In the first post about Total Depravity (Total Depravity – Part 1) i gave this definition:
The doctrine of total depravity asserts that people are by nature not inclined or even able to love God wholly with heart, mind, and strength, but rather all are inclined by nature to serve their own will and desires and to reject the rule of God.
I want to try to cover 2 things in this post: 1) give scripture which forms the basis for the idea of Total Depravity and 2) explain a bit about the misnomer of Total Depravity and what it doesn’t mean. In the coming Part 3, i want to look at this question from my cousin Mike about the definition above of Total Depravity:
What is the meaning of “by nature”? Does it determine or cause my inability to love God or is it the source of my depravity?
If any of you also have questions, please reply in the comments area and i can address them in coming posts.
Scripture
The best passage about the idea of Original Sin (resulting in the concept of Total Depravity) and the gift of forgiveness by Grace through Jesus is found in Romans chapter 5.
Romans 5:12, 15-19 (NLT)
When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.
But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.
Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.
It is clear that something significant happened when Adam sinned, and that there was an ongoing result because of that sin which has been passed down to all of mankind. Man started out made in the Image of God (what theologians call imago dei) and was perfect. (As an aside, the difference between man and every other creature alive is that only man was created in the Image of God.) When Adam sinned, the perfection was lost, but NOT the imago dei. We are still made in God’s image, which is the basis for the entire concept of the sacredness of life. This idea of man being made in God’s image is recognized by Judaism, Christianity and Sufi Islam. This brings us to our next point.
What Does Total Depravity NOT Mean?
The word Total Depravity seems to say that man is completely and totally depraved. Evil. Monsters. That is why i want to explain what and why Total Depravity does not mean this. The adjective ‘total’ is not referring to the amount of depravity, but rather to its completeness. Am i stating a distinction without a difference? No. I have a quote from a theology book by Edgar Mullins:
The phrase “total depravity” has been employed in theology to describe the sinful state of men. But it needs careful defining lest it lead astray. In brief, it means that all the parts of our nature have been affected by sin. It does not mean that men are as bad as they can be, nor that all men are equally bad. It does not mean that human nature is destitute of all good impulses in the moral sense. It means rather that human nature, as such, and in all its parts in its unregenerate state, is under the dominion of sin.
When Dallas Willard was asked if he believed in Total Depravity, he said (i am paraphrasing from memory) that he preferred the term Sufficient Depravity. He said this means that man has been sufficiently damaged by sin that he is incapable and unable to redeem himself, and instead must rely on God’s free gift of Grace for forgiveness. This echoes:
Romans 3:23 (NLT)
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
Because of sin, we find ourselves unable to gain God’s approval and forgiveness on the basis of what we ourselves do, but instead it must be on the basis of what Jesus has done on our behalf. God’s standard is perfection, not, as many believe, that our good must outweigh our bad. We all come short of meeting God’s standard, so that is why he sent his son Jesus to live as a man without sin and then die on our behalf so that our sins can be forgiven. The theological concept is that the righteousness of Jesus is imputed to us when we become believers and followers of him. When God looks at one of his children (those who have chosen to follow Jesus and accept his sacrifice on our behalf for the forgiveness of our sin), instead of seeing our sin, he sees Jesus’ righteousness. It’s a pretty awesome thing and one that has the power to free us from the oppression of guilt.
Here are links to the other 2 posts in the Total Depravity series: