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      "The Total Depravity of Man"
      Selected Scriptures
      Theme: Without the grace of God, man is so infected by sin that he is hopeless.

        1. The Intention of Man’s Design – "We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, …"

          1. Mentally - man was created with personality.

            1. He was given a MIND to be able to KNOW God.
            2. He was given EMOTIONS to be able to LOVE God.
            3. He was given a WILL to be able to OBEY God..

          2. Morally – Man, upon creation, was morally conformed to God – Ephesians 4:24; Genesis 1:31; Ecclesiastes 7:29:

            1. He was created holy – holiness is more than mere innocence, it was the tendency of man’s mind, emotions and will (though accompanied by the power of evil choice) in the direction of the spiritual knowledge of God and of divine things generally.
            2. He was created righteous – the consequence of holiness - man’s righteousness addresses his behavior
            3. It is best to think of man’s original innocence as a state of temporary untested holiness.
              1. Since holiness may be either active or passive, meaning positive virtue, or the absence of evil – the moral qualities of the first man were passive. He was innocent of wrong. There had been no opportunity to develop a tested character.
              2. Shedd says "Holiness is more than innocence. It is not sufficient to say that man was created in a state of innocence. This would be true, if he had been destitute of a moral disposition either right or wrong. Man was made not only negatively innocent, but positively holy." (Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, II, p.96.)

          3. Mortality - Man’s existence is eternal, with no terminus – cp. Daniel 12:2

        2. The Impact of the Man’s Disobedience – "… but that in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God;"

          1. The Transmission of the Sin Nature – "… but that in Adam’s sin the race fell"

            1. We believe that because all men were in Adam, a nature corrupted by Adam’s sin has been transmitted to all men of all ages through their earthly fathers – cp. Romans 5:10-12
              1. The principle of natural headship is recognized in Hebrews 7:9-10
              2. It puts the most natural interpretation on Romans 5:12-21, where "all sinned" in "the one trespass" of the "one man," and the legal phraseology shows that the infliction is not due to sovereign decree, but by way of judicial penalty – cp. vv. 13-18
              3. It alone is consistent with the justice of God in making Adam the representative of the race
              4. It also accepts the Scriptural representations of the nature of sin, the penal character of death, the origin of the soul, and the oneness of the race in the transgression.
              5. It best explains the reasons for our accountability for our sinful nature.
              6. It best accords with scientific and philosophical conclusions, namely,
                1. that evil tendencies are inherited,
                2. that race is one
                3. that sin is a question of right or wrong states as well as of right or wrong acts
              7. It accords with the Scriptural representation that the sin of Adam is the immediate cause and ground of inborn depravity, guilt, and condemnation that have come upon the whole race.
              8. It essentially drives home the reality that we are responsible for what we are – not simply for what we do.
            2. In addition, God imputes the sin of Adam immediately to all his posterity.
            3. "In Adam’s free act, the will of the race revolted from God and the nature of the race corrupted itself. The nature which we now possess is the same nature that corrupted itself in Adam."
            4. Adam’s sin is therefor imputed to us not as something foreign to us, but as properly ours.

          2. The Traits of the Sin Nature – "… inherited a sinful nature"

            1. Sin is essentially any lack of conformity to the character of God, or transgression of any law of God, known or unknown
            2. The Extent of the Sin Nature
              1. Every faculty of man is injured by the fall, and the disability to do good and the strange predisposition to evil arise from that inner confusion.
              2. Original sin has affected the understanding:
                1. It is blindness – Isaiah 42:7; Luke 4:18; Revelation 3:17; 2 Corinthians 4:4
                2. It is corruption of conscience – 1 Timothy 4:2; Romans 1:21; Hebrews 9:14
              3. Original Sin has affected the will
                1. It causes enmity – cp. Romans 8:6; James 4:4
                2. It causes hatred – cp. Romans 1:29; Psalm 89:23
                3. It causes hardness of heart – Exodus 7:14; 2 Kings 17:14
                4. It causes aversion – John 5:40; Revelation 2:21
                5. It causes obstinacy – Deuteronomy 31:27; Exodus 32:9
                6. It causes bondage – Jeremiah 13:23; Mark 3:23
            3. Depravity
              1. It does not mean that every individual is as bad as can be – a statement that is absurd
              2. It does mean that that impact that sin has produced in human nature extends to the whole of it – there is no part of man’s nature which is unaffected by it.
              3. There are countless passages that speak of moral evil as a characteristic, or distinguishing mark, not of individual or classes of men in certain localities, but of human nature as it is under all circumstances – excepting only those who are regenerate, of whom specific facts are revealed bearing on that nature.Genesis 8:21; Psalm 14:2-3; Romans 3:9-19; Psalm 51:5; Jeremiah 17:5,9; John 3:6; Romans 1:18-8:13; 1 Corinthians 7:14; Ephesians 2:3; Galatians 5:17-21

            4. The Manifestation of the Sin Nature

              1. Classification According to Terms:
                1. Transgression – stepping to one side, or the overstepping of those boundaries which God has marked off.
                2. Iniquity – referring to that which is twisted or the perversion of what is good.
                3. Error – that which disregards the right or goes astray.
                4. Sin – that which comes short or misses the mark
                5. Wickedness – the outworking and expression of an evil nature, depravity.
                6. Evil – that which is actually wrong because it is opposed to God.
                7. Ungodliness – that which lacks any worthy fear of God
                8. Disobedience – an unwillingness to be led or guided in ways of truth.
                9. Unbelief – the failure to trust in God
                10. Lawlessness – contempt for divine laws and the breaking through all restraints to the end that self may be gratified regardless of divine admonition.

          3. The Tragedy of the Sin Nature – "and became alienated from God."

            1. Physical Death – the separation of the soul and body – Genesis 2:17; 3:19; Numbers 16:29; 27:3
            2. Spiritual Death – the separation of the soul from God – Romans 5:21; Ephesians 2:1, 5; John 11:25-26
            3. Eternal Death – the culmination and completion of spiritual death wherein the body, soul, and spirit are eternally separated from God in judgment – Matthew 25:41; Hebrews 10:31; Revelation 20:14-15.

        3. The Incapacity of Man’s Depravity – "… and, that man is unable to remedy his lost condition."

          1. The Degree of Depravity
            1. Essentially, the Scriptures identify man’s nature as knowing "Total Depravity"
            2. From the negative standpoint:
              1. It does not mean that every sinner is devoid of all qualities pleasing to men.
              2. It does not mean that man commits, or is prone to commit every form of sin.
              3. It does not mean that man is as bitterly opposed to God as it is possible for him to be.
              4. Traces of man’s original condition are occasionally seen in the midst of depravity – cp. Mark 10:21; Matthew 23:23; Romans 2:14; Genesis 15:16; 2 Timothy 3:13
            3. From the positive standpoint:
              1. It does mean that every sinner is totally destitute of that love to God which is the fundamental requirement of the law – Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Matthew 22:35-38
              2. It does mean that he is supremely given to a preference of himself to God – 2 Timothy 3:4
              3. It does mean that he has an aversion to God that on occasion becomes active enmity to Him – Romans. 8:7
              4. It does mean that his every faculty is disordered and corrupted – Ephesians 4:18
              5. It does mean that he has no thought, feeling, or deed of which God can fully approve – Romans 7:18
              6. It does mean that he has entered upon a line of constant progress in depravity, from which he can in no wise turn away in his own strength – Romans 7:18
            4. Depravity has produced a total spiritual inability in the sinner – he is spiritually "dead" – Ephesians 2:11; 1 Corinthians 2:14

          2. The Destiny of the Depraved

            1. A sinner cannot by his own volition change his character and life so as to make them conformable to the law of God, nor change his fundamental preference of self and sin to supreme love for God.
            2. Without the intervention of grace, a man is totally incapable to alter his dead condition – Ephesians 2:1-3, 12.

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