Are People Totally Depraved?

Are people totally depraved? That depends on what you mean; some are, but, are they born that way? Some modern psychological theory asserts that most if not all that we are and do is pre-programmed in our DNA. It’s rubbish. Deep down we all know that we make choices and consequences follow. Children who are taught well and disciplined have less behavioral issues, are happier, and more successful in life. It’s a fact. We are what we learn to be, and choose to be. This is not to say that some basic aspects of our personalities aren’t inherited from our parents, but most of what we are—likes, dislikes, prejudices, beliefs, tendencies, inclinations, boundaries (or lack thereof)—comes from what we learn, and how we use that information as we travel down the road of life.

To be totally depraved is to be without any redeeming moral characteristics. The doctrine of Total Depravity (TD) is a teaching with ancient origins long associated with Christianity. We first see it in the writings of Augustine, and later see it thoroughly developed and encoded into Reformed Theology through the work of John Calvin. Both Catholicism (from Augustine) and Protestantism (mainly from Calvin) hold to forms of the doctrine of TD. The doctrine does not state that all people are as evil as possible (though some are) but that as hopeless sinners, people have nothing that can commend them to a holy God. According to the teaching, this state of seemingly hopeless depravity is inborn; inherited from Adam and Eve. I reject the doctrine of TD for the following reasons.

Many of the texts that Catholics and Calvinists look to for support of the doctrine of TD are poems. Written with expressive, emotional language, they weren’t meant to be taken literally. For example, a common proof-text is Psalm 51:5: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (ESV). We use such emotional expressions (or outcries) often, not to express absolute fact, but to convey feeling. One of us might cry out, “I never do anything right!” and mean the same thing David did. We don’t mean for someone to think we literally never do anything right, but that we do commonly make mistakes (and that it makes us unhappy to do so). David, the Psalm’s author, was guilt-laden after being confronted about what was likely the most sinful episode of his life. In his grief, he cried out in self-derision. He wasn’t literally conceived in sin or brought forth in iniquity.

How do I know this is true? Jesus and his apostles said so. Jesus says that the kingdom belongs to children, unconditionally, and that childlike innocence is one of the goals of conversion (Luke 18:16-17; Matt 18:3). Jesus certainly would not like his disciples to progress toward something that was not pure. Paul also taught that children are born innocent (spiritually alive) and that sin (spiritual death) comes only after they reach an age of understanding and responsibility for their own actions (Rom 7:9). Children are born sinless, and free from condemnation. They are blank slates upon whose hearts the word of God may be deeply etched by faithful parents and teachers. They are also free to make every moral choice, can resist both grace and authority, and can choose to love, believe and obey. They are not born perfect, and inheriting the corruptible nature of Adam, are certainly bound to sin eventually (Rom 3:23), but not a one will be declared a sinner until he makes the choice for himself (Ezek 18:20). Children have the redeeming quality of moral innocence that commends their unstained souls to a loving God (Matt 18:10). Not a single one of the many children who have been denied the privilege of growing up has anything to fear in the coming Judgment!

So, people are not born totally depraved, but what about when they become sinners (as all who live long enough will do)? TD says that people have no redeeming moral qualities—even to the extent of being unable to believe in Jesus with pure motives without miraculous transformation by God’s Spirit. If TD were truth, and people were not even able to freely choose Christ, there would be no conditions on which God could fairly decide who is righteous and who corrupt. Therefore TD leads to a dependent doctrine called Unconditional Election (UE). UE is the idea that since man can’t believe for himself, God had to choose certain ones (unconditionally) and make them able to believe. That also means that God (again, unconditionally) chose the rest of mankind to suffer eternal punishment. Assuming that TD is right, it follows that whether people are free to choose evil or not, they are not free to choose the good. Let’s apply common sense here. If one isn’t free to choose the good, he isn’t free at all, and isn’t really free to choose evil—he’s just bound to it! The whole idea is unscriptural, for the Bible says that God is no respecter of persons (i.e. he doesn’t favor one over another unfairly –Acts 10:34-35). If all mankind were really TD, to be fair, God would either save all, or condemn all.

A second doctrine that flows from TD is called Limited Atonement (LA). LA says that, since (according to TD and UE) God only chose certain ones for salvation (unconditionally), Christ only died for this limited number of people. However, the Bible says he died for all (2 Cor 5:14-15). The truth is that Jesus’ death on the cross was a potential atonement for anyone, offered on the condition of genuine faith.

For TD to be truth, it is essential to have a third dependent doctrine called Irresistible Grace. This supposed direct operation of the Holy Spirit upon the heart of the unwilling (or willing, but impurely motivated) convert to make him able to believe is a must if the other doctrines of Calvinism are true. Yet, the Scriptures teach (Cornelius being the one exception that proves the rule) that reception of the Spirit is a gift that follows conversion, not one that precedes it (Acts 2:38-39). Therefore it must be true that though people are certainly depraved to one degree or another, they have the ability and freedom to choose the good enough to take the first steps in response to God’s offer of free salvation. Since people are able to make a free decision about the testimony of Christ, we are able to see that there is a single redeeming characteristic in those who freely come to Christ that commends them to God: genuine faith.

People aren’t perfect. People have a lot of bad in them—no doubting that. People have no qualities sufficiently good to make them truly deserving of salvation, but unless we choose to be, we’re not so bad as to be unable to recognize the goodness of Jesus, and the truth of his plan, and make that all-important decision to believe, and obey.
---JLP