Romans 1:22

Professing themselves to be wise, &c. A severe but just description of speculation, primitive or modern, which ignores Revelation where Revelation has spoken. St Paul does not mean that in such speculations no intellectual power was exerted; surpassing power often was, and is, displayed in them. But the premisses of the reasoners, and their moral attitude, in view of the real state of the case, were fatally wrong. In the very act of "professing to be" competently"wise" they proved themselves "fools," and further proved it by palpable acts, as follows.