14:1 The fool. Atheists and pantheists are mere fools in the sight of the omniscient God, regardless of their intellectual achievements. The delusion that this beautiful, intricately complex cosmos, with its multitudes of marvelously designed living creatures, could have evolved itself by chance is absurd in the highest degree.

14:1 They are corrupt. Psalm 53 is almost an exact replica of this psalm. Also Psalm 14:1-3 is quoted (in effect, not verbatim) in Romans 3:10-12. Evidently the Holy Spirit considers it important to emphasize that those who seek to replace the God of creation with a humanistic or pantheistic philosophy—no matter how wise they profess themselves to be—are really fools in God’s sight (note also Romans 1:21-23).