I was always taught that total depravity doesn’t mean total inability. I want you to pause and ponder the absurdity of that statement. If your depravity is total their your lack of ability would be total.

If you’re able to do some good then your depravity can’t be total. There are a great many churches that deny total depravity. They have every reason to do so because they believe that to some degree man is justified by his works therefore he must be able within himself to do good.

So they reason man is depraved but not totally depraved. He is still capable of doing good. They proof text this with passages like Genesis 6:9.

“These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.”

The assumption is made that Noah was in himself righteous but the verse before it says that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. It was partaking in God’s grace that Noah was righteous.

Another verse is Job 1:1.

“There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.”

Here again the assumption has to be made that this uprightness was from within Job. We need to understand these verses in light of the overall teaching of the Bible such as in Romans 3:10-12.

“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”

When the Bible speaks of a person being righteous that righteousness is received. It comes from outside of us not from within us. Does our depravity mean we are unable to remedy our condition? That’s an important question.

If I’m completely covered in mud I am entirely dirty. You can’t say that your entirely covered in mud but that doesn’t mean I’m muddy all over. It does mean that.

The problem is that we want so badly to hold onto libertarian free will and to do that we have to be able to come to God apart from God.

Others who are more consistent will do away with total depravity all together. This leads to the heresy known as pelagianism. They teach that we can come to God completely without Him and that our sin is derived from our actions not our hearts.

They would teach that men are born morally neutral and only become sinners when they choose to sin. The same way they chose to sin they can choose God without any outside cause of that choice.

The church tradition that I come from holds to something called semi-pelagianism. This view would hold that man has a sin nature although they reject original sin. As you can imagine this leads to all sorts of problems.

They teach that man is bent towards wickedness and that God can give grace that we mix with our own free will. That grace helps us choose God.

Both of these views gave rise to decisional evangelism and the sinners prayer. Let me summarize problems with these views.

If men are born morally neutral then you have the problem of sin. Why has there never been a sinless person apart from Christ? Surely not everyone would sin.

If men are only born with the ability to sin but not a nature that’s consumed by sin then you have the same problem. Surely some would overcome it and choose right over wrong.

Semi-pelagianism is just as problematic. When you lose the doctrine of original sin you end up with huge problems in regards to the doctrine of salvation. What they are saying is that we are not guilty of Adam’s sin we only inherit his ability to sin.

You end up with a problem in regards to the second Adam. The two Adam’s are similar.

“Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” (Romans 5:18-19)

The question that comes up is this: If we only inherit Adam’s ability to sin do we only inherit Christ’s ability to do righteousness? I believe that the guilt of Adam’s sin was imputed to us so that we are held guilty as if we sinned with him.

In the same way Christ’s righteousness was imputed to us so that we are seen by God as if we did the righteousness. If you give up original sin then you must give up imputed righteousness.

Another problem you have is death.

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

If we are born morally neutral and not guilty of sin why do babies die? Why is there death in the womb? If death is the wages earned from sin and they have not sinned yet then they should not die. Death of babies is clear evidence of original sin.

This is from chapter 6 of the 1689 Baptist confession of faith.

Although God created man upright and perfect, and gave him a righteous law, which had been unto life had he kept it, and threatened death upon the breach thereof, yet he did not long abide in this honor; Satan using the subtlety of the serpent to subdue Eve, then by her seducing Adam, who, without any compulsion, did willfully transgress the law of their creation, and the command given to them, in eating the forbidden fruit, which God was pleased, according to His wise and holy counsel to permit, having purposed to order it to His own glory.

Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and we in them whereby death came upon all: all becoming dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body.

They being the root, and by God’s appointment, standing in the room and stead of all mankind, the guilt of the sin was imputed, and corrupted nature conveyed, to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation, being now conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death, and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus set them free.

From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.

The corruption of nature, during this life, does remain in those that are regenerated; and although it be through Christ pardoned and mortified, yet both itself, and the first motions thereof, are truly and properly sin.”

Our condition flows from a history of rebellion against God. The Scriptures declare that God created the world in six days. We are also told that this creation was very good.

“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:31)

In this perfect environment God created man. God gave but one command, one law to His creation.

Scripture tells us that mankind violated this command. The Bible tells us that this sin by our father Adam plunged the entire human race into sin, thus he passed on his new nature to us.

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” (Romans 5:12)

The condition of man is paramount to any doctrinal position. If we maintain that man is basically good then God only helps us but we are not necessarily in need of Him. This changes our entire approach to God and salvation.

Some would argue that mankind is capable of good deeds and therefore is basically good. The problem with that is the Bible makes it clear that simply doing something good does not make us good unless it flows from a heart of faith towards God (Romans 14:23).

Some people figure that if we do kind acts toward one another then we are showing a good side of our nature. The problem here is that our nature flows from a rebellion against God.

We have broken His laws and no matter how many so-called good deeds we do towards each other they are filth in the eyes of God. Anything not done for the ultimate glory of God is not a “good work.”

This is seen several times in Scripture.

Whatever is not of faith is sin – Romans 14:23

Our righteousness is as filthy rags – Isaiah 64:6

The plowing of the wicked is sin – Proverbs 21:4

If we admit that man is not good, and most seem to agree on that point then we need decide how bad he is. Is he only slightly bad with some good mixed in, or is he completely bad; incapable of ever helping himself? If we are capable of helping ourselves then why did Jesus come in the first place?

The Scriptures tell us a few things about man’s nature. The first thing they tell us is that no one is good.

“What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” (Romans 3:9-12)

This statement covers all of mankind both Jew and Gentile. It is a great all encompassing description of the human race leaving nobody out as an exception. This answers our question about some being only slightly bad, and the answer is we are all bad.

What about the question we asked about being able to help ourselves? There are many who hold to total depravity but deny total inability. We will address total inability later on, but at least here we can see that man in his sinful nature does not seek after God.

Paul understood the depth of his own depravity better than most Americans. If anyone had a right to brag of righteousness apart from God it was Paul. We must also remember it was Paul who called himself the chief of sinners. Paul knew apart from God we would be lost.

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20)

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” (Titus 3:5)

Paul goes on to tell us that those who are in the flesh, that is the natural man, the man apart from God, cannot please God. Let me repeat, they cannot please God, nor can they be subject to the law of God. This tells me they are totally unable to do these things.

“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:7-8)

The Bible goes on to describe our condition as one that cannot heal itself or just simply choose to be healed. The Scripture calls us dead in sin. No dead man (except our Lord) has ever or can ever raise himself from the dead.

“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins ” (Ephesians 2:1)

Here we see that it says flat out we were dead, which of course means dead spiritually. Could we raise ourselves from the dead? Could we somehow reach our dead hand up and grab His?

We didn’t make ourselves alive, it was God who reached down and quickened us, or made us alive. In our flesh as Paul said in Romans, we didn’t seek Him, we didn’t understand Him, we couldn’t be subject to Him nor could we please Him. The work to make this possible was His, not ours.

“Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” (Ephesians 2:2-3)

Here Paul says that our nature led us to live apart from God. When put with the verse before it we see a picture where we are born with a sin nature, a corrupt fallen nature that is spiritually dead and therefore unable to raise itself.

In that state we do not seek God, nor can we think on spiritual things, until He quickens or makes our spirit alive. We have free will but we only will to do that which is against God until and unless He reaches down to quicken us, then we can choose the right.

Many see salvation as the time we are made alive, but Scripture clearly teaches that this takes place prior to and in relation to our salvation. He regenerates or makes us alive so that we can choose to be saved. Look at what God told Nicodemus.

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)

We cannot even see the kingdom of God unless we are born again which means to be made alive. Then we can see it, choose it, and enter into it. Prior to that, we are at enmity with God, not understanding, not seeking after Him.

Our inability to respond stems from a blindness that is in our heart. We have a heart of stone towards God. God must remove our heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. This is the regeneration that allows us to choose Him in salvation.

“Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:” (Ephesians 4:18)

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

Our hearts are darkened from the light of the glory of Christ. The god of this world has blinded our minds and God must shine the light upon us in order for us to respond to the light.

“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:4-6)

We have seen from the Scriptures that mankind is not good but rather born with a sinful nature. This nature makes us unable to see the kingdom of God, understand the things of God, seek after God, or to remedy our lost condition. We have seen that Scripture says we are dead in our sins. We must be quickened from this dead state in order to be saved.

We have a heart of stone towards God which must be replaced by God with a heart of flesh. This nature makes us enemies of God because we do by nature those things that violate His Divine laws. This means that we are not only enemies of God but under His Divine judgment. The Bible says that we are children of wrath.

“Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” (Ephesians 2:3)

Our rebellion against God is total, meaning all we do is sin against God, even those things in which we would declare ourselves righteous. Whatever does not flow from faith is sin. Apart from the grace of God we are totally to blame for our sins and held accountable.

Let me boil this down to 3 main points.

1. Adam was our federal head.

He represented us before God and failed. His sin was imputed to us. This allows Christ, the second Adam to represent us before God righteously and impute to us His righteousness.

2. We have a sin nature.

We are born with this fallen nature. There is no truth to the philosophy that babies are born pure, or without sin. If they had no sin they would never die. If they had no sin nature then they wouldn’t tend towards bad which all babies do.

“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:5)

3. We live according to our nature.

This I such an important truth. Can we simply by free will do good? The answer is no. Everything is bound by it’s nature. God Himself is bound by His nature. Adam and Eve in the garden were innocent and could act according to that and they chose to disobey.

That disobedient nature was passed on to their descendants. Some would say what about free will? We have free will, I don’t deny that but we are only free to act according to our nature which is fallen. This means our wills will only choose wickedness.

When we are saved we receive a new nature and we can now freely choose to live according to that nature or according to our fallen nature.

Let me wrap this up with an application. Salvation is a work of God. He must raise us from spiritual deadness in order for us to come to Him. Without that work of God we will continue in our sin. Don’t mistake moralism for righteousness.

The unsaved can do moral deeds and even be religious people but their hearts are still in rebellion to God because they are not doing it by faith. Turn one more time to Ephesians 2:4.

“Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us.” (Ephesians 2:4-6)

We were bound by sin, fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, living in rebellion…but God. It’s a work of God totally outside of us that brought us out of that condition. There is no place to fit our goodness into Ephesians 2.

Verse 1-You hath He quickened

Verse 2-But God who is rich in mercy

Verse 5-God quickened us

Verse 6-He raised us up together with Christ

Verse 8-It’s a gift of God

Verse 10-We are His workmanship

Our salvation is outside of us. Left to ourselves we would never choose God. We would go on in sin bound to our depraved nature. Praise the Lord He intervened on our behalf and raised us from the dead and gave us a new nature that loves righteousness and seeks after God.