Images of naked creatures roaming the streets of great cities, dressed as bridesmaids for the Devil’s wedding, are the kinds of scenes we should expect as Paul’s words become more and more meaningful. For the Apostle, these grotesque displays are handed over to a reprobate mind. Once you achieve that level of expertise in wickedness, nothing is keeping you from insanity. Even innocent children are not spared from such sights. Their guardians train them in the paideia of depravity to see these aberrations as common.
As evil persists in its schemes, ugliness permeates its actions. The unbeliever gets uglier with each generation as their actions catch up with their persons. Underneath the mountain peaks of facial paint is a valley of dry bones. Its pursuits become even more vile with time until they rot to nothing. The ungodly are like the chaff which the Spirit-wind drives away.
But Christians, in their pursuit of the good, become beautiful. They blossom in their forgiveness and repentance. They cherish life and its goodness. They parade their faith in the public square with modesty and charm. They are like vines with fruit abounding. Their children sing of the mercies of the Lord.
As C.S. Lewis notes:
“We…(want) to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.”
We do not want mere external beauty but the absorption of it in all our doings. We want the normativity of beauty exemplified and contrasted with the ugly displays. Christians are people of beauty who see evil, resist it, and create an alternative that sets the captives free.
