Became fools (3471) (moraino from morós = foolish and root of our English moron = very stupid person) can refer to physical sloth or dullness, but mainly is a reference (and especially in the present context) to one's intellectual life. It means to cause content of certain thoughts to become devoid of meaning or even to cause them to become nonsense.
Moraino is used only 4 times in the NT- Mt 5:13; Lk. 14:34; Ro 1:22; 1Co. 1:20. Below are all the uses in the non-apocryphal Septuagint and the NT...
2 Samuel 24:10 Now David's heart troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the LORD, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of Thy servant, for I have acted very foolishly."
Isaiah 19:11 The princes of Zoan are mere fools; The advice of Pharaoh's wisest advisers has become stupid. How can you men say to Pharaoh, "I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings "?
Jeremiah 10:14 Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; For his molten images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them.
Jeremiah 51:17 All mankind is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, For his molten images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them.
Matthew 5:13-note "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. (Ed: What an interesting use of moraino by our Lord! See further discussion below)
Luke 14:34 "Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned?
Romans 1:22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
1 Corinthians 1:20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world (even as He did those here in Romans who professed to be wise)? (Comment: Keep the context in mind for Paul was writing to the Corinthian saints in one of the intellectual centers of the ancient world!)
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. (See the tragic example of the "brilliant" fool Voltaire)
Moraino has a variety of secular Greek uses depending on the context. And so moraino can mean “insipid” in reference to insufficiently seasoned foods. Jesus used moraino in this sense declaring to His audience that
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. (Mt 5:13-note)
The lexicographer Photius bears witness to this secular use of moraino in the sense of meaning "insipid", documenting this use in writings of both physicians and comedians. Thus the physician Dioscurides Medicus, who was a contemporary of Paul and also from Cilicia, speaks of insipid roots (medicinal). Elsewhere in medicine moraino is used of the slackness, fatigue or dulling of the nerves. Moraino is also used in respect of the sluggishness of animals in winter. With reference to men the use of moraino is predominantly psychological. In this context, moraino implies censure on man himself; his acts, thoughts, counsels, and words are not as they should be. The weakness may be due to a specific failure in judgment or decision, but a general deficiency of intellectual and spiritual capacities may also be asserted. The charge of folly does not have to be a definitive judgment. In many cases it is more in the nature of an admonition or warning, or it expresses the impossibility of understanding or following the thinking or acts of someone. But the judgment of one as a fool can also imply condemnation of their whole personality. In other cases it is implied that there is not just a deficiency, a mere stupidity or irrationality, which would not occur if there were better mental equipment, but that man is controlled by a power which confuses his understanding, causes him to do mad things, and hides the right path from him.
ILLUSTRATION: For a modern example of men professing to be wise but really being fools, see the September 1976 National Geographic article entitled "The Awesome Worlds Within a Cell" . On page 358 the authors describe the utter complexity of the cell. There is no such thing as a "simple one-celled organism"! Even the simplest cell has turned out to be "a micro-universe" (p.358). Then on p.388 we read, "...this really is the major problem of biology. How did this complexity arise?...biologists still confront the deep, basic mystery of science: How did it all begin?" Then on page 390 the "experts" answer this by crediting it all to CHANCE and saying that given enough time even the IMPOSSIBLE can happen! With time, chance and evolution all things are possible! "They have become fools" -- Romans 1:21, 22. (Middletown Bible Church)
Godet writes their...
Futility of thought has reached the character of folly. What, in fact, is Polytheism, except a sort of permanent hallucination, a collective delirium...And this mental disorder (ironically) rose to a kind of perfection among the very peoples who, more than others, laid claim to the glory of wisdom. (Romans Commentary)
Those who deny the God of creation are fools and "without a defense" (Ro 1:20) Yet they come to such a foolish decision in the belief that they are scientific in trying to explain the infinitely complex, majestic, beautiful creation without a Creator. The ancient pagans did this, with immeasurably tragic results in the history of the human race. Modern evangelicals, compromising with evolutionism and increasingly flirting with New Age pantheism, feminism and occultism, are in serious danger of starting down that same slippery slope (2Ti 3:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13-note).
The fact is, once a man rejects the truth of God in Christ, he will fall for anything foolish, and trust far more tenuous and fanciful systems (eg look at evolution, mythology, etc) that what he has rejected from God. This futility of thinking, darkening of the heart, and folly must be seen as one manifestation of God's righteous wrath against those who have rejected His revelation
J C Philpot has a brief note entitled "Utter fools!"...
"Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead." Romans 1:22
What am I by nature? A fool! All my wisdom, outside of Christ, is nothing but the height of foolishness—and all my knowledge nothing but the depth of ignorance! (Ed: Does Philpot's conclusion make you mad? Are you insulted? If so, you desperately need to study the epistle to the Romans, especially Romans 1-3. When we see our state outside of Christ, we are horrified, humbled and amazed that He would deign to save wretches like us [cp Ro 7:23, 24, 25-note]!)
Left to ourselves we are utter fools! We have no wisdom whatever to direct our feet. We are . . .
blind,
ignorant,
weak,
helpless, and
utterly unable to find our way to God.
All wisdom which does not come down from the Father is folly (Jas 3:13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18). All strength not divinely wrought in the soul is weakness. All knowledge that does not spring from the Lord's own teaching in the conscience is the depth of ignorance.
We must know the value of the gem before we can really prize it. When diamonds were first discovered in Brazil, nobody knew that they were diamonds. They were handed about as pretty, shining pebbles. But as soon it was discovered they were diamonds, they were eagerly sought, and their value rose a thousand fold. (Ed: Amen! May God be pleased to cause the value of our priceless Christ to continually "rise in value" in our hearts!)
So spiritually. Until we can distinguish between the "pebble of man's teaching" and the "diamond of divine illumination" we shall neglect, we shall despise (Ed: Even David "despised the word of Jehovah" when he sinned with Bathsheba, see the prophet Nathan's comments - 2Sa 12:9, 10), we shall not value divine wisdom (Ed: Ultimately a Person - see 1Cor 1:24, 30, 2:6, 7, Col 2:3-note, cp Job 28:28, Lk 21:14, 15).
VOLTAIRE
THE "BRILLIANT" FOOL
The famous (infamous) French philosopher (infidel) Voltaire (note - interestingly this reference has no record of his horrible last days!) is a tragic example of a "brilliant fool"...
An aristocratic woman who was old and blind wrote to Voltaire in the hopes that he could dispel her pessimistic view of life and offer some comfort. He replied, "I think we [human beings] are indeed contemptible creatures.... I exhort you to enjoy as much as you can life, which isn't much" (Norman L. Torrey, The Spirit of Voltaire [N.Y.: Columbia University, 1938, p. 216).
Voltaire once made a despicable, desecrating execration against our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (a quote I hesitate to even record because it is so heinous, and yet it so dramatically depicts the depths to which a man's depravity can plummet when he begins to suppress the truth of God in order to justify his unrighteous behavior!). Voltaire said...
Curse the wretch!
In the midst of that period of intellectual history called The "Enlightenment" (Ed: In regard to what transpired during this time regarding Christianity and the Holy Word, what a sad oxymoron - the "age of reason" gave birth in fact to the "age of fools"!), a philosophy known as deism (note) was sweeping Europe. In the midst of this development, the famous skeptic, Voltaire, proclaimed that within 50 years, the Bible would be forgotten and Christianity would be a thing of the past. Voltaire wrote...
I’ll show how just one Frenchman can destroy it within 50 years.
In twenty years Christianity will be no more. My single hand shall destroy the edifice it took twelve apostles to rear
However, ironically some 20 years after Voltaire’s death in 1778, the Geneva Bible Society purchased his house for printing the Bible and other Christian literature! And it later became the Paris headquarters for the British and Foreign Bible Society. The Bible is still a best-seller; an entire 6-volume set of Voltaire’s works was once sold for 90¢ (Ed: "Methinks God has a sense of humor"!). Voltaire claimed to be a believer in God, but it was a "God" of his own imagination and not of the Holy Scriptures, for Voltaire clearly rejected the God of Holy Writ even to the point of ridiculing the idea of life after death. (Ed: Like the Russian cosmonaut who said something like this - "I went into space and I did not see Him!" Wrong! Had he opened his cockpit and stepped out into eternity, he would have met Him. And so did Voltaire when he breathed his last breath, even that breath being a gift from the God he despised, derided and decried!) On his deathbed Voltaire had some of his most intelligent revelations as he began to doubt his doubts! Would many skeptics follow his suit, but do so long before they draw their last breath! Voltaire apparently began to question (this time correctly) whether there might in fact be a heaven and a hell after all is said and done. He was indeed wise in one regard, for he clearly understood what would be his "eternal address". Just before his death, the noted atheist swore
I wish I had never been born!
Voltaire, on his deathbed, addressed his apparently Christian physician Trochim...
I am abandoned by God and man. I will give you half of what I am worth, if you will give me six months’ life.
The doctor replied
Sir, you cannot live six weeks.
Voltaire replied
Then I shall go to hell, and you will go with me.
And so, as almost his last utterance, he cried out,
I am abandoned by God and man! I shall go to hell! O Christ! O Jesus Christ!
Apparently not long after the preceding declarations Voltaire breathed his last.
The nurse who attended Voltaire on his death bed said
For all the wealth in Europe I would not see another infidel die.
What a tragic mixed up life Voltaire led as inferred from quotes during his life
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him...The world embarrasses me, and I cannot think that this watch exists and has no watchmaker.
To one who claimed to have gotten rid of hell, Voltaire replied
I congratulate you, for I have not been able to do that myself.
Voltaire, true to the spirit of skepticism, said
Now look at the mighty mind of Newton, who discovered gravitation; when he began to study the Book called the Bible, it seems in order to credit its fabulous nonsense, he believed that the knowledge of mankind will be so increased that we shall be able to travel fifty miles an hour! The poor dotard!
Today even a skeptic should be able to look at Voltaire's life and his philosophy and say
Newton was a wise philosopher; Voltaire a poor old dotard. (The foolishness of God is wiser than man).
Voltaire is reported to have said
If a miracle occurred in the market place of Paris and in the presence of two thousand men, I would rather disbelieve my own eyes than the two thousand.
It is sad but true that no matter how many facts (truths) we present to skeptics/agnostics (I don't believe men can be atheists in the truest sense, because that would require that they have all knowledge, including the knowledge that there is no supreme being. And since they are not omniscient, they cannot in truth know with absolute certainty that there is no God. Upshot? Know God!) are not sufficient to bring a man to Christ (cp 1Cor 2:4, 5), for only God's Spirit can do that (Jn 3:5, 6, 7, 8, 6:63, 8:24). And yet we should not grow weary in proclaiming the truth of the gospel (2Ti 2:9, 10-note), for we do not know which of the hearers will receive the Word implanted which will save their soul from eternal separation (2Th 1:9, Mt 25:41, cp the first "separation" Ge 3:8, Mt 7:21, 22, 23-note; Mt 22:13, cp Re 6:16-note) from their Creator (Jas 1:18-note; , Jas 1:21-note ; Ro 1:16-note -- see the power of the Gospel in Col 1:5, 6-note;cp 1Cor 1:17,18, 2:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Acts 6:7, 12:24, 19:20, 1Th 2:13-note)
Peter McKenzie, the famous Methodist preacher, was being shown over Madame Tussaud’s Waxworks in London. Coming to one object, his guide said
This is the chair in which Voltaire sat and wrote his atheistic blasphemies.
To which McKenzie replied...
Is that the chair?
Then, Peter McKenzie, without seeking permission, he stepped over the cord, sat down on the chair, and sang as only a real believer could
Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
Doth His successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.
(Take a moment of respite and worship at His throne by singing this great Hymn to Him)
The Christian physician Trochim who attended Voltaire during the last illness gave the following testimony in a letter to a friend
When I compare the death of a righteous man, which is like the close of a beautiful day, with that of Voltaire, I see the difference between bright, serene weather and a black thunderstorm. It was my lot that this man should die under my hands. Often did I tell him the truth.
’Yes, my friend,’ he would often say to me, ’you are the only one who has given me good advice. Had I but followed it I would not be in the horrible condition in which I now am. I have swallowed nothing but smoke. I have intoxicated myself with the incense that turned my head. You can do nothing for me. Send me a mad doctor! Have compassion on me-I am mad!’
Trochim went on to say
I cannot think of it without shuddering. As soon as he saw that all the means he had employed to increase his strength had just the opposite effect, death was constantly before his eyes. From this moment, madness took possession of his soul. He expired under the torments of the furies. (Ed: May this tragic story of a "brilliant" man, motivate us to speak forth the gospel of Christ boldly to those who are in danger today of stepping into a Christless eternity. Amen)
I cannot help but pause after writing these somber notes on Voltaire and be reminded of Paul's great truth that even the intractably rebellious infidel Voltaire will one day bow before the precious Lamb of God and proclaim that Jesus is Lord...
Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Amen!) (Php 2:9, 10, 11-note)
Consider another man who professed to be wise, Thomas Paine (note), the renowned American author and enemy of Christianity who exerted considerable influence against belief in God and the Scriptures. And yet Paine, like Voltaire, came to his last hour (June 8,1809), a disillusioned and unhappy man and during his final moments on earth said...
I would give worlds, if I had them, that Age of Reason had not been published. O Lord, help me! Christ, help me! O God what have I done to suffer so much? But there is no God! But if there should be, what will become of me hereafter? Stay with me, for God’s sake! Send even a child to stay with me, for it is hell to be alone. If ever the devil had an agent, I have been that one. (Ed: Woe! We would all be wise to listen to the last words of men, both sinners and saints, for the former should shock us into reality of a Christless eternity and the latter would comfort us with the true reality of an eternity with Christ!)
The world's theology by James Montgomery Boice
The world's theology is easy to define.
It is the view . . .
that human beings are basically good,
that no one is really lost,
that belief in Jesus Christ is not necessary for salvation.
"Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." Romans 1:22
John Newton writes in his treatise (note)
Man is a FOOL. "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." Romans 1:22. He can indeed measure the earth, and almost count the stars; he abounds in arts and inventions, in science and policy—and shall he then be called a fool? The ancient Heathens, the inhabitants of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, were eminent for this kind of wisdom. They are to this day studied as models by those who aim to excel in history, poetry, painting, architecture, and other exertions of human genius, which are suited to polish the manners without improving the heart. But their most admired philosophers, legislators, logicians, orators, and artists, were as destitute as infants or idiots of that knowledge which alone deserves the name of true wisdom. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Ignorant and regardless of God, yet conscious of their weakness, and of their dependence upon a Power above their own, and stimulated by an inward principle of fear, of which they knew neither the origin nor right application, they worshiped the creature instead of the Creator, yes, placed their trust in stocks and stones, in the works of men's hands, in non-entities and chimeras. An acquaintance with their mythology, or system of religious fables, passes with us for a considerable branch of learning, because it is drawn from ancient books written in languages not known to the vulgar; but in point of certainty or truth, we might receive as much satisfaction from a collection of dreams, or from the ravings of lunatics.
Through Jeremiah God declares that...
Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; for his molten images are deceitful, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of mockery; In the time of their punishment they will perish. (Jer 10:14, 15)
Jesus speaking in the context of not placing one's trust in earthly treasures declared that...
"if your eye (the ancient idea was that the eye was the window through which light entered the body. If the eye was in good condition the body could receive such light) is bad (With their eyes they were coveting money and wealth), your whole body will be full of darkness (an internal corruption of one’s whole nature). If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness (darkness actually emanates from within and affects one’s whole being)! (Mt 6:23-note)
Paul writes to the "wise" Corinthians warning them...
"Let no man deceive himself (a severe warning to any who would try to interfere with or destroy the building of the church on the foundation of Christ). If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become foolish that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, "He is THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS" (1Co 3:18,19)
Charles Churchill, who died in 1764, was the English poet and satirist given to every kind of loose living, and whose literary productions were rough, ironical and insolent in tone. In his last hours, conscience-stricken, he regretted his lost life and the prostitution of his craft and died saying:
What a fool I have been.
Pritchard writes:
"Here is the divine estimate of the great philosophers of Greece and Rome. In God’s eyes they were fools because their philosophy was based on a rejection of God’s truth. Dr. R. A. Torrey used to read Ro 1:22 this way,
"Professing themselves to be wise, they became philosophers? No, Foolosophers."
That’s what God thinks of the world’s intellectuals. Although possessing great intelligence, they are moral and spiritual pygmies. Have you ever ridden a see-saw? It works on a very simple principle: If one person is up, the other person must be down. Both people can’t be up at the same time. It’s the same in the spiritual realm. If God is up, then man is down. If man is up, then God is down. Both can’t be up at the same time. When God is up in his rightful place, man will be down in his rightful place. But when the roles are reversed reality itself is distorted."
William Newell writes that
"The silliness of these "modern" shallow-pan days! How men are rushing back to the old pagan pit out of which God’s Word and His gospel would have delivered them! They suck up sin; they welter in wickedness; they profess to be wise! They sit at the feet of "professors" whose breath is spiritual cyanide. They idolize the hog-sty doctrines of a rotten Freud: and count themselves "wise"! They say, "God is not a person; men evolved from monkeys; morals are mere old habits; self- enjoyment, self-expression, indulgence of all desires—this, " they say, "is the path of wisdom." It is the path of those who go quickly down to the pit and on to judgment! The very morals of Sodom, as our Lord foretold, are rushing fast upon us, and God will bring again the awful doom of Sodom (Lk 17:28, 29, 30, 31). This is a strange introduction to the gospel of God’s grace, we answer, It lies here before us, this awful indictment of Romans One, and cannot be evaded! Moreover, until man knows his state of sin, he wants no grace. Shall pardon be spoken of before the sinner is proved a sinner? While the evidence is being brought in, the whole attention of the court is upon that. If the evidence of guilt be insufficient or inconclusive, there is no necessity for a pardon! Preachers and teachers have soft pedaled sin, until the fear Of God is vanishing away. McCheyne used to Say, "A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hands of God" A preacher who avoids telling men the truth about their sin as here revealed, is the best tool of the devil. (2Ti 4:3, 4-note, Acts 20:30, Heb 13:9-note)"
A FAIRY TALE
Frog + Princess = Handsome prince (this is called a “fairy tale”)
Frog + 10 billion years = Handsome prince (this is called “science”)
Here is an illustration from Middletown Bible...
The jungle native is wise enough to know that the one who makes something is greater than the thing made. What does he do? He cuts down a tree and with half of the trunk makes a canoe. He knows that as the maker of the canoe he is greater than the canoe. He then uses the same tree to make an idol and he worships it! Instead he should have cried out from his heart, "I want to come to know the One who made this tree and this world!" Does God honor the seeking heart (Jer 29:13; Heb 11:6-note)? For a modern example of men professing to be wise but really being fools, see the September 1976 National Geographic article entitled "The Awesome Worlds Within a Cell" . On page 358 the authors describe the utter complexity of the cell. There is no such thing as a "simple one-celled organism"! Even the simplest cell has turned out to be "a micro-universe" (p.358). Then on p.388 we read, "...this really is the major problem of biology. How did this complexity arise?...biologists still confront the deep, basic mystery of science: How did it all begin?" Then on page 390 the "experts" answer this by crediting it all to CHANCE and saying that given enough time even the IMPOSSIBLE can happen! With time, chance and evolution all things are possible !!! "They have become fools" -- Romans 1:21, 22. (Romans 1)
Dr. Stephen Jay Gould wrote the following futile foolish rumination...
Humans arose, rather, as a fortuitous and contingent outcome of thousands of linked events, any one of which could have occurred differently and sent history on an alternate pathway that would not have led to consciousness." - Scientific American, October 1994, p. 86)
As another evolutionist logically but sadly concluded
"I refuse to believe in God, so what other alternative do I have but evolution?”
No evidence for evolution led to disbelief in God
But rejection of God led to evolution!
The French Mathematician, Lecompte de Nouy, examined the laws of probability for a single molecule of high dissymmetry to be formed by the action of chance. De Nouy found that, on an average, the time needed to form one such molecule of our terrestrial globe would be about 10 to the 253 power billions of years.
“But,” continued de Nouy ironically, “let us admit that no matter how small the chance it could happen, one molecule could be created by such astronomical odds of chance. However, one molecule is of no use. Hundreds of millions of identical ones are necessary. Thus we either admit the miracle or doubt the absolute truth of science.” (Quoted in; “Is Science Moving Toward Belief in God?”)
G. K. Chesterton wrote that...:
It is absurd for the Evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing, and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into anything.
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Foolish Knowledge - In the past few years, millions of people have discovered a fascinating new world of communication. By linking their computers to the electronic web known as the Internet, they now have at their fingertips vast resources of information and entertainment. No wonder Internet addicts are perhaps the fastest-growing segment of our culture.
But as we zoom into the Information Age, let's not lose our perspective. A glut of factual data and visual experiences doesn't guarantee an increase in wisdom.
A century ago, British poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson lamented, "Knowledge grows but wisdom lingers." The Bible highlights this crucial difference between mere knowledge and authentic wisdom. The book of Proverbs emphasizes that it's not enough to acquire information; we need to gain the understanding that is based on a healthy respect of the Lord (Pr 1:7). The apostle Paul pointed out that some people are always learning, yet never coming to a grasp of truth that really matters (2Ti 3:7-note).
Information and technology can be wonderful tools. But don't get so caught up in gaining knowledge that you fail to put it to good use. Only the Book that tells us about Jesus Christ brings ultimate wisdom (Col 2:3-note). — Vernon C. Grounds (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
O Word of God incarnate,
O Wisdom from on high,
O truth unchanged, unchanging,
O light of our dark sky.
--William How
Wisdom gives wings to knowledge.
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