Commentary of Charles Spurgeon, Adam Clarke & Matthew Henry
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 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.
Vs.22-23
The near way to folly is the profession of wisdom.
Professing themselves to be wise - The word φασκοντες signifies not merely the professing but the assumption of the philosophic character.
They changed the glory, etc. - The finest
representation of their deities was in the human figure; and on such
representative figures the sculptors spent all their skill; not having the true principles of morality, they represented them as
slaves to the most disorderly and disgraceful passions; as possessing unlimited
powers of sensual gratification.
They ascribed
a deity to the most contemptible creatures, and by them represented God.
---It was
the greatest honor God did to man that He made man in the image of God;
---but it
is the greatest dishonor man has done to God that he has made God in the image
of man.