PROFESSING (alleging, asserting, affirming) TO BE WISE: phaskontes (PAPMPN) einai (PAN) sophoi: (Ro 11:25; Pr 25:14; 26:12; Is 47:10; Jer 8:8,9; 10:14; Mt 6:23; 1Co 1:19, 20, 21; 3:18,19)

Professing (5335) (phasko from phemi = to say or affirm) means to affirm, allege, pretend, profess. The idea conveyed by this verb is that one is speaking with an air of certainty, stating something with a high degree of confidence. The NAS translates phasko with the English word assert which means to affirm or declare positively or with assurance and often even forcefully or aggressively. The idea of assert implies stating confidently without need for proof or regard for evidence.

Marvin Vincent writes that phasko "is used of unfounded assertion."

Thinking they are wise, they have become fools because their own speculations cannot replace the revelation they reject.

Here are the three NT uses of phasko -- Acts 24:9; 25:19; Ro 1:22

Vincent says,

“is used of unfounded assertion.” (Webster adds that "assert implies stating confidently without need for proof or regard for.")

Vine adds this pithy comment:

"Mere profession of wisdom is spiritual hallucination. The condition of heathenism is the consequence of departure from the primitive acknowledgment of God and the recognition of His attributes as revealed in creation; it is not a state from which men have advanced by stages to attain the knowledge of God."

Man rationalizes his sin and proves his utter foolishness by devising and believing his own philosophies about God, the universe, and himself. The next stage of downfall consists, as in Orwell’s novel, 1984, in asserting as truth its opposite—darkness is really light, futility is really wisdom.

Frederick Louis Godet writes that ...

Paul does not mean to stigmatize ancient philosophy absolutely; he only means that all that labor of the sages did not prevent the most civilized nations, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, from being at the same time the most idolatrous of antiquity. The popular imagination, agreeably served by priests and poets, did not allow the efforts of the wise to dissipate this delirium. When good is omitted, there always comes in its place an evil committed. As, in respect of the understanding, the refusal of adoration ( they did not glorify ) became a vain laboring of the mind ( they became vain ), and, finally, complete estrangement from truth, folly ( they became fools ); so in respect of the heart , ingratitude was first transformed into darkness; and, finally—such is the last term described ver. 23-into monstrous and debasing fetishism. The ungrateful heart did not stop short at not thanking God, it degraded and dishonored Him, by changing Him into His opposite. (Godet, F: The Epistle of St Paul to the Romans)

Sinners are fools for they think they are "safe" and there is no Holy One to judge them. Isaiah records these words to foolish, idol worshipping  Babylon...

"And you felt secure in your wickedness and said, 'No one sees me,' Your wisdom and your knowledge, they have deluded you; For you have said in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one besides me.' (Isaiah 47:10)

God warned in Isaiah 5:20, 21

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And clever in their own sight!

Spurgeon wrote that...

The way to be a fool is to pretend to be wise. A shortcut to wisdom is the confession of folly. The near way to folly is the profession of wisdom.

THEY BECAME FOOLS: emoranthesan (3PAPI):

Newell comments...

Rejecting the light of God’s knowledge in their consciences, men now arrogated to themselves wisdom, and became—what? Fools! “The fear of the Lord is the beginning”—of both knowledge and wisdom (Pr 1:7; 9:10; 15:33; Ps 111:10; Job 28:28).  Romans Verse-by-Verse

They became fools - Compare Psalm 14:1. Creation screams "There is a Creator! Observe His handiwork! Believe my awesome testimony!" And yet despite overwhelming evidence, they may a choice of their will to deny the truth of natural revelation.

Became fools (3471) (moraino from morós = foolish and root of our English moron = very stupid person) can refer to physical sloth or dullness, but mainly is a reference (and especially in the present context) to one's intellectual life. It means to cause content of certain thoughts to become devoid of meaning or even to cause them to become nonsense.

Moraino is used only 4 times in the NT- Mt 5:13; Lk. 14:34; Ro 1:22; 1Co. 1:20

The greatest fool in all the world is the person who exchanges God’s wisdom of truth and light for man’s wisdom of deceit and darkness.

Writing to the Corinthian saints in one of the intellectual centers of the ancient world Paul asks...

Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish (moraino) the wisdom of the world (even as He did those here in Romans who professed to be wise)? (1Cor 1:20)

Moraino has a variety of other secular Greek uses depending on the context. And so moraino can mean “insipid” of insufficiently seasoned foods. Jesus used moraino this way declaring to His audience that

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men". (see note Matthew 5:13)

The lexicographer Photius bears witness to this, and the use occurs in doctors and comedians. Thus Dioscurides Medicus, who was a contemporary of Paul and also from Cilicia, speaks of insipid roots (medicinal). Elsewhere in medicine it is used of the slackness, fatigue or dulling of the nerves. It is also used in respect of the sluggishness of animals in winter. With reference to men the use is predominantly psychological. The word implies censure on man himself; his acts, thoughts, counsels, and words are not as they should be. The weakness may be due to a specific failure in judgment or decision, but a general deficiency of intellectual and spiritual capacities may also be asserted. The charge of folly does not have to be a definitive judgment. In many cases it is more in the nature of an admonition or warning, or it expresses the impossibility of understanding or following the thinking or acts of someone. But the judgment can also imply condemnation of the whole personality. In other cases, too, it is implied that there is not just a deficiency, a mere stupidity or irrationality, which would not occur if there were better mental equipment, but that man is controlled by a power which confuses his understanding, causes him to do mad things, and hides the right path from him.

ILLUSTRATION: For a modern example of men professing to be wise but really being fools, see the September 1976 National Geographic article entitled "The Awesome Worlds Within a Cell" . On page 358 the authors describe the utter complexity of the cell. There is no such thing as a "simple one-celled organism"! Even the simplest cell has turned out to be "a micro-universe" (p.358). Then on p.388 we read, "...this really is the major problem of biology. How did this complexity arise?...biologists still confront the deep, basic mystery of science: How did it all begin?" Then on page 390 the "experts" answer this by crediting it all to CHANCE and saying that given enough time even the IMPOSSIBLE can happen! With time, chance and evolution all things are possible! "They have become fools" -- Romans 1:21-22. (Middletown Bible Church)

Godet writes their...

Futility of thought has reached the character of folly. What, in fact, is Polytheism, except a sort of permanent hallucination, a collective delirium...And this mental disorder (ironically) rose to a kind of perfection among the very peoples who, more than others, laid claim to the glory of wisdom.

Those who deny the God of creation are fools and "without a defense" (Ro1:20) Yet they come to such a foolish decision in the belief that they are scientific in trying to explain the infinitely complex, majestic, beautiful creation without a Creator. The ancient pagans did this, with immeasurably tragic results in the history of the human race. Modern evangelicals, compromising with evolutionism and increasingly flirting with New Age pantheism, feminism and occultism, are in serious danger of starting down that same slippery slope (2Ti 3:1-13).

The fact is, once a man rejects the truth of God in Christ, he will fall for anything foolish, and trust far more tenuous and fanciful systems (eg look at evolution, mythology, etc) that what he has rejected from God. This futility of thinking, darkening of the heart, and folly must be seen as one manifestation of God's righteous wrath against those who have rejected His revelation

Through Jeremiah God declares that...

Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; for his molten images are deceitful, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of mockery; In the time of their punishment they will perish. (Jer 10:14-15)

Jesus speaking in the context of not placing one's trust in earthly treasures declared that...

"if your eye (the ancient idea was that the eye was the window through which light entered the body. If the eye was in good condition the body could receive such light)  is bad (With their eyes they were coveting money and wealth), your whole body will be full of darkness (an internal corruption of one’s whole nature). If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness (darkness actually emanates from within and affects one’s whole being)! (see note Matthew 6:23)

Paul writes to the "wise" Corinthians warning them...

"Let no man deceive himself (a severe warning to any who would try to interfere with or destroy the building of the church on the foundation of Christ). If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become foolish that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, "He is THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS" (1 Cor 3:18-19)

Charles Churchill, who died in 1764, was the English poet and satirist given to every kind of loose living, and whose literary productions were rough, ironical and insolent in tone. In his last hours, conscience-stricken, he regretted his lost life and the prostitution of his craft and died saying:

What a fool I have been.

Pritchard writes:

"Here is the divine estimate of the great philosophers of Greece and Rome. In God’s eyes they were fools because their philosophy was based on a rejection of God’s truth. Dr. R. A. Torrey used to read verse 22 this way, "Professing themselves to be wise, they became philosophers? No, Foolosophers." That’s what God thinks of the world’s intellectuals. Although possessing great intelligence, they are moral and spiritual pygmies. Have you ever ridden a see-saw? It works on a very simple principle: If one person is up, the other person must be down. Both people can’t be up at the same time. It’s the same in the spiritual realm. If God is up, then man is down. If man is up, then God is down. Both can’t be up at the same time. When God is up in his rightful place, man will be down in his rightful place. But when the roles are reversed reality itself is distorted."

William Newell  writes that

"The silliness of these "modern" shallow-pan days! How men are rushing back to the old pagan pit out of which God’s Word and His gospel would have delivered them! They suck up sin; they welter in wickedness; they profess to be wise! They sit at the feet of "professors" whose breath is spiritual cyanide. They idolize the hog-sty doctrines of a rotten Freud: and count themselves "wise"! They say, "God is not a person; men evolved from monkeys; morals are mere old habits; self- enjoyment, self-expression, indulgence of all desires—this, " they say, "is the path of wisdom." It is the path of those who go quickly down to the pit and on to judgment! The very morals of Sodom, as our Lord foretold, are rushing fast upon us, and God will bring again the awful doom of Sodom (Lk 17:28, 29, 30, 31). This is a strange introduction to the gospel of God’s grace, we answer, It lies here before us, this awful indictment of Romans One, and cannot be evaded! Moreover, until man knows his state of sin, he wants no grace. Shall pardon be spoken of before the sinner is proved a sinner? While the evidence is being brought in, the whole attention of the court is upon that. If the evidence of guilt be insufficient or inconclusive, there is no necessity for a pardon! Preachers and teachers have soft pedaled sin, until the fear Of God is vanishing away. McCheyne used to Say, "A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hands of God" A preacher who avoids telling men the truth about their sin as here revealed, is the best tool of the devil. (2Ti 4:3, 4, Acts 20:30, Heb 13:9)"

A FAIRY TALE
Frog + Princess = Handsome prince (this is called a “fairy tale”)
Frog + 10 billion years = Handsome prince (this is called “science”)

Here is an illustration from Middletown Bible...

The jungle native is wise enough to know that the one who makes something is greater than the thing made. What does he do? He cuts down a tree and with half of the trunk makes a canoe. He knows that as the maker of the canoe he is greater than the canoe. He then uses the same tree to make an idol and he worships it! Instead he should have cried out from his heart, "I want to come to know the One who made this tree and this world!" Does God honor the seeking heart (Jer 29:13; Heb 11:6)? For a modern example of men professing to be wise but really being fools, see the September 1976 National Geographic article entitled "The Awesome Worlds Within a Cell" . On page 358 the authors describe the utter complexity of the cell. There is no such thing as a "simple one-celled organism"! Even the simplest cell has turned out to be "a micro-universe" (p.358). Then on p.388 we read, "...this really is the major problem of biology. How did this complexity arise?...biologists still confront the deep, basic mystery of science: How did it all begin?" Then on page 390 the "experts" answer this by crediting it all to CHANCE and saying that given enough time even the IMPOSSIBLE can happen! With time, chance and evolution all things are possible !!! "They have become fools" -- Romans 1:21, 22. (Romans 1)

Dr. Stephen Jay Gould wrote the following futile foolish rumination...

Humans arose, rather, as a fortuitous and contingent outcome of thousands of linked events, any one of which could have occurred differently and sent history on an alternate pathway that would not have led to consciousness." - Scientific American, October 1994, p. 86)

As another evolutionist logically but sadly concluded

"I refuse to believe in God, so what other alternative do I have but evolution?”

No evidence for evolution led to disbelief in God
But rejection of God led to evolution!

The French Mathematician, Lecompte de Nouy, examined the laws of probability for a single molecule of high dissymmetry to be formed by the action of chance. De Nouy found that, on an average, the time needed to form one such molecule of our terrestrial globe would be about 10 to the 253 power billions of years.

“But,” continued de Nouy ironically, “let us admit that no matter how small the chance it could happen, one molecule could be created by such astronomical odds of chance. However, one molecule is of no use. Hundreds of millions of identical ones are necessary. Thus we either admit the miracle or doubt the absolute truth of science.” (Quoted in; “Is Science Moving Toward Belief in God?”)

G. K. Chesterton wrote that...:

It is absurd for the Evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing, and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into anything.

Lewis Thomas in Harvard Magazine, 1981:

I cannot make peace with the randomness doctrine; I cannot abide the notion of purposelessness and blind chance in nature. And yet I do not know what to put in its place for the quieting of my mind. It is absurd to say that a place like this is absurd, when it contains, in front of our eyes, so many billions of different forms of life, each one in its way absolutely perfect, all linked together to form what would surely seem to an outsider a huge, spherical organism. We talk—some of us, anyway—-about the absurdity of the human situation, but we do this because we do not know how we fit in, or what we are here for. The stories we used to make up to explain ourselves do not make sense anymore, and we have run out of new stories, for the moment.

From Paul's divinely inspired "pattern of moral devolution" here in Romans 1, notice how suppression and rejection of the knowledge of the true God [Ro 1:18, 19, 20, 21, 22] naturally "devolves" into worship of false gods and how this false worship in turn is intimately associated with the practice of sexual immorality in all forms! [Ro 1:24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32]  Upshot? Knowledge of the one true and living God and growing intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ and His Spirit [Gal 5:16-see notes] in daily quiet times of worshipful fellowship are the BEST preventative measures and cures for so-called addiction to sexual immorality, better than all the Christian books and programs that are flooding the marketplace! Let us return to the "ancient paths", the "highway of holiness" and as Christian men begin to experience a freedom in this area that heretofore we never even thought was possible in light of the pervasive permeation of American culture by sensuality and sexual seduction.

Exchanged (236) (allasso from állos = other, another) has the literally meaning of to make otherwise. The basic sense is “to make other than it is." It means to to change, to cause one thing to cease and another to take its place, to exchange one thing for another. To make something different. To alter.

Allasso is used 28 times in the NT - Acts 6:14 (changing the customs of the law); Ro 1:23; 1 Co. 15:51, 52 (speaking of our future "changer" or glorification); Gal. 4:20 (change tone of speaking); Heb. 1:12 (speaking of changing of creation as we now know it). Allasso is translated in the NAS - alter(1), change(1), changed(3), exchanged(1)

Allasso is used 28 times in the Septuagint - Ge. 31:7; 35:2; 41:14; Exod. 13:13; Lev. 27:10, 27, 33; Judges 14:13; 2 Sam. 12:20; 1Ki. 5:14; 20:25; 2Ki. 5:5, 22f; Ezra 6:11, 12; Neh. 9:26; Ps 102:26; 106:20; Is 24:5; 40:31; 41:1; Je 2:11; 13:23; 52:33; Da 4:16, 25, 32;

Webster says that exchange is

"the act of giving or taking one thing in return for another" or "the act or process of substituting one thing for another".

The aorist tense indicates that this is a historical fact, a past completed action. The active voice indicates that men volitionally or willfully choose to make this unspeakably tragic exchange. God did not force men into this act. It did not happen by accident but by choice.

Men could not actually change the glory of God into anything. His glory is immutable. They made an exchange like Israel at Mt Horeb (while Moses was on the mountain)

They made a calf in Horeb & worshiped a molten image. Thus they exchanged (Septuagint uses very same Greek verb allasso) their glory for the image of an ox that eats grass (Ps 106:20).

The Septuagint also uses allasso in Jer 2:11 (twice in this verse)

Has a nation changed gods When they were not gods ? But My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

Notice that this exchange does not bring about evolution, but devolution (degeneration, a passing onwards or downwards from one stage to another). Man is not progressing but regressing, going backwards, not forwards. The direction is not man going up, up up, but it is man going down, down, down. Man is not man getting better and better but getting worse and worse. Man is not man reaching the heights, but is plummeting to the depths.

Incorruptible (862) (aphthartos  from a = not, + phtheiro = to shrivel or wither, spoil, ruin , deprave, to destroy by corrupting and so to bring into a worse state) is an adjective which describes that which is not subject or liable to decay and death and thus is in a sense immortal. Aphthartos is that which is not corruptible or not liable to corruption or decay. It describes that which is impervious to corruption.

Synonyms include immortal, incorruptible, imperishable.

God is not liable to corruption or decay, especially when compared to man-made idols which are liable to decay and corruption.

Aphthartos is used 8 times in the NT - Mark 16:8; Ro 1:23; 1Co 9:25; 15:52; 1Ti 1:17; 1Pe 1:4, 23; 3:4

The words incorruptible and corruptible are inserted in order to expose more vividly in the contrast the folly of the exchange. Incorruptibility is of the essence of God’s being Who is not liable to corruption or decay, but is imperishable in dramatic contrast to the man-made idols which are liable to decay and corruption. From the beginning less eternity past to the endless eternity to come, He is the glorious self-existent One. Now came the high insult: having rejected knowledge of God, but unable to escape the consciousness that He exists, men, like Israel later, (Ps 106:20). The more you reflect upon the infinite glory and majesty of the eternal God, the more hideous will the unspeakable insult to Him of any kind of idolatry appear to you! Men first likened God to man; but, being given over, they rushed rapidly downwards: a bird, a quadruped; and finally, a reptile!

It is a dangerous thing to change the glory of the incorruptible God for an eikon (image) of your own choosing. It is absolutely essential that we constantly compare our own concept of God against the reality of Who God is as revealed in His Word lest we become guilty of worshipping a self-made "god".

Because man is incurably "religious", if he will not worship God, he will find (or make) something to worship. When man makes this exchange and turns away from God, he creates an "image" to worship. First the images look human, then the images begin to degrade into those of birds, then four-footed animals and finally images of snakes and bugs. When man exchanges the truth about God, he begins by worshiping himself, but he doesn’t stay there. The course is always downward. There is a practical point here for all of us to remember: When you turn away from God, you