Romans 1:23 BSB — MannaFest

Romans 1:23

and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.

KJV

And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

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Commentary

3 voices

Gregory of Nazianzus

ORATION 28: ON GOD 28.15 (390)

People like this make it hard to tell which was the more contemptible, the worshipers or the worshiped. Perhaps the worshipers by far, since as rational beings and recipients of God's grace, they chose their inferior for patron and better.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

John Gill

1697–1771

Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748)

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.

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

We shall the less wonder at the inefficacy of these natural discoveries to prevent the idolatry of the Gentiles if we remember how prone even the Jews, who had scripture light to guide them, were to idolatry; so miserably are the degenerate sons of men plunged in the mire of sense.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

And changed - This does not mean that they literally “transmuted” God himself; but that in their views they exchanged him; or they changed him “as an object of worship” for idols. They produced, of course, no real change in the glory of the infinite God, but the change was in themselves. They forsook him of whom they had knowledge Rom 1:21, and offered the homage which was due to him, to idols.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

And changed--or "exchanged." the glory of the uncorruptible God into--or "for" an image . . . like to corruptible man--The allusion here is doubtless to the Greek worship, and the apostle may have had in his mind those exquisite chisellings of the human form which lay so profusely beneath and around him as he stood on Mars' Hill; and "beheld their devotions." (See on Ac 17:29).

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

18 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
ἤλλαξαν	ēllaxan	they changed	G236 →
τὴν	tēn	the	G3588 →
δόξαν	doxan	glory	G1391 →
τοῦ	tou	of the	G3588 →
ἀφθάρτου	aphthartou	immortal	G862 →
θεοῦ	theou	God	G2316 →
ἐν	en	into	G1722 →
ὁμοιώματι	homoiōmati	a likeness	G3667 →
εἰκόνος	eikonos	of an image	G1504 →
φθαρτοῦ	phthartou	of mortal	G5349 →
ἀνθρώπου	anthrōpou	man	G444 →
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
πετεινῶν	peteinōn	birds	G4071 →
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
τετραπόδων	tetrapodōn	quadrupeds	G5074 →
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
ἑρπετῶν.¶	herpetōn	creeping things.	G2062 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Romans 1:25
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen.
leads to
- Habakkuk 2:18
  What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
- Jeremiah 13:25
  This is your lot, the portion I have measured to you,” declares the LORD, “because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood.
- 1 John 2:15–16
  Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- Isaiah 44:20
  He feeds on ashes. His deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”
- Amos 2:4
  This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Judah, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they reject the Law of the LORD and fail to keep His statutes; they…
Through
1 Peter 4:3
For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.
leads to
- 1 Corinthians 6:11
  And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
- Ephesians 5:18
  Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
Through
Jeremiah 2:11
Has a nation ever changed its gods, though they are no gods at all? Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.
leads to
- Isaiah 37:19
  They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.

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About Romans

The Crucifixion — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)

Romans: the study guide →Read chapter 1 →The featured study →

Continue: Romans 1 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Romans

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Romans