Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Parallel translations
- WEB Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
- BSB Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,
- NKJV Professing to be wise, they became fools,
- NASB Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
- NLT Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Claiming to be wise, they became fools. Human pride apart from God leads to genuine foolishness.
Overview
Paul exposes the irony of fallen wisdom: those who pride themselves on their insight, while rejecting God, are actually fools. True wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1:7). This verse sets up the description of idolatry that follows, where humanity's supposed wisdom collapses into worshiping created things.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 1 Cor 1:19–21For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
- Prov 26:12Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.
- Rom 11:25For 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.
- Prov 25:14Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain.
- Jer 8:8–9How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.
- 1 Cor 3:18–19Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
- Jer 10:14Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
- Matt 6:23But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
- Isa 47:10For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 1:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.