Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.
Parallel translations
- WEB Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
- KJV 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,
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, I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”
- Prov 26:12Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
- Rom 11:25For I don’t desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won’t be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,
- Prov 25:14As clouds and wind without rain, so is he who boasts of gifts deceptively.
- Jer 8:8–9“‘How do you say, “We are wise, and Yahweh’s law is with us?” But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely.
- 1 Cor 3:18–19Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.
- Jer 10:14Every man has become brutish and without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
- Matt 6:23But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
- Isa 47:10For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you. You have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides 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.