As Paul launches into the core of his letter, he spends a good deal of time laying out the human condition. In other words, he unpacks the bad news that makes the good news of the Gospel so incredibly good. In Romans 1:18-32, Paul unloads the way humanity spirals away from God. The pattern is this: they exchange one thing for another, and God gives them over to it. First, they exchange worshiping God for worshiping idols, and God gives them over (lets them willingly slide into) sinful desires and sexual sin. Then they spiral deeper, exchanging truth for a lie, and God gives them over further to unnatural sexual expression. The final levels of the spiral down involve humanity exchanging knowing God for a debased mind, whereas God gives them over to unrighteousness and the approval of evil. That very bottom is relational brokenness—and we see it all over in our culture. In chapter 1, Paul is giving us a view out the “window” into our culture, but then he pulls out a “mirror” in chapter 2, where we’re forced to confront the same sin and suppression of God’s truth in our own lives. As humanity suppresses God's truth, it spirals toward relational brokenness… Will we (as Jesus’s church) reflect the same brokenness? Or will repent and share the Gospel in love? Before we can effectively bring the good news to the brokenness outside our window, we need to look in the mirror and deal with our own brokenness.

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