Total Depravity

“The question of supreme importance is not how the system under consideration came to be formulated into five points, or why it was named Calvinism, but rather is it supported by Scripture? The final court of appeal for determining the validity of any theological system is the inspired, authoritative Word of God (Steele, 24).”

When it comes right down to it the understanding that Christians have of Salvation is linked and locked to the doctrine of sin. In other words how you view sin determines how you view salvation. Which came first the chicken or the egg? This is an old little statement, but is really easily answered, because we know that the chicken had to be there before an egg could be laid. The eternal decree of God to chose a people on whom to bestow His eternal blessing preceded the fall. God first chose a people on whom to bestow His grace. It mattered not at all that the whole race was plunged into sin, God had chosen a people. In God’s economy or viewpoint the decree to chose a vessel of honor preceded sin. However, from mans viewpoint in order to understand what salvation is or isn’t you must first understand what it means to be Totally Depraved.

“When Calvinists speak of man as being totally depraved, they mean that man’s nature is corrupt, perverse, and sinful throughout. The adjective ‘total’ does not mean that each sinner is as totally or completely corrupt in his actions and thoughts as it is possible for him to be. Instead, the word ‘total’ is used to indicate that the whole of man’s being has been infected by sin. (Steele, 25)”

Man is so ‘totally depraved’, that he is helpless to do anything to save his own soul. This even includes faith. This may shock some people, but faith that does not come from a supreme act of grace on God’s part will not end in Salvation. In a nut shell a man or woman can not save their own souls. No mater how many good acts that human kind do, it will never work to get them into God’s favor. “In short, the unregenerate man is DEAD In Sin and his WILL IS ENSLAVED to his evil nature (Steele, 25).”

God made man free from sin, but man fell and brought sin and death to the whole of the human race. This is why mankind does some of the terrible things that we see, man exists in a fallen dead condition and can not change himself. Man’s will has been so infected with sin and death that he is a slave to his own sinful nature. In order for man to enjoy God’s Grace it is essential for man to “be born anew of the Spirit (Steele, 25).”

Steele, David N. and Thomas, Curtis C., The Five Points of Calvinism, Defined, Defended and documented., Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., Philadelphia, Pa., 1969.

This Scriptural Support is taken from (Steele, 25-30):

A. As the result of Adam’s transgression, men are born in sin and by nature are spiritually dead; therefore, if they are t God’s children and enter His kingdom, they must be born the Spirit.

1. When Adam was placed in the garden of Eden, he was warned not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil on the threat of immediate spiritual death.

Genesis 2:16,17: And the Lord God commanded the man, say­ing, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

2. Adam disobeyed and ate of the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:1-7) ; consequently, he brought spiritual death upon himself and upon the race.

Romans 5:12: Therefore as sin came into the world through one man [Adam, see vs. 14] and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned.

Ephesians 2:1-3: And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Colossians 2 :13: And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.

3. David confessed that he, as well as all other men, was born in sin.

Psalm 51:5: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psalm 58:3: The wicked go astray from the womb, they err from their birth, speaking lies.

4. Because men are born in sin and are by nature spiritually dead, Jesus taught that men must be born anew if they are to enter God’s kingdom.

John 3:5-7: Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, 1 say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ ” Compare John 1:12,13.

B. As the result of the fall, men are blind and deaf to spiritual truth. Their minds are darkened by sin; their hearts are corrupt and evil. Genesis 6:5: The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 8:21: … the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth . . . Ecclesiastes 9 :3: . . . the hearts of men are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live . . .

Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desper­ately corrupt; who can understand it?

Mark 7:21-23: “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolish­ness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man.”

John 3:19: And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Romans 8:7,8: For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

I Corinthians 2:14: The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Ephesians 4:17-19: Now this I affirm and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart; they have become callous and have given themselves up to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of uncleanness. Ephesians 5:8: For once you were darkness, but now you are light

in the Lord . . .

Titus 1:15: To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure; their very minds and consciences are corrupted.

C. Before sinners are born into God’s kingdom through the regenerating power of the Spirit, they are children of the devil and under his control; they are slaves to sin.

John 8:44: You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.

Ephesians 2:1,2: And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, fol­lowing the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of dis­obedience.

II Timothy 2:25,26: God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

I John 3:10: By this it may be seen who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not do right is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother.

I John 5:19: We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one.

John 8:34: Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin.”

Romans 6:20: When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

Titus 3:3: For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by men and hating one another.

D. The reign of sin is universal; all men are under its power; conse­quently, none is righteous-not even one!

II Chronicles 6:36: . . . for there is no man who does not sin . . . Compare I Kings 8:46.

Job 15:14-16: What is man, that he can be clean? Or he that is born of a woman, that he can be righteous? Behold, God puts no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in his sight; how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water!

Psalm 130:3: If thou, 0 Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?

Psalm 143:2: Enter not into judgment with thy servant; for no man living is righteous before thee.

Proverbs 20:9: Who can say, “I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin”?

Ecclesiastes 7:20: Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

Ecclesiastes 7:29: Behold, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many devices.

Isaiah 53:6: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way. . .

Isaiah 64:6: We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Romans 3:9-12: What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all; for I have already charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, as it is written; “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong; no one does good, not even one.”

James 3:2,8: For we all make many mistakes, and if any one makes no mistakes in what he says he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also …. but no human being can tame the tongue-a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

I John 1:8,10: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us …. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

E. Men left in their dead state are unable of themselves to repent, to believe the gospel, or to come to Christ. They have no power within themselves to change their natures or to prepare themselves for salvation.

Job 14:4: Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.

Jeremiah 13:23: Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.

Matthew 7:16-18: You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

Matthew 12:33: “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.”

John 6 :44: No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6=65: And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

Romans 11:35,36: “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

I Corinthians 2:14: The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

I Corinthians 4:7: For who sees anything different in you? What have you that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it ivere not a gift?

II Corinthians 3:5: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our sufficiency is from God.