Man reaches the lowest point of depravity when he heartily applauds those who give themselves to sin. To delight in those who do evil is a sure way to become even more degraded than the sinners one observes. This, I think, was one of the supreme horrors of the Roman Coliseum. Those committing the mayhem were supremely guilty, but those watching and applauding were perhaps even more wretched. It makes little difference whether the vices are real or portrayed; the effect is much the same – an increasingly debased mind on the part of the viewer. Approving another’s sin or encouraging another’s sin is a sign that life has reached its lowest dimension.

We Christians are not exempt from this. Satan knows that if he can get us to laugh at the things we believe we would never do, our defenses will fall. Maybe someday our unwitting approval will give way to action. We need to be careful what we watch and applaud.

According to Psalm 8 man is made a little lower than angels. This suggests that man is in a position somewhere between the angels above and the beasts below. Angels are spirits without bodies. (Sometimes they take on bodies, but they are spirit beings.) Animals are bodies without spirits. Man is in between because he is body and spirit. This puts man in a mediating position. It has always been man’s prerogative to move upward toward the spiritual or downward toward the animal, and we become like that which we focus. This is why we cannot sin “a little bit.” All sin moves us downhill individually, nationally, and culturally.

As our society has moved downward toward the beast, no one seems able to say “This far and no further.” No one can put a limit on sensuality. Incest is even being promoted by some. Our culture has been unable to draw the line on pornography. Such are the dimensions of depravity. What is the answer? Why does God give a civilization over to this kind of thing? He does it because when darkness prevails, and despair and violence are widespread, men and women are most ready to come to the light. He gives mankind up so that in their despair they might give themselves to His grace. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.” (Isaiah 9:2)

In the first century mankind was sunk in the darkness of despair. Idolatry had penetrated the whole world. Men had turned from the true God, whom they could have known. In that hour, in the darkness of the night, over the skies of Bethlehem the angels broke through, and a great light of hope shone forth. From that hope all light streams. The angels’ message was the coming of the Lord Jesus, the availability of the gift of the “righteousness of God.”

Against the growing darkness of our own time we need to make this message as clear as we possibly can – by our testimony, by our lives, by the joy and peace of Heaven in our hearts. God has found a way to break through human weakness, arrogance, despair, and sinfulness to give us peace, joy, and gladness. Just as Jesus was born in Bethlehem so long ago, so He can be born in any person’s heart now. This is good news of the gospel. In this decaying world in which we live, we can see again the glory of this truth as it delivers people from their sins. “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).

In Ephesians 2, Paul paints a similar picture of the dimensions of man’s depravity, concluding in verse 3 with “[we] were by nature children of wrath.” However, he doesn’t stop there but continues:  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God… (vv. 4-8). Christ came in the darkest night, and He can meet us even in the midnight of our souls.

It’s true that our rejection of God has left us looking to the beasts and becoming increasingly like them – even worse than the beasts – and that left to ourselves there can be no end to this grim descent into depravity. But the gospel, for the sake of which Romans was written, tells us that God has not left us to ourselves. In Christ, He has acted to restore what we are intent on destroying.

Paul writes about this in 2 Corinthians 3 verses 16 and 18. When we come to Christ, the question is not “How low can you go?” We are done with that. The question is “How high can you rise?” And to that question the answer also is: no limit. We are to become increasingly like the Lord Jesus Christ throughout eternity.

Romans 1:32 Reflection Questions:

Are there movies or shows that you watch regularly that maybe you should stop watching?

How are you keeping yourself from sliding down the depravity slippery slope, and becoming increasingly like the Lord Jesus Christ?

In what ways are you making it clear to others of their depravity?