Romans 1:23

23 They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.

Romans 1:23 Meaning and Commentary

Romans 1:23

And changed the glory of the incorruptible God
God is incorruptible and immortal in his nature, and so is opposed to all corruptible creatures and things: he has a glory which is essential to him, and a manifestative one in the creatures, and which is relative, and of right belongs to him: his absolute essential glory cannot be changed, cannot be taken away from him, nor given to another; but his relative glory may be said to be changed, when another is worshipped in his stead, and called by his name. So Philo the Jew ^F7 speaks of

``some, who, leaving the true God, make to themselves false ones, and impose the name of the eternal and incorruptible upon created and corruptible beings.''

Into an image made like to corruptible man;
which was worshipped in different forms by the several nations of the world:

and to birds;
as the dove by the Samaritans, the hawk, the ibis, and others by the Egyptians:

and fourfooted beasts;
as the ox, and other creatures:

and creeping things;
such as beetles, serpents, and others, by the same.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F7 De Vita Mosis, l. 3. p. 678, 679.

Romans 1:23 In-Context

21 What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives.

22 They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life.

23 They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.

24 So God said, in effect, "If that's what you want, that's what you get." It wasn't long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out.

25 And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them - the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!