Total depravity.
Total depravity.
The nature of man’s problem and the locus of man’s hope.
When considering the doctrine of total depravity, there are, no doubt, a myriad of ideas and assumptions which come to mind. Whatever Calvinistic presuppositions one has, total depravity is helpful for understanding both the nature of man’s problem and the locus of man’s hope. To understand what it means that mankind is totally depraved, one might recall the oft-repeated anecdote concerning G. K. Chesterton’s infamous quip when asked for an essay by the London Times. The request was for an analysis of all the wrongs that plagued the world, to which Chesterton cheekily replied, “Dear Sirs, I am. Yours sincerely.” As coy as this response might have been, its wisdom is not diminished. Indeed, as has often been said, the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.
Total depravity, then, does not mean that every human being is acting as sinfully as possible at all times. “We do not mean,” Millard J. Erickson explains in his Christian Theology, “by total depravity that the unregenerate person is totally insensitive in matters of conscience, of right and wrong” (572). One’s understanding of total depravity must make room for the altruistic efforts of even those who are unregenerate. Nonetheless, the doctrine of total depravity suggests that however well-intentioned one’s actions, there are no truly good deeds that derive out of entirely pure motives. This is so because the seat of sin is in the heart, mind, and soul of every person. The entire being and makeup of an individual is corrupt.
Consequently, what makes one a sinner is not, necessarily, their transgressions and sinful actions. Instead, sin, rebellion, and perversion spring out of mankind’s sinful soul (Matt. 15:18–19). The problem of sin, then, is not a problem of inappropriate behavior, as Jesus Christ makes clear in his trenchant discourse, the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:17–48). The problem of sin remains a problem of man’s heart needing to be entirely changed and made new, which, as it happens, is precisely what the Lord Jesus has effected in his death and resurrection.
Accordingly, the locus of mankind’s hope does not hinge on new information which inspires new actions, since there is no action able to be performed by mankind that is capable of solving the problem of the human heart. “Sin,” as Erickson plainly says, “is inescapable” (574). As Jesus suggests to a bewildered Nicodemus, the only solution is the new birth (John 3:3). It is precisely the news of “new birth” and “life everlasting” that Christ’s Spirit whispers in the ears of every unregenerate soul who happens to come under the preaching of the gospel (Rom. 10:17). Because God is “rich in mercy” (Eph. 2:4), those who are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1) — that is, those who are totally depraved — are yet able to respond to the salvific initiative brought about by the proclamation of the Word and the ministration of the Spirit.
Works cited:
Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 3rd edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2013).
Thank you Brad. I’m an old man. I look back on my past with dismay. Throughout my life, I thought of myself as one of the good guys. Now I marvel at the lack of awareness of my sin. It could be a source of regret and sorrow, but it has driven me deeper into his grace - “Mercy from first to last.”
I forget who, but one of the classic distinctions between Total Depravity(the teaching that every part of man is sinful) and the heretical Utter Depravity(that man is sort of at maximum sinfulness, that there is no goodness of any sort, essentially that the Imago is entirely gone) is that Total Depravity is not about the intensity of sin but about its extent, that is it is not simply my 'appetites' or intellect as the Romanists would have it that are sinful but my will, my judgment-my heart.
The great defense of Total Depravity, to me, is that any part of me that is sinful can expect redemption, so if every part of me is lost in sin then I can trust that every part of me will be redeemed. So, rather than trying to search out some goodness in ourselves we can just consign all of our righteousness to the fire as the Old Man.