Of the five doctrines of grace, Total Depravity is perhaps the most humbling. It strips away every ground of human boasting and brings the sinner face to face with the terrible reality of his natural condition. Scripture does not present mankind as spiritually sick, needing only a little help from God. It presents us as spiritually dead, alienated from God, enslaved to sin, and unable to save ourselves.
The Bible declares, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins." (Ephesians 2:1) A dead man does not need encouragement to make himself alive. He needs life to be given to him. In the same way, the natural man does not merely need better teaching, stronger determination, or a more favorable environment. He needs the sovereign God to give him spiritual life.
Total depravity does not mean that every person is as wicked as he possibly could be. God's common grace restrains sin, and men may perform outwardly good and admirable deeds. But beneath the outward appearance lies a heart corrupted by sin. "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9). Sin has affected every part of our being: our minds, our desires, our affections, our wills, and our actions.
Paul gives us a devastating description of fallen humanity: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." (Romans 3:10-12)
Notice the words: "no one." Left to ourselves, we do not naturally seek God. We may seek religion, happiness, morality, success, or even the blessings of God but fallen man does not, by nature, desire God Himself.
This is why Jesus said, "No one can see the kingdom of God, unless he is born again." (John 3:3) The word "can" is important. Our problem is not merely that we will not come to God. Apart from divine grace, we cannot come. Jesus later declared, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me, draws him." (John 6:44)
Ephesians 2 gives us the glorious answer. We were "dead in transgressions," but "because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ." (Ephesians 2:4-5) Salvation begins not with man's decision, but with God's mercy. The spiritually dead do not raise themselves. God gives life. The blind do not create sight for themselves. God opens their eyes. The rebellious sinner cannot manufacture a new heart. God creates in him what nature could never produce.
This truth makes salvation entirely a work of grace. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8) The sinner has nothing in which to boast. Even our salvation is designed to silence human pride and magnify divine mercy.
Total Depravity therefore does not leave us without hope. Quite the opposite! It shows us why the grace of God is so astonishing. If our problem were merely weakness, we might boast that we contributed something. If our problem were ignorance, we might boast that we learned something. If our problem were merely a lack of opportunity, we might boast that we seized an opportunity. But when Scripture tells us that we were dead in sin, the only explanation for our salvation is the sovereign mercy of God.
What a Savior Jesus is!
He did not come merely to make salvation possible for men who could save themselves. He came to save His people from their sins. He bore the wrath that their sins deserved. He died as the Substitute for sinners who could never rescue themselves. And through His sin-atoning sacrifice, God receives all the glory.
The doctrine of Total Depravity brings the sinner low, so that the grace of God may be exalted high. It leaves no room for boasting in human goodness, human wisdom, human will, or human achievement. "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:31)
Beloved, never minimize the depth of your natural ruin, for when you see the greatness of your sin, then you will marvel all the more at the greatness of God's grace.
You were not rescued because you were worthy. You were not chosen because you were better than others. You were not saved because you possessed some natural goodness that distinguished you from the rest. Salvation is entirely of grace.
And this is the wonder of the gospel: God takes those who are spiritually dead and makes them alive in Jesus. He takes those who were enemies and makes them His children. He takes those who were lost and brings them home. He takes those who had no righteousness of their own and clothes them with the perfect righteousness of Jesus.
The deeper we understand the ruin of man, the higher we will lift our eyes to the Redeemer. The more clearly, we see our helplessness, the more precious His grace becomes.
"To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen." Revelation 1:6
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