Total Depravity

The Light Shines in the Darkness...

It is what binds all of man’s religions together. It is the thing that exalts man’s power and makes man the master of his own destiny. It is the doctrine of free-will. All the man-made religions of the world state that man is born neither good nor evil, and thus, man should choose good in order to go to paradise (or be born in a better state in the case of reincarnation). However, the Bible teaches something far different. It teaches that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), all are dead and enslaved to sin (Ephesians 2:1-3, John 8:34), will undergo the just punishment for their sins (Revelation 20:13-14), and thus, if a man wishes to be saved from this wrath, then he must be saved only by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8-9).

While many Christians today give assent to these truths, they still teach that man was not so affected by the fall that he could not, of his own free-will, choose God’s mercy. I believe that this is a theological error which is affecting the Church today in its evangelism techniques.

What is ‘Total Depravity’?

Total Depravity is the Biblical doctrine that because of Adam’s fall into sin, all of his posterity (i.e. mankind) is spiritually dead in trespasses and sin, and thus, man is completely incapable of responding to God in a positive manner. In other words, man cannot naturally obey God with all his heart. Man can obey God out of fear, self-preservation, or desire for material gain, but he cannot naturally obey Him out of love. This does not mean that man is as bad as he can be. Otherwise, society would look like something out of one of those apocalyptic movies. For this reason, ‘Total Depravity’ has also been called ‘Total Inability’.

What is the Biblical basis for it?

The Scriptural quotes are numerous. All quotes are from the NASB (emphasis mine):

Genesis 6:5

Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Genesis 8:21

The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.”

Jeremiah 13:23

“Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good who are accustomed to doing evil.”

Jeremiah 17:9

“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Ecclesiastes 9:3

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men. Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead.

Psalm 58:3

The wicked are estranged from the womb; these who speak lies go astray from birth.

John 3:19-20

“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”

John 8:34

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”

Romans 1:28-32

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Romans 3:10-18

…as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.” “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”; “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”; “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.” “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”

Romans 8:7-8

…because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

1 Corinthians 2:14

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

Ephesians 2:1-3

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Titus 3:3

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

The Prevenient Grace Objection

Arminians and other non-Calvinists sometimes acknowledge that man cannot naturally respond to God. Rather, they teach that God has given all men ‘prevenient grace’ so that they can now exercise their free-will to either choose to accept or reject God. However, the Scriptures say something quite different.

Isaiah 43:8

Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes, and the deaf, even though they have ears.

Commentary:

In context, God is calling out all the nations of the world for their judgment. This verse implies that the people worship their idols because they were spiritually incapable. The people had physical sight (i.e. “they have eyes”) and physical hearing (i.e. “they have ears”), but they did not have spiritual sight (i.e. “blind”) and spiritual hearing (i.e. “deaf”). Obviously, if God gave prevenient grace to everyone, then God would not have stated that spiritual inability was the cause of Israel’s idolatry.

John 6:64-65

“But there are some of you who do not believe…For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

Commentary:

Jesus stated this at the end of his discourse in John 6 when many of his so-called followers left him. In this verse, Jesus is specifically talking about Judas Iscariot who would betray him. Jesus gives the reason why Judas did not believe in Jesus: “No one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” Thus, it is clear that the reason that Judas did not believe in Jesus was because he could not believe. The only way a man can believe is if it is “granted him from the Father”.

John 8:43

“Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.”

Commentary:

Jesus is telling his opponents that the reason they could not understand His word of life was because they “cannot hear [His] word”. Of course, they could physically hear Him speaking, but Christ’s point was that they could not hear Him spiritually. Obviously, they were not given prevenient grace.

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Objections to Total Depravity

Despite the clear testimony of Scripture, some continue to cling desperately to libertarian free-will due to philosophical presuppositions, emotions, and a few Scriptural arguments as well. As it will be shown, these arguments implement logical fallacies, and thus, they are invalid.

Q. If ‘Total Depravity’ is true, then doesn’t that mean that we’re all just a bunch of robots?

A. Total Depravity does not deny that man has a will. Man does freely choose his own actions. However, man is not free to choose that which is good in the eyes of God because he is a slave to sin (John 8:34).

Q. Doesn’t man have to be free in order for God to judge us fairly?

A. No. This philosophical objection comes out of the reasoning of the pagan Greek philosopher, Aristotle, and it is nowhere founded in Scripture. Adam, the first man did have a libertarian free-will, but he sinned and caused all his posterity to be born with the imputation of his sin (Romans 5:18). As a result of this, all men are born in slavery to sin (John 8:34). Thus, our chance was in Adam, and he blew it. Those are the cold hard facts, and no amount of human rationalism or emotions can ever change that. As the saying goes, “Reason is a whore.”

Q. What about Scripture verses where God tells the people to make choices, either good or evil? Why would God give us a command if we weren’t able to obey it?

A. Just because God gives a command does not mean that one can obey it. It just means that those commands are God’s standard. Jesus said, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Obviously, we are not capable of being perfect in our current state, but it is still the Law of God. The purpose of God’s Law (i.e. all His commands) was to show that man is sinful and cannot obey God’s Law (Romans 8:7-8) and thus, to convict men of their sin so that they will trust in Christ by faith (Galatians 3:24).

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Also, some helpful audio on this topic can be found at:

http://www.straitgate.com/aom/dl/99.htm (Jan. 2, 9, July 31)

Some helpful online reading can be found here:

http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/topic/depravity.html

http://www.mslick.com/depravity.htm

http://www.mslick.com/answers/freewill.htm