who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Parallel Translations
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who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
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which tourned his truthe vnto a lye and worshipped and served the creatures more then the maker which is blessed for ever. Amen.
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Which turned the trueth of God vnto a lie, and worshipped and serued the creature, forsaking the Creator, which is blessed for euer, Amen.
Cross-references (20)
Passages linked to Romans 1:25 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Habakkuk 2:18 “What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?
- Jeremiah 13:25 This is your lot, the portion measured to you from me,” says Yahweh, “because you have forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.”
- 1 John 2:15-16 Don’t love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s.
- Isaiah 44:20 He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can’t deliver his soul, nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?”
- Amos 2:4 Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have rejected Yahweh’s law, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked;
- 2 Corinthians 11:31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, he who is blessed forever more, knows that I don’t lie.
- Jeremiah 10:14-15 Every 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. They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they will perish.
- Romans 9:5 of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.
- Romans 1:23 and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things.
- 1 John 5:20 We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
- 2 Timothy 3:4 traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
- Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
- Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
- 1 Thessalonians 1:9 For they themselves report concerning us what kind of a reception we had from you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God,
- Psalms 145:1-2 I will exalt you, my God, the King. I will praise your name forever and ever. Every day I will praise you. I will extol your name forever and ever.
- Jeremiah 16:19 Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and will say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit.
- Matthew 10:37 He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me.
- Ephesians 3:21 to him be the glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
- 1 Timothy 1:11 according to the Good News of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
- 1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 25. Who changed, etc. He repeats what he had…
25. Who changed, etc. He repeats what he had said before, though in different words, in order to fix it deeper in our minds. When the truth of God is turned to a lie, his glory is obliterated. It is then but just, that they should be besprinkled with every kind of infamy, who strive to take away from God his honor, and also to reproach his name. —
And worshipped, etc. That I might include two words in one, I have given this rendering. He points out especially the sin of idolatry; for religious honor cannot be given to a creature, without taking it away, in a disgraceful and sacrilegious manner, from God: and vain is the excuse that images are worshipped on God’s account, since God acknowledges no such worship, nor regards it as acceptable; and the true God is not then worshipped at all, but a fictitious God, whom the flesh has devised for itself. What is added, Who is blessed for ever, I explain as having been said for the purpose of exposing idolaters to greater reproach, and in this way, “He is one whom they ought alone to have honored and worshipped, and from whom it was not right to take away any thing, no, not even the least.”
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 25 Who changed the truth of God into a…
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Ver. 25. Who changed] They tare out their natural principles and turned atheists, as Diagoras, who yet was an atheist more with his tongue than with his heart; for having cried down a deity in a famous oration, he yet suffered himself to be deified by the people for his eloquence. Qua ornari ab eo Diabolus quaerebat, as Austin writeth to a learned but lewd person of his times. See my Common Place of Atheism. Epicurus verbis reliquit Deos re sustulit, saith Cicero (De Nat. Deor.).
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Who changed the truth of God into a lie;…
Who changed the truth of God into a lie; i.e. the God of truth, or the true God, into an idol, which is a lie, which seems to be that which it is not: or else, by the truth of God, understand those true sentiments and notions that they had of God, and were taught them, as before, by the light of nature, and the book of the creatures; these they changed into lying imaginations and conceits.
And worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator; or, besides the Creator: some understand it comparatively, they worshipped one more than the other; others exclusively, they worshipped one and not the other. They were guilty of two great errors; one was in their minds, they changed the truth of God into a lie; the other in their wills, they served the creature more than the Creator.
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Who is blessed for ever. Amen: when the Hebrews of old made mention of the true God, they were wont to add these words: Let him be blessed for ever.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain Here our apostle proceeds to give a particular and…
Here our apostle proceeds to give a particular and distinct account of the abominable idolatry and unnatural filthiness, which he had charged the Heathens with in the foregoing verses.
As to their idolatry, he had told us at the 23rd verse, that they had made false and unworthy representations of the ever-blessed God: worshipping God in and by the creatures. In the 25th verse, they are charged with a false object of their worship, giving divine honour to a creature: They changed the truth of God into a lie; that is, the true God into an idol, called a lie, because it deceives men as a lie doth by seeming to be that which indeed it is not; it seems in the idolater’s fancy, to have something of divinity in it, when, in reality, it is but wood or stone. Every image of God is a false and lying representation of God.
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Secondly, As to their uncleanness, he shews that they were so given up to the ravings of lust for sinning against the light of nature, that they forsook the order of nature, and were more brutish than the very brutes.
Learn hence, That when men provoke God finally to forsake them, and judicially to give them up to their own heart’s lusts, they will not stick to commit such monstrous and unnatural uncleanness, as the very brute beasts abhor. Here men and women burnt in worse than beastly lusts towards those of their own sex.
Lord, if we are not more vile than the vilest of thy creatures, we owe it all to thy sanctifying, or, a least, to thy restraining grace. As by the grace of God we are what we are; so by his grace it is that we are not what we are not.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Who changed the truth of God into a lie,....…
Who changed the truth of God into a lie,.... Not the truth of the Gospel, which they were unacquainted with; but that which might be known of God as true, and was known of them by the light of nature; or the true God himself, whom they "changed into a lie"; by ascribing to false deities, which were lying vanities, those things which were known of God; and by worshipping them instead of him: for they
worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator; or "above him" or "against him", in opposition to him, or "besides him", others along with him; or neglecting him, and not worshipping him at all; which is aggravated in that what they worshipped was a creature, either of their own, or of God's making, and whom they neglected was the Creator of them:
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who is blessed for ever, Amen; is blessed in himself, and the fountain of all blessedness to his creatures; which is so glaring a truth, that everyone ought to say and set his "Amen" to it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Who changed the truth - The true worship of…
Who changed the truth - The true worship of God. Into a lie - False, abominable idolatries. And worshipped - Inwardly. And served - Outwardly.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 25. Changed the truth of God into a…
Verse 25. Changed the truth of God into a lie] In the place of the true worship of God, they established idolatry. In various places of Scripture idols are termed lies. Isa 44:20; Jer 10:14; Jer 13:25. The true God was known among the primitive inhabitants of the earth, those who first became idolaters literally changed the truth of God into a lie: they did know the true God, but they put idols in his place.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Who changed the truth of God - This is…
Who changed the truth of God - This is a repetition of the declaration in Rom 1:23, in another form. The phrase, “the truth of God” is a Hebrew phrase, meaning “the true God.” In such a case, where two nouns come together, one is employed as an adjective to qualify the other. Most commonly the latter of two nouns is used as the adjective, but sometimes it is the former, as in this case. God is called “the true God” in opposition to idols, which are called false gods. There is but one real or true God, and all others are false.
Into a lie - Into idols, or false gods. Idols are not infrequently called falsehood and lies, because they are not true representations of God; Jer 13:25; Isa 28:15; Jer 10:14; Psa 40:4.
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The creature - Created things, as the sun, moon, animals, etc.
Who is blessed forever - It was not uncommon to add a doxology, or ascription of praise to God, when his name was mentioned; see Rom 9:5; 2Co 11:31; Gal 1:5. The Jews also usually did it. In this way they preserved veneration for the name of God, and accustomed themselves to speak of him with reverence. “The Muslims also borrowed this custom from the Jews, and practice it to a great extent. Tholuck mentions an Arabic manuscript in the library at Berlin which contains an account of heresies in respect to Islamism, and as often as the writer has occasion to mention the name of a new heretical sect, he adds, ‘God be exalted above all which they say’” (Stuart).
Amen - This is a Hebrew word denoting strong affirmation. So let it be. It implies here the solemn assent of the writer to what was just said; or his strong wish that what he had said might be - that the name of God might be esteemed and be blessed forever. The mention of the degrading idolatry of the pagans was strongly calculated to impress on his mind the superior excellency and glory of the one living God. It is mentioned respecting the honorable Robert Boyle, that he never mentioned the name of God without a solemn pause, denoting his profound reverence. Such a practice would tend eminently to prevent an unholy familiarity and irreverence in regard to the sacred name of the Most High; compare Exo 20:7.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Who changed the truth of God into a lie--that…
Who changed the truth of God into a lie--that is, the truth concerning God into idol falsehood.
and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator--Professing merely to worship the Creator by means of the creature, they soon came to lose sight of the Creator in the creature. How aggravated is the guilt of the Church of Rome, which, under the same flimsy pretext, does shamelessly what the heathen are here condemned for doing, and with light which the heathen never had!
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who is blessed for ever! Amen--By this doxology the apostle instinctively relieves the horror which the penning of such things excited within his breast; an example to such as are called to expose like dishonor done to the blessed God.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 25. Changed—The apostle again refers to the primal cause…
25. Changed—The apostle again refers to the primal cause of their deep plunges in unnatural animalism, their apostasy from God. They first dishonoured their Maker and then debased themselves.
Truth of God… lie—So the Hebrew writers called an idol preeminently a lie, as basely falsifying the glorious truth of the Divine nature.
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The creature—The created object, whether deified animal or inanimate substance shaped into an idol.
More than—Rather than, instead of.
Blessed—A doxology asserting the Divine over all created nature.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 25. who changed] The Greek relative pronoun implies that…
25. who changed] The Greek relative pronoun implies that this was the cause of the special turn taken by the judicial hardening: seeing they had changed, &c.
the truth of God] i.e. that which is true of Him alone, and revealed by Him; Omnipotence and Deity. Cp. Rom_1:18.
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into a lie] Lit. in falsehood; they degraded it so that it was lost in falsehood; falsehood took its place. This “falsehood” is, of course, the grand error—Idolatry.
more than the Creator] Lit. Him that created [it]. The idolater reverenced and did ritual service to his idol “more,” or “rather” than to the Creator, whether he wholly ignored the Eternal, or recognized Him as a shadow or mystery in the background only.
who is blessed] Benedictus here, not Beatus. The glorious epithet indicates the Creature’s right attitude toward the Creator; that of adoring praise and love. (The same phrase occurs Rom_9:5; an important doctrinal parallel.)
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (25) Who changed the truth of God into a…
(25) Who changed the truth of God into a lie.—They ceased to worship God as He is—in His own true essential nature, and worshipped false gods instead. The phrase “into a lie,” is literally, with a lie, the “lie” being regarded as the instrument by which the substitution is made. By “a lie” is meant here “false gods,” who are the supreme embodiment of falsehood. (Comp. Isa_44:20; Jer_13:25; Jer_16:19, &c.)
The introduction of the doxology in this verse is due to an impulse of reverential feeling. Shocked at the language which he finds himself using, and at the connection in which the most Holy Name has been mentioned, the Apostle turns aside for a moment to testify to his own humble adoration.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Who (rather, being such as, the word is oitinev…
Who (rather, being such as, the word is oitinev , equivalent to quippequi) changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. This verse repeats the source and cause of the moral degradation spoken of, which is described without reserve in what follows. "In peccatis arguendis saepe scapha debet scapha dict. Gravitas et ardor stilt judicialis proprietate verborum non violat verceundiam" (Bengel).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 25. Who changed the truth of God into a…
25. Who changed the truth of God into a lie. By giving up the worship of the great unseen God to worship an idol; a creature, rather than the Creator. At first, idols were probably designed as only representations, but they finally became objects of worship. Just so, the images in Roman Catholic churches were intended at first as helps in worship, but have become to great multitudes really idols.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain 25. “Who changed the truth of God into a…
25. “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for evermore. Amen.” Here we see the fatal downward trend of humanity, alienated from God; like a ship loosed from her moorings, adrift on the sea, the sport of the billows and the caprice of the storm, till wounded or wrecked. Hence when people get away from the personal indwelling Holy Spirit, they float on hellwardly whether through churches or outside. Creature worship is idolatry, whether it be a fine house, a pipe-organ, an old creed, water baptism or an elegant, learned preacher. It is creature worship instead of the heart cry after God.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain for that they exchanged the truth of God for…
for that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen . [Wherefore, finding them living in lust, God ceased to restrain or protect them from evil ( Gen_6:3 ), and abandoned them to the uncleanness toward which their lust incited them, that they might dishonor their bodies among themselves to the limit of their lustfulness, as a punishment for dishonoring and abandoning him. He did this because they had exchanged the truth of God (which from the start they had hindered in unrighteousness, Rom_1:18 ), i. e., the truth respecting God and his law and worship, for the sham of idolatry and the false worship pertaining thereto, and because they had given to the creature that inward reverence and outward service which was due to the Creator, thus preferring the creature to the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. "'Blessed' is not the word signifying happy, rendered blessed in Mat_5:3-11 ; 1Ti_1:11 ; 1Ti_6:15 ; but the word signifying praised, adored, extolled; i. e., worthy to be praised, etc. In the New Testament this word is applied to none but to God only; though the cognate verb is used to express the good wishes and hearty prayers of one creature for another, as well as praise to God--comp. Heb_11:20-21 ; Jam_3:9 "--Plumer.]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.