Instead of worshiping the immortal God, they worship is literally “they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for.” This, of course, is idolatry. To “exchange God’s glory” for something else (see Psalm 106.20) is to give up acknowledging, praising, honoring, worshiping the true God, whose existence and being are revealed in his “glory,” and to substitute idols as the object of worship. In this verse Paul makes an obvious contrast between God who is immortal and man who is mortal. Instead of worshiping may be rendered in some languages as “they give up worshiping” or “they no longer worship.” Immortal is rendered in most languages as “who never dies” or “who always exists.”

Images (here equivalent to “idols”) actually translates a phrase in Greek (literally “in the likeness of an image”), which most translations render exactly as the Good News Translation does. Images may be rendered simply as “likenesses,” but in a number of languages one may use the equivalent of “fetish carvings” or “idols.” Made to look like may be rendered as “which men make in order that they will look like” or “which men make so that they will seem like.”

Not all languages distinguish neatly between birds, quadrupeds, and reptiles. In some languages the more usual expression is “animals that fly, those that walk, and those that crawl.” What is important here is not the precise designation but the all-inclusive nature of these distinctions.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .