Reasons for Wrath: Man’s Rationalization

Romans 1:22

22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,

(Verse 22) – Professing themselves to be wise - This was the common boast of the philosophers of antiquity. The very word by which they chose to be called, “philosophers,” means literally “lovers of wisdom.” That it was their boast that they were wise, is well known; (compare Rom. 1:14; 1 Cor. 1:19, 20, 22; 3:19; 2 Cor. 11:19).  The boast of possession of wisdom is, perhaps, the most popular desire of the unsaved.  They want to see themselves as being wise, as being smart.  No one, on the other hand, wants to see themselves as being ignorant, the opposite of being wise.  These “wise men” take the typical humanistic approach of trusting in their own minds and intellect for the explanation of the world around them.

In rejecting God’s clear revelation of Himself through His creation, men failed to honor and glorify God, failed to give Him thanks, became futile in their philosophical speculations, and became foolish and darkened in their hearts (vv. 19-21). Trying to justify themselves, they rationalized their sin, just as fallen mankind still does today. Professing to be wise, namely about God, about the universe, and about themselves, they became still greater fools (see v. 21d). 

They became fools – (Compare Jer. 8:8-9). They became really foolish in their opinions and conduct. There is something particularly pungent and cutting in this remark, and as true as it is pungent. In what way they evinced their folly, Paul proceeds immediately to state. Sinners of all kinds are frequently spoken of as fools in the Scriptures. In the sense in which it is thus used, the word is applied to them as void of understanding or moral sense; as idolaters, and as wicked; (Ps. 14:1; Prov. 26:4; 1:17, 22; 14:8-9). The senses in which this word here is applied to the pagan are,

(1)  That their speculations and doctrines were senseless; and,

(2)  That their conduct was corrupt.

This is always the course that natural wisdom takes, because natural wisdom is captive to the sin nature and thus always seeks the dishonor of God and the exalting of the flesh.  Ultimately, statements about what many consider to be science are really theological statements because they address spiritual truths, such as the origin of man, the existence of God, etc.  It addressing those issues, men make the statement, at the very least, that they have knowledge about spiritual matters.  If they have, as many do, shut themselves off from the God of the universe, they are shutting themselves off from the only truly reliable source of information on those spiritual topics.  Can anything be more foolish than that?

Centuries earlier, David had declared that men who deny God and His truth are fools (Ps. 14:1; 53:1), and it is that very foolishness that deludes them into thinking they are wise. The natural man cannot think perfectly about anything. But his thinking is perverted most severely in the spiritual and divine realm, because that is where his sinful rebellion is centered. These things are also beyond his human perception and since he rejects revelation, he has no hope of coming to truth in himself. His foolish speculations therefore go the furthest astray when he philosophizes about his origin, purpose, and destiny and about the origin and meaning of the universe in which he lives.

The mind devoid of God’s truth has no way to discriminate between truth and falsehood, between right and wrong, between the significant and the trivial, between the truly beautiful and the monstrous, or between the ephemeral and the eternal.  They have no way of truly knowing what is actually true or not!  Now, we are speaking of spiritual, moral and ethical truth.  Certainly the unredeemed are capable of discovering the facts of life in the universe of which we are all a part.  The unsaved are every bit as capable of knowing about the law of gravity and of exploring its properties and implications as are the redeemed.  However, their inability kicks in when the being to try and discover the moral and ethical, as well as the spiritual implications of natural phenomena.  They have no capacity whatsoever to even discern truth, let alone tell what it means. 

These dominating worldly speculations often infect the church. Because, for example, gifted and articulate unbelievers have so long and loudly touted evolution as scientific fact rather than philosophical theory, many Christians have been intimidated into accommodating their theology accordingly. In the name of theistic evolution or progressive creationism, they not only compromise scientific integrity but also, and infinitely more disastrously, compromise God’s revelation. They accept the unfounded foolishness of unregenerate men above the flawless truth of God’s Word.

In a similar approach, many Christians try to adapt God’s revelation to men’s speculations in the areas of the mind and soul. Intimidated by the ever-changing and mutually-conflicting theories of psychology; sociology and anthropology, they foolishly modify or exchange the truths of God’s revelation about man in favor of man’s absurd conjectures about himself.  The shame here is that we are looking to those who have no capacity to understand the truth to define for us what truth is! 

The late Martyn Lloyd Jones perceptively wrote, “The whole drift toward modernism that has blighted the church of God and nearly destroyed its living gospel may be traced to an hour when men began to turn from revelation to philosophy.” Thinking they are wise, they have become fools because their own speculations can’t replace the revelation they reject.

Institution after institution that once firmly stood on God’s Word has progressively accommodated itself to the intellectual foolishness of the world system. In the name of man’s wisdom they come to reflect the foolishness, and inevitably the godlessness, of the world system of Satan.  Their search has been for acceptability to the academic world, rather than for fidelity to the Word and the accompanying unacceptability to the world that is the natural result of that fidelity.  Somewhere along the line we must build into our understanding of reality that the truth of God is antithetical to the philosophy of the world.  They are haters of God and of His truth.  We must learn that this has real implications for how they view what is acceptable and what is not!  What a shock!

Because he knew that “the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness,” that “God [has] made foolish the wisdom of the world,” and that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men,” Paul “determined to know nothing among [those to whom he preached] except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 1:18, 20, 25; 2:2).

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.

I need to be certain that I understand that the preaching of the cross is foolishness to the world, and that they will not approve of the Gospel’s content unless God enables them so to do!