T.otal Depravity

One of the most underlying doctrines in the Bible is the doctrine of total human depravity. It is mentioned in passing and in undertones, but very rarely is it really discussed and rarer still is it properly understood. I'd say that the majority of Christians will tell you that all men are sinners and that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but the depth at which man fell is not accurately described in most pulpits or small groups.

Man did not simply trip and stumble only to get back up. He actually fell all the way, lower than we could imagine. The Bible states this fact in several passages, which I will quote a few of later. One of the easiest illustrations I can think of to describe this is in the form of children. For example, you will never have to teach a child to lie. They do that very easily of their own, so called free-will. They do it to save themselves from trouble and ultimately from judgement. You do, however, have to teach them to tell the truth. Another illustrations would be, if you are honest with yourselves and you were to think of all the thoughts (not even the actions) that you have had over the course of your life and how ashamed and embarassed you would be if those thoughts were projected on a screen in front of a total stranger you should get a small taste of how totally depraved that man is.

So, why is this such an important doctrine to dissect? Without a true grasp of this doctrine one can rely on themselves to gain or "decide" to follow Christ of their own righteousness. Now, this isn't spoken in those words or in that context in most pulpits, but it nonetheless what is implied. "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."--Romans 3:10-12. Pretty clear to me and I would consider "choosing" Christ of our own volition would be "good" and "righteous".

So again, the importance of this doctrine is Who initiates this "decision" or "choice". Many will say you do based on your "free will". Jesus, however, tells us "everyone who commits sin is the slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."--John 8:34-36. So does this say we are free to make that decision based on some fancy words said to a lost person? The Bible clearly says that we must hear the Truth, so I am not saying we shouldn't witness or even that someone is saved without hearing the Gospel. What I am saying is that we are incapable of responding to that Gospel message without God first regenerating us and opening our eyes. Total Depravity keeps us from making that decision based on our own decision from hearing the Word, we must first be given the faith to believe and that gift of grace is from God only.

"I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep."--John 10:14-15. Here is our Lord and Savior stating that His own would know Him and that they would know Him but how would we? "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were DEAD in our transgressions, made us alive together with Chris, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."--Ephesians 2:4-8. An extremely rich section of Scripture that clearly describes that salvation is a sovereign work of God and that we can no more add to it than we can take away. "All that the Father gives me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out."--John 6:37

So in closing, we are dead (fallen completely) and cannot make a decision; as dead men can't decide anything. Secondly, any WORK we would do; such as choosing that which is good on our own would be contradictory to what Christ and his apostles taught. I could use many more verses to make this point, but God's word stands on it's own and does not need me to defend it anymore than He needed me to create this world and to determine which children He would adopt and bring to life.

The T. part of Total Depravity, in this blog title, is a reference to the acronym of T.U.L.I.P, which was used to describe what many today consider Calvinism, but I tend to term Doctrines of Grace. I will elaborate on the U. of this acronym on my next post.