25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
25 who [Greek—who of such character] exchanged [transmuted] the truth of God for the lie,
Once again, we have the idea of exchanging the truth of God in this chapter. In this case, they exchanged God’s truth for “the lie.” This lie is that people can live independent of the truth of God, a falsification of reality. First they bartered away the glory of God (v 23), now they barter away the truth of God.
Here the “truth” is God’s revelation of Himself in creation. Once people say “no” to the Bible, their souls begin to corrupt. When they lie to themselves about what the Bible truly says, they go downhill spiritually. They go deeper and deeper into regression spiritually. Once they hear the gospel and reject it, it becomes more difficult to accept it.
and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,
Man turned to his own sufficiency, to a form of humanism, losing the Creator in the creature. The Creator is self-existent, absolute, unconditioned, unlimited in power and knowledge; the creature owes his existence to the Creator. To worship the creature is the height of folly.
who is blessed forever.
Here is a blessed benediction. Notwithstanding those who reject the Creator, He stands “blessed forever.” Paul, for himself, chose to give God His due deference.
Amen.
“Amen” places approval on the previous statement. It is not a wish.
PRINCIPLE:
The sexual “revolution” of our day says something about the direction of Western civilization.
APPLICATION:
Freedom and pleasure as the ultimate standard for life puts a civilization outside God’s domain. God has a higher purpose for us than slavery to freedom and bondage to pleasure. This philosophy is a “lie” that does not give true satisfaction.
Worshiped the creature? Is that Man worship/ Human Worship?
Chris, yes and in the case of the first century it included animals as well.
I always wondered if it meant we would worship the “beasts” (animals)…seems that man is serving the animals now so just curious? What is the Greek meaning
Holly,
Here are the meanings of “worship” and “serve.”
WORSHIP:
σέβομαι; σεβάζομαι; εὐσεβέωa: to express in attitude and ritual one’s allegiance to and regard for deity—‘to worship, to venerate.’
σέβομαι: παρὰ τὸν νόμον ἀναπείθει οὗτος τοὺς ἀνθρώπους σέβεσθαι τὸν θεόν ‘this man tried to persuade people to worship God in a way that is against the law’ Ac 18:13.
σεβάζομαι: καὶ ἐσεβάσθησαν καὶ ἐλάτρευσαν τῇ κτίσει παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα ‘and worshiped and venerated what has been created instead of the Creator’ Ro 1:25.
εὐσεβέωa: ὃ οὖν ἀγνοοῦντες εὐσεβεῖτε, τοῦτο ἐγὼ καταγγέλλω ὑμῖν ‘what you worship, even though you do not know it, is what I (now) proclaim to you’ Ac 17:23.
In a number of languages worship is expressed in an idiomatic manner, for example, ‘to bow down before,’ ‘to lower one’s head before,’ ‘to raise one’s arms to,’ ‘to sing to,’ ‘to honor.’ It is important in selecting an expression for worship to employ a term or phrase which will include various aspects of worship.
Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 539). United Bible Societies.
SERVED:
λατρεύω; λατρεία, ας f: to perform religious rites as a part of worship—‘to perform religious rites, to worship, to venerate, worship.’3
λατρεύω: μετὰ ταῦτα ἐξελεύσονται καὶ λατρεύσουσίν μοι ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ ‘afterward they will come out (of that country) and will worship me in this place’ Ac 7:7.
λατρεία: εἶχε μὲν οὖν καὶ ἡ πρώτη δικαιώματα λατρείας ‘now, the first (covenant) indeed had rules for worship’ He 9:1.
f feminine
3 In general Greek usage, λειτουργέω and λειτουργία denote service performed by an individual, free of charge, on behalf of the state. This meaning is not found in the NT. In the NT λειτουργέωb and λειτουργίαc (53.13) are less specifically religious in connotation than λατρεύω and λατρεία (53.14).
Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 532). United Bible Societies.