What is the full meaning of "Total Depravity"? We looked at some aspects of man’s fallen state last week. In short, we saw that sin is very much part of man’s nature even to the point of control. There is a tendency for all men to sin no matter how hard we try not to sin. But how far do we take this truth? What is meant by “total” depravity? Can one go as far as to call this state of every born man into this world as "total inability" as some do?
This depravity is found in our sin nature, and sometimes called original sin, because each man is born with it, and because it is the source or origin in each man of his actual transgressions. By calling it total, it is not meant that men are from their youth as bad as they can be.
2 Tim 3:13
“Evil men and seducers wax worse and worse, "deceiving and being deceived"
Nor does it mean that they have no social merits toward their fellow man in which they are sincere. It does not mean that because they are natural men all their friendship, honesty, truth, sympathy, patriotism, domestic love, can not be seen as kindness and good acts by others. I do however feel that if we see such virtues in mankind, someone in their early life was there to teach them how to express kindness to another. Man is not born with good in him from the start, as we saw last week. The worst of mankind will retain some good, or ability of will for many moral good deeds accompanying social life if they were blessed with someone to train them as a young person. But this goodness just shown has does not help in nor will stop them from being totally depraved. In fact in most all cases this trained goodness, though good for society, ends up hurting the non-believer.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that in society that those that have good moral works will not help them to get along better with others. In fact it will help. But these few works, though good, will not help them restore a relationship with God. God views these good works as dirty filthy rags.
So where does the word “total” fit in and why is it used to describe man’s condition?
Total depravity is talking about man’s ability to communicate with God. Remember from last week, man is dead spiritually and dead men do not talk. So all of these good actions by natural man mean nothing to God. Man is totally unable to impress God with goodness, or overcome the state of depravity with good works in order to communicate with God. Being good does not help man in God’s eyes.
But what if man were to only use his mind and his great thinking in order to understand and get to know God, then he could communicate with God, right? Well no, not according to God’s Word. Yes, some men are great thinkers even philosophers, but again this does nothing for one’s understanding of God.
1Cor 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.
Notice in the verse above that the natural man cannot know the things of God. This is why they see things of God as foolish. Believer, have you not seen this with your own eyes? The world sees us wasting our time and as rather foolish. This verse tells us why.
I want you to read the next passage carefully and study it on your own. Allow me to set the scene in this passage. Jesus was speaking to the religious leaders of His day. Now again remember these religious leaders would have said they were followers of God. If nothing else, we must say that they had a willingness to communicate with God. Was this willingness good enough? In John 8:43 Jesus asked a rhetorical question to these leaders. He asked:
“Why do you not understand what I say?”
Jesus then replies:
“Because you cannot bear to hear my word”
Jesus was not saying these leaders were physically deaf. Their ears worked fine because you can tell by the full passage they were talking back and forth. They heard the words Jesus spoke, but they were spiritually dead and could not understand the full meaning of His words. This is the very root of total depravity. Man does not understand his need for God.
This then is the full impact of sin upon man. Natural man is unable to hear or understand God’s Word, nor can he receive the Holy Spirit of God on his own, nor can he submit to God’s Law, or understand the Bible, nor stop sinning. Spiritually, man is dead.
Man’s sin nature blinds him from understanding his need for God. Even the goodness found in some, as seen above, works against man understanding his need. A so-called “good man” will think I’m not that bad, why should I give over my life to God? Most of mankind will choose a life of sin over God. Some will say, “I will change later, but right now I want to have fun”. They want their way, over God’s way.
More then total inability is at work in total depravity of man. Man will never choose God by his own will, because it is not part of man’s nature to do so. Dr James M. Boice gives a good illustration of this in “Foundations of the Christian Faith”.
Boice:
In the animal world some animals eat nothing but meat (carnivores). Other animals eat nothing but grass or plants (herbivores). Imagine then a lion,who is a carnivore, and place a bundle of hay or a trough of oats before him. He will not eat the hay or oats. Why not? Is it because he is physically unable? No. Physically, he could easily begin to munch on this food and swallow it. Then why doesn’t he eat it? The answer is that it is not in his nature to do so.
The lion will die in a room full of hay. The hay could keep him alive, but lions do not eat hay because it is not part of his nature. If lions could talk you still could not talk them into eating hay. They would tell you they hate hay, and see no need to eat it. They would gladly take meat.
In much the same way, natural man cannot respond to God or even choose God in salvation. Natural man is dead spiritually and even if, as Boice says, “John the Baptist himself comes and says to them “behold the Lamb of God”, they will not respond to eat of His goodness and truth because it is not part of man’s nature. He hears the invitation but does not understand the need.
Some may say “but the Bible says that any one that wills, may come to Christ. Jesus even says that if we come, we will not be cast out.”
This is true, but you still do not understand total depravity. Certainly, anyone who wills, may come. But who will come? The answer is none. None seek after God. No one will come until something is changed in their being. Man can’t do anything to help this change, remember natural man is dead. Man is dead and helpless.
Why do some come to God while others do not? Are some just smarter than others? How does one go from no understanding, feeling they do not need God, to an understanding of who God is, and the needy state they are in? What changes? Who does the changing? This is where grace meets depravity.
Next week we will look at this grace and see why it becomes irresistible.