Like a doctor diagnosing a disease, Paul in chapter one revealed the process by which the human heart rejects God. Then he showed us that rebellion doesn't lead to freedom but rather to deeper and deeper forms of slavery. Now, in chapter two, he shows us that people can remain rebellious while at the same time being very religious. Again like a doctor, in this chapter he catalogues the symptoms. And his list is disturbing because most of us will recognize certain of these tendencies in ourselves. In some ways this chapter hits closer to home for those of us who are churchgoing Christians than the lawlessness of chapter one. In chapter one we may have found ourselves looking over the fence at the behaviors of those who are lawless saying, "Isn't that awful; how sad!" But in this chapter Paul moves over to our side of the fence to examine our hearts and in doing so shows us that religion can do greater damage to a person than lawlessness. And as we listen to him, it isn't long before his words remind us of things Jesus said. We recognize Paul is explaining warnings our Lord gave to us. Paul isn't trying to shame or condemn us; he's trying to ensure that we who know the Bible and go to church won't fall into a dangerous deception. He wants each of us to examine ourselves to see that there's not an unsurrendered heart hiding beneath a cloak of religion.

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