Texts in Conversation
Romans echoes Jeremiah’s critique of idolatry, where human wisdom is exposed as foolish when it replaces the creator with idols. In Jeremiah, idol makers are mocked for their ignorance in crafting what has no life or power and Paul draws on this to describe how humanity turns from understanding to imitation.
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Jeremiah 10:14
Hebrew Bible
12 The Lord is the one who by his power made the earth. He is the one who by his wisdom established the world. And by his understanding, he spread out the skies. 13 When his voice thunders, the heavenly ocean roars. He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons. He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain. He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it. 14 All these idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made. For the image he forges is merely a sham. There is no breath in any of those idols. 15 They are worthless, mere objects to be mocked. When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed. 16 The Lord, who is the inheritance of Jacob’s descendants, is not like them. He is the one who created everything. And the people of Israel are those he claims as his own. His name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Romans 1:22
New Testament
20 For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.
Date: 55-58 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Pretending to be wise, they became fools ... For Paul, the resultant state of the pagan is not wisdom but folly. Compare Jeremiah 10:14, 'Every human being has become a fool without knowledge'; also Wisdom of Solomon 11:15 ..."
Fitzmyer, Joseph A.
Romans: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
(p. 283) Yale University Press, 1993
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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