22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
1:22
Professing [alleging] to be wise,
If people reject revelation from God, they must turn to themselves as the source of truth. This self-orientation is called “solipsism” in philosophy. The idea of this thinking is that nothing outside of one’s mind can be justified. There is no extrinsic truth. The subject, or self, is the starting and ending point for truth.
The Greeks placed the greatest emphasis on philosophical “wisdom” in the ancient world, yet their own culture was depraved.
they became fools,
Reducing truth to the self is foolish. It is a downward path of worthless thinking. It is ironic that the “wise” became “fools.” Their man-centered worldview developed only spiritual pigmies. Their philosophical speculations darkened their hearts. A man devoid of God’s revelation cannot determine absolute truth. He cannot see the difference between the transitory and the eternal.
1:23
and changed the glory of the incorruptible [imperishable] God
People in the process of rebelling against revelation devolve from worshipping the eternal, imperishable Creator to worshipping the creature.
The word “changed” is exchanged. They exchanged something of true worth (the glory of an eternal God) for something of no value (an image). They transmuted God’s truth into something else. Man devised an exchange between God’s revelation and philosophy, and a human perspective on truth.
God’s glory is “incorruptible.” It is not subject to corruption or decay; it is eternally without corruption. There is no liability to decay in God, demonstrating something of His majesty.
into an image made like corruptible man
People attempted to make God into an “image” of mortal man. God is “incorruptible,” but man is “corruptible.” This tautological expression shows the unreality of mankind’s attempt—it was nothing more than imitation that made them do this. They chose to worship not simply man but the image of man who wastes away.
However, this sorry story does not end here. The following phrase shows the extent of their devolution. The exchange was mortality for immortality, something in creation for something outside creation.
—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
There is a procession from the highest creature to the lowest. They went from worshipping the image of a corruptible man to images of lesser beings—birds, quadrupeds, and reptiles. They were determined to worship anything but God.
PRINCIPLE:
Devolution of man roots in rejection of revelation.
APPLICATION:
People today often choose to disregard God and His revelation, instead creating their own versions of truth. Such speculation will lead to futility and a plunge into darkness regarding God and His revelation. People want to barter God’s revelation for their own system of arriving at the truth.
In our day, unbelievers base their wisdom on the assumptions of secularism, existentialism, postmodernism, and many other philosophies. They exchange these ideas for the truth of God’s Word. In God’s thinking, this is how people become “fools.” The finite will never come to infinite truth. They are incapable of doing so.
Anti-biblical unbelievers begin with their own subjectivity or with the self as the arbiter of truth. Self-arbitration makes it an insurmountable task to arrive at the ultimate truth. Truth from God’s perspective is utterly beyond the unaided capacity of man. This laboring under mental dearth will never allow man to understand God. All of this is the devolution of man’s philosophies.
