letters: Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise they became (Rom. Ro)
Romans 1:21
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