Three times in this passage Paul tells us that God gave the Gentiles over to sin. In each case the giving over to sin is a consequence for the Gentiles having rejected God as He is revealed in His creation:
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23 [The Gentiles] exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and
reptiles. |
24 Therefore God
gave them over in
the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of
their bodies with one another. |
|
25 [The Gentiles] exchanged the truth
of God for a lie,
and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator |
26 Because of this, God
gave them over to
shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural
ones. |
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28a Since [the Gentiles] did not
think it worthwhile to retain
the knowledge of
God |
28b [God] gave them over to a depraved mind,
to do what ought not to be done. |
Thus,
God punishes the Gentiles sin (of rejecting Him)
by giving them over to more
sin!