Total Depravity
by Rod Jackson
All verses are quoted from the NASB anything in [square brackets] is added by me for clarity.
Welcome to our 5 lessons on T.U.L.I.P. which is a summary of what is called the 5 points of Calvinism.
In Genesis 2:16&17 we see that the tree that Adam is commanded not to eat from is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. After the fall in Genesis 3:22 we see that Adam and Eve knew good and evil. Therefore we can conclude that before the fall, Adam and Eve did not know good and evil they were morally innocent.
Once I was in the city with a non-Christian friend of mine. This friend gently nudged me in the ribs and pointed to an old lady. My friend started snickering. I looked at this old lady but I couldn't see what he was laughing about. So I asked my friend, what's so funny? My friend just said, "the prune".Then I started laughing as she was really wrinkly. I am not perfect! But the point is this - no matter how long I looked at this lady, I couldn't see what was funny. I just don't think that way. In this instance, I was morally innocent - it never would have occurred to me. This is how I picture Adam and Eve before the fall; sin would not have entered their mind.
SHOW CARD - Total Depravity
Today's lesson is on the 1st point of Calvinism the 'T' in the acronym T.U.L.I.P. stands for "Total Depravity". Total depravity describes human nature after the fall and before God's grace is given to a person. Adam and Eve were morally innocent before the fall but after they became totally depraved!
Genesis 20:1-7 - Here we see the non-Christian king desired Sarah, who was a beautiful woman. So he took her. Now God says that Abimelech did this with a clear conscience - in other words Abimelech, if he had known that Sarah was a married woman, would not have taken her. So Abimelech was the sort of person who would not commit physical adultery.
Genesis 27:41 - Esau intended to kill his twin brother, Jacob. Jacob and his mother, Rebekah, had tricked Jacob's father, Isaac, into giving Jacob the blessing. This blessing was supposed to go to Esau, not Jacob. Esau was so mad that he intended to kill his brother. However, he did not intend to murder his mother who had helped his brother. Obviously he would be even more wicked if he had intended to kill Rebekah (his mother) along with Jacob (his brother). (For the record he never physically killed either of them - Genesis 33:4)
SHOW CARD - x NOT - MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF SIN & EVIL IN US
We saw that Abimelech did not commit adultery and Esau wanted to murder one person not two. If Abimelech did commit adultery, obviously that is more wicked than not. Similarly if Esau wanted to kill 2 people this is worse than only wanting to kill 1 person. So Total depravity does not mean that we are as wicked as we can be or that we sin as often or as much as we can.
(Note - there are levels of sin )
Romans 2:14 & 15 - The Gentiles were not a part of God's covenant nation Israel (the Jews). But these verses show us that even the Gentiles have a conscience. They can to some extent tell the difference between good and evil.
SHOW CARD - x NOR THAT WE HAVE NO CONSCIENCE
Total Depravity does not mean that one cannot distinguish between good and evil.
1 Kings 5:1 - The non-Christian king Hiram sent envoys, these would have included gifts, to King Solomon. Hiram knew David, Solomon's father. David had died and Hiram sends the envoy to Solomon. He did not have to do this! This is a good thing that he is doing here.
SHOW CARD - x NOR THAT WE CAN DO NO HUMAN GOOD
So Total depravity does not mean that we can do no relatively good thing. Atheists give to charity.
Romans 3:9-18 & 23 - All people are fallen under sin
SHOW CARD - TOTAL NUMBER / ALL HUMANS
Total Depravity does mean that it is all humans who have fallen under sin. It is the total number of humans who have become depraved.
Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful.
Mark 7:15 & 20-23 - Evil does not go into people it comes out of them.
Matthew 7:17&18 - Bad trees produce bad fruit & good trees produce good fruit.
John 15:4&5 - We need Jesus to produce good fruit, without Jesus we can do nothing good.
This is in an absolute goodness sense, not the human or relative goodness that we saw before. Atheists can give to charity, but they do not do it out of love for God.
Matthew 13:13-15 - Cannot see or hear. John 8:43 - Unable to hear.
Ephesians 2:1-3 - Dead in sins. A dead person cannot make themselves alive.
Ephesians 4:17-19 & 22 - Thinking is futile, hearts are hard, corrupted by desire etc.
Romans 7:18&19 - Nothing good in the sinful nature.
SHOW CARD - TOTAL BEING / ALL ASPECTS (Mental, Physical, Emotional, Spiritual)
Total Depravity means that we are fallen in every area of our life. Our minds are fallen, we do not think perfectly. Adam and Eve before the fall probably used 100% of their brain, scientist believe that we only use 10% or so of our brains. We do not think about God like we should. Physically we have genetic abnormalities, our bodies do not function like they were created to (I have diabetes!) and we do not do what God wants us to do. Spiritually we are separated from God. God told Adam that on the day he ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he will die. And physically he started to die, but spiritually Adam and Eve both died on that day - they were separated from God. Also we do not worship God like we ought to. Emotionally - we can be deceived by our feelings (use Facts, Faith, Feelings illustration from Christianity Explained). There are many movies that manipulate our feelings so that we sympathize with people who are really doing wicked things. Our will is fallen, we do not even desire God to know Him or to be saved from our depraved condition.
OBJECTIONS -
Ezekiel 18:20 - sin is not passed down (therefore cannot be total number of humans who have fallen). This is wrong because it is the soul that sins, that soul will die. Babies die! Therefore babies sin. We are not punished for our parents sins, but we are punished for our own sins. We do not inherit our other people's sin, we inherit the sin nature.
Ezekiel 28:12 - Model of perfection - in this verse does not refer to the created condition of fallen humanity. This passage is interesting because it has a double meaning. Literally it is symbolically talking about Satan. And symbolically it is literally talking about the King of Tyre. That is - When the passage talks about the King of Tyre it is symbolic, so model of perfection does not mean that the king was perfect. Similarly when the passage symbolically refers to Satan it is literal that he was created perfect!