Total Depravity

Straight AheadTotal depravity is a key doctrine of reformed theology. Unfortunately, many Christians, even many who call themselves reformed, are not very clear on what it means or very sure they want to claim it as their own. Currently, I am showing a video series to our Wednesday night study group by R. C. Sproul which deals with the key doctrines of reformed theology. Last night, we began a two-part presentation concerning the doctrine of total depravity. As I reflected upon Sproul's comments and my own understanding, I realized that some gleanings on this concept would be a worthy entry for this blog. So what is total depravity? It is the belief that by man's first sin, every aspect of our being became infected with sin. We sin, therefore, because we are, by nature, sinners. It is not the individual sin itself that makes us sinners. We sin because we already are sinners. We do not have the moral capacity to choose spiritual good because we have experienced what Sproul calls a "radical corruption" of our very nature. Without the regenerating power of God's Holy Spirit, we cannot possibly do anything that is spiritually or morally virtuous. Most people, even among professing Christians or evangelicals, seem to believe that mankind is basically good. It may come as a shock therefore to some who read this blog that the exact opposite is true. The Bible makes it clear that man is basically evil to his very core. This is what the doctrine of original sin explains. Original sin does not just refer to the first sin, but to its results, to the condition into which each of us are born. Once a person grasps these truths, the rest of the system of reformed theology that is propounded in the historical documents of the Reformation becomes much clearer and much less intimidating. It is these doctrines of the Reformation, from the historic creeds and confessions of the sixteenth and seventeenth century, to which the church must return if it is ever to regain its vitality and its biblically transformational power in our own day.