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The Radical Corruption of the Will: An Exegetical and Historical Defense of Total Depravity · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reform Thinking. I'm your host and as always, we
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take a stack of source material and pull out the most vital
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insights to help you stay well informed.
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And I am your resident theology expert.
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Really looking forward to getting into our texts today.
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Yeah, me too. You know, to kick things off.
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If you ask the average churchgoer today, are people
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basically good? Well, the overwhelming majority
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will say yes. Oh yeah, they definitely will.
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Recent polling data backs that up, too.
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It shows a staggering majority of professing evangelicals
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believe human beings are born in a state of basic moral goodness.
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Which is pretty wild when you think about it.
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It really is. But according to the two
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theological texts we are doing a deep dive into today, the
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radical corruption of the will and total depravity, the
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biblical doctrine of human corruption, that assumption is
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not just slightly incorrect. Right, Those texts argue it is a
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spiritual misdiagnosis and honestly, a misdiagnosis that
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renders the entire Christian gospel useless.
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Yeah, we are looking at a doctrine that modern culture and
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a huge chunk of the modern church completely misreads.
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Now to set the table right away for you, the listener.
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Both of us approach this material strictly from a
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Protestant Christian framework. Yes, we adhere to the theology
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outlined in the Westminster Confession of Faith, right?
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So we are looking at this through a reformed lens, but we
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are going to look closely at what these specific authors are
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arguing. We want to understand the nuts
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and bolts of this doctrine. Because, you know, they suggest
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this modern sentimental idea that humanity just needs better
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education or maybe more equitable environments.
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Or a bit of therapy to reach its full potential.
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Yeah, they argue that idea is a complete illusion.
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The biblical reality presented in these texts is that humanity
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does not need therapy. Humanity needs a resurrection
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from spiritual death. That is a harsh truth for a lot
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of people to. Hear it is OK, let's unpack
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this, because starting from that Prentice changes everything
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about how we view the world. It really does.
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It changes the entire paradigm of how we understand our
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relationship with God. I mean, think about it like a
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medical situation. Right, like going to the doctor.
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Yeah, if a doctor gets the diagnosis wrong, the cure they
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prescribe will be entirely useless.
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And it could even be fatal. Spot on.
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So the doctrine of total depravity functions as this dark
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backdrop, and it is against that dark backdrop that the diamond
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of sovereign Grace shines the brightest.
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That is a great image because if we assume humans are basically
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good, then the grace of God just becomes like a helpful
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accessory. Yeah, it becomes like a
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spiritual vitamin supplement you take to give you an extra boost
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in the morning. But if humans are spiritually
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dead, then the grace of God is a defibrillator.
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It is life from the dead. Precisely the mission of our
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discussion today is to look strictly at the authoritative
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Word of God to understand our true condition.
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Because until a person understands the absolute ruin of
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the human condition, they will never cherish the absolute
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triumph of the rescue. And the authors of these texts
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make it very clear that defining this doctrine correctly is a
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vital correction to a church that has lost its grasp on the
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severity of sin. That brings up a massive hurdle
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right out of the gate. You know the phrase total
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depravity carries a huge amount of cultural baggage?
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Oh. Absolutely.
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It really does. When people hear that phrase,
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they almost always assume it means humanity is completely,
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100% evil in every possible way at all times.
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Right, they think of like the most notorious dictators in
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history. Yeah, and they assume that is
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what the doctrine claims we all are.
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But the texts draw a very sharp distinction here.
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They do. They make a sharp distinction
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between what they term utter depravity and radical
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corruption. Right.
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Having established that humanity is not basically good, we need
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to clarify precisely what depravity actually means in a
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reformed context. Because utter depravity would
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mean a person is as evil as humanly possible, committing
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every conceivable sin to the maximum degree.
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And the sources state plainly that this is not the case, not
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at all. Instead, total depravity means
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radical corruption. The word radical comes from the
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Latin word for root. It means sin has poisoned the
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very root of human nature. Think of it like this.
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Imagine you have a glass of crystal clear purified water.
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OK, I am picturing it. Now imagine a single drop of
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deadly, lethal poison falls into that glass.
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The water does not suddenly become 100% pure poison.
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Right, it still looks like water.
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It still has the properties of water, but every single molecule
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in that glass is now tainted by the poison.
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Yeah, you cannot safely drink any part of it.
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Exactly. I mean, absolutely.
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The corruption has extended to the totality of the glass.
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Your analogy gets us halfway there, but let's push it
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further, because the texts are very specific about how that
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poison operates. OK, how so?
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The corruption extends to the totality of a person's being,
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yes, but it is. It's not a passive taint, it is
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active. Active in what way?
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Sin is not an external blemish or a bad habit that a person
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picks up from their environment. It resides in the heart.
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And when the biblical authors speak of the heart, they are not
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talking about the organ pumping blood in your chest.
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Right, they're talking about the Control Center of human life.
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The mind, the will, the physical body and the affections are all
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dictated by this Control Center. And the sources clarify a very
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common misconception here. People do not become sinners
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because they commit sins. Wait, say that again.
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People commit sins because they are sinners by nature.
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The outward actions are the fruit of an inward root problem.
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Wow, so there is no pristine, untouched moral center inside a
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person that they can retreat to in order to generate their own
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righteousness? No, the whole inner disposition
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is bent away from God. When we understand depravity is
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this radical root level corruption, we see why cosmetic
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fixes cannot reconcile A Sinner to God.
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Yeah, if the core manufacturing plant of the human heart is
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defective, everything it produces carries that defect.
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OK, so if the root itself is corrupted, the obvious question
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is where did this poisoned root come from?
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Right. And the texts take us all the
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way back to Genesis 3. Yeah, the historical fall of
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Adam. This brings us to the origin of
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the ruin. And the sources are very careful
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to note here that humanity was originally created upright and
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good. I mean, God is not the author of
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evil. Right.
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Adam was made with true knowledge, righteousness, and
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holiness. But then the fall happened.
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Yes, the fall. Now I have to push back here on
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behalf of the listener, because this is where the modern mind
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completely rejects the biblical narrative.
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I know where you were going with this.
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Why should you or I be held guilty for something one guy did
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thousands of years ago in a garden, right?
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It feels completely disconnected from our daily reality.
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We were not there. We did not eat the fruit.
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No, we didn't. So how does his action legally
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and constitutionally poison our glass of water today?
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It feels unfair. That reaction is incredibly
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common, especially for modern Westerners.
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Yeah, for sure. We are raised in a culture of
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hyper individualism where we believe we are autonomous
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islands. And we think we should only be
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judged by our own individual actions.
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But the texts answer this objection by explaining the
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covenant of works and the theological concept of federal
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headship. OK, Federal headship, break that
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down well. The ancient mind, and
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specifically the biblical worldview, understood corporate
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solidarity, meaning Adam was not just a historical figure who set
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a remarkably bad example that the rest of us unfortunately
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copied. He was the representative head
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of the entire human race. In Reformed theology we look to
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Romans chapter 5, verses 12 through 19.
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That is where the Apostle Paul lays out this framework.
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Spot on. Adam acted as our federal head,
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much like an ambassador acts on behalf of a nation.
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Or like a CEO signs a contract on behalf of a massive
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corporation. Exactly.
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I mean, that is a perfect example.
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If an ambassador declares war, the entire country goes to war.
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Even if the citizens were sleeping in their beds at the
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time. Yes, when Adam was placed in the
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garden under the covenant of works, his perfect obedience
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would have secured eternal life for all his descendants.
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But his disobedience brought ruin to all his descendants.
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Because he represented us, his guilt was imputed or legally
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credited to his posterity. And with that imputed guilt came
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inherited corruption, which we call original sin.
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Right. That completely shifts the
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perspective. If we accept that representative
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framework, the legal guilt makes sense.
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It does, but the texts also point out that it is not just a
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legal status, it is an inherited condition.
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Yeah, they quote Psalm 51 verse 5, where King David confesses,
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Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my
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mother conceive me? And David is not suggesting the
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biological act of conception was a sin.
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No, he is acknowledging that from the very first moment of
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his existence in the womb, he possessed A sinful nature.
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The corruption is a congenital condition.
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We're not born morally neutral like blank slates waiting to
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decide if we will be good or bad.
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No, we are born alienated from God bearing the consequences of
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Adam's rebellion. Precisely.
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And to prove this inherited condition is an absolute
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reality, the authors do not just rely on theological concepts.
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No, they provide intense exegetical rigor.
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They look at the specific original languages used by the
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biblical authors to see how they described this ruin.
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Here's. Where it gets really
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interesting. Oh yeah, the linguistic side of
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things. Because we have to look at the
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precise words chosen under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
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Let's look at the Greek first. Yeah, the sources point to
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Ephesians chapter 2 verses one through 3 right?
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And the Apostle Paul uses the Greek adjective necros to
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describe the natural human state.
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Necros OK. And the authorial word choice
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here is entirely deliberate. I mean, Paul had other options.
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Like what? Well, he could have used the
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word aspenes, which translates to weak.
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Oh. OK.
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Or what else? Or he could have used the word
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camno which translates to weary or sick.
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And if he had used those words, you could argue that humanity,
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he just needs a little assistance.
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Right, like a spiritual crutch or a hospital bed.
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But he chose necros. He did, which translates
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literally to a lifeless corpse. A lifeless corpse.
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And the syntactical structure of that passage shows that being a
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lifeless corpse is a settled state of being for the natural
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person. OK, so if the New Testament uses
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the language of a physical corpse, you know, how does the
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Old Testament Hebrew language back up this concept?
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Well, we know the biblical witness has to be unified, so
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the sources take us to Genesis chapter 6, verse 5.
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Right, which assesses the human condition right before the
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flood. Yeah, and the text analyzes the
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Hebrew word yetzer, which is often translated in English
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Bibles as the intent or imagination of the heart.
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But there is more to it than just imagination.
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Right there is when you look at the Ancient Near Eastern, extra
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biblical usage of that word. It refers to a Potter framing or
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molding a clay vessel. Oh wow, so it's talking about
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the actual construction. That is right.
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The Holy Spirit is communicating that the very framing the
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manufacturing plant of the human heart is completely defective.
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And that sentence is modified by two absolute terms.
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Yes, RAC meaning only and Cole Hyom meaning continually.
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Every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
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continually. It leaves zero room for
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occasional sparks of spiritual virtue.
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Not at all. We also see this in Jeremiah
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chapter 17, verse 9. OK, what does Jeremiah say?
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He uses the Hebrew words echob, meaning treacherous or
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deceitful, and anash, meaning incurable or desperately sick to
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describe the heart. So the prophets are diagnosing
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an incurable spiritual disease. Yes.
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Furthermore, in Romans chapter 3, verses 9 through 20, Paul
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strings together a series of Old Testament quotes.
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To create a forensic legal indictment against all of
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humanity. Right.
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He uses repeated absolute phrases like not one and no one
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seeks for God to stop every mouth.
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I want you, the listener, to consider what it means to be
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described as a spiritual corpse. It is a heavy thought.
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A corpse cannot cooperate with a doctor.
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A corpse cannot take medicine A. Corpse cannot even ask for help.
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A corpse requires a miracle of resurrection.
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The problem is not a lack of effort, the problem is a lack of
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life. Spot on.
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OK, so the ancient languages are painting a vivid picture of a
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spiritual corpse, but that's where I get stuck.
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Why is that? Because when I look around,
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people do not act like corpses. We think, we feel, we make moral
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choices. We build civilization.
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That is a very fairpoint. How do the sources reconcile
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this idea of death with the fact that we are walking, talking,
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functional human beings? They answer this by breaking
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down what they call the anatomy of the fall.
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Right, showing how this spiritual death manifests in the
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everyday faculties of a human being.
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Let's break this down into 3 distinct areas, OK?
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Let's do that. 1st The Mind and the Conscience.
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Based on Ephesians chapter 4, verses 17 and 18, the mind is
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darkened. Yeah, it actively suppresses
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divine truth. It is not neutral ground waiting
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for enough evidence to believe. The unregenerate mind actually
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uses its intelligence to build arguments against God.
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And according to Titus chapter one, verse 15, the conscience is
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defiled. We often think of our conscience
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as this perfect little compass pointing to true North.
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Right. But the sources point out that a
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defiled conscience is a highly unreliable moral guide.
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Why? Because it excuses what God
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condemns, and it condemns where God grants liberty.
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It is a broken compass. That leads directly to the
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second faculty, which is the affections.
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OK, the affections. In John chapter 3 verse 19, we
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see that the core issue is misplaced desire.
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The text says light has come into the world, but humanity
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loved the darkness rather than the light.
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So the affections are idolatrous.
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Yeah, people do not naturally love the true God of Scripture.
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They love the idols they create in their own minds.
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This brings us to the third and most highly debated faculty.
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Yeah, the will and the concept of moral inability.
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Oh, this is the big one. Right, and this is where I need
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to press you, because this is where the listener is likely
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raising a red flag. I am ready.
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Wait a minute. You and I make free choices
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every single day We do. We choose what to eat for
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breakfast, what books to read, how to act at work, and who to
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marry. Yeah.
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So how can the will be considered dead or enslaved if
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we're constantly making free choices?
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That is the most common objection to this doctrine, and
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the sources clarify it through the specific concept of moral
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inability. OK, break that down for us.
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Well, fallen humans do ACT voluntarily.
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No one is physically coercing them to sin against their
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desire. Right, there is no external
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force holding a gun to their head making them reject.
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God, absolutely. However, they are not morally
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free. The will is not an independent
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autonomous entity floating in a vacuum.
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It is tethered to something. Yes, the will is tethered to and
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enslaved by the corrupt nature. People choose what they desire
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most. And because their nature is
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corrupt, their greatest desire is always going to be rebellion
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against God's absolute authority.
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So they're free in the sense that they act willingly, but
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they lack the spiritual ability to choose Christ apart from
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regenerating grace. That is right.
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The hostility of the carnal mind means they cannot submit to
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God's law. They will not come to the light
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because their affections love the darkness.
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The inability is not mechanical. No, it is not as if they
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desperately want to come to God, but a physical barrier stops
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them. The inability is moral.
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They cannot come because they vehemently do not want God on
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His terms. I think a practical analogy
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helps solidify this concept. Imagine you take a hungry lion,
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right? OK.
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A hungry lion. And you put two plates of food
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in front of it. On one plate you have a pile of
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fresh green grass. Right On the other plate you
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have a massive slab of raw meat. The lion is going to choose the
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raw meat every single time. Yeah, without fail.
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Now, is the lion free to choose the grass?
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Yes, there is no physical cage preventing the lion from walking
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over and eating the grass. No one is forcing the lion's
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mouth onto the meat either. Precisely.
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But the lion's internal nature dictates that it will always
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crave the meat. Because it is a carnivorous
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animal by nature, yes. Its choice is determined by its
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appetite. That makes total sense.
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Similarly, fallen humans are presented with the things of God
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and the things of the flesh. And they will never choose God
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because their fallen, sinful nature dictates that they crave
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their rebellion. They cannot come to Christ
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because they will not come. Their will is entirely bound by
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their corrupt affections. You could dress the grass up to
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look like meat, but the lion's nose knows the difference.
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That analogy hits the nail on the head regarding the bondage
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of the will. And it leads us directly into a
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necessary section of clarification.
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Right, because when people hear this lying analogy and the
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concept of moral and ability, they might feel that this view
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is completely pessimistic about daily life.
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Yeah, they look around and see non Christians helping each
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other or artists creating beautiful masterpieces.
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Or parents loving their children sacrificially.
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Exactly. I mean absolutely.
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So we need to outline what Total depravity is not.
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OK, what do the sources say? They list several key caveats.
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First, as we established earlier, it does not mean humans
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are as wicked as possible. Because of common grace.
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Right. The concept of common grace
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explains why human society has not completely imploded into
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total anarchy. God, in his mercy, actively
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restrains human evil. He does.
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He allows unbelievers to perform acts of relative good,
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maintaining civic goodness so that the world can function.
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People can be law abiding citizens, brilliant doctors and
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loving family members. Total depravity does not deny
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the reality of civic virtue. Right.
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And it also does not mean that the image of God has been
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erased. The source would point out that
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the image of God in humanity is heavily marred and distorted,
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much like a shattered mirror. But it is not completely
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annihilated. Human beings still retain
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massive dignity worth and rational capacity.
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That is why murder and injustice are so grievous.
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They are a direct assault on God's image bearers.
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Yes, but we have to clarify the standard of righteousness.
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The difference between horizontal goodness and vertical
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goodness. Let's break that down.
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Horizontal goodness is what we see when people benefit society.
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Like donating to a charity, building a hospital or helping
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an elderly person across the street.
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Yeah, those are horizontally good and incredibly beneficial
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to human flourishing. However, vertical goodness is
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about pleasing a perfectly holy God.
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And outwardly good deeds that do not spring from saving faith and
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are not aimed specifically at God's glory fall drastically
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short of biblical righteousness. They are tainted by that drop of
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poison. If a person gives $1,000,000 to
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an orphanage, but does it to earn praise from their peers
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rather than to honor God, the action is horizontally helpful
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but vertically bankrupt. That distinction between
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horizontal and vertical is huge. And this leads to the concept of
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guilty inability. The listener needs to grasp that
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this moral inability does not remove human responsibility.
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Because the inability is self chosen in Adam and embraced
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willingly in our daily lives. We are choosing the raw meat
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because we love the raw meat, so we are held entirely
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accountable. We cannot blame God for a
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refusal to come to Him. Right.
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A debtor who squanders all his money at a casino cannot tell
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the bank I am unable to pay my mortgage, therefore I am no
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longer responsible for the debt. The inability to pay does not
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erase the obligation to pay. No it doesn't.
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Because this biblical definition is so specific and honestly so
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humbling to human, the texts show how easily the church has
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historically compromised on. It Oh, definitely.
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This brings us to the necessity of guarding the flock through
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holy polemics. There are several historical
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false refuges that attempt to soften the blow of total
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depravity. Let's look at the historical
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battles the sources bring up. First, there is Pelagianism,
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named after the British monk Pelagius from the 5th century.
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He claimed humans are born completely innocent.
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Yeah, essentially denying original sin entirely.
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He argued. Adam was just a bad example.
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And the Church universally condemned that as a heresy.
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Then you have the Roman Catholic Council of Trent in the 16th
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century which took a semi Pelagian approach.
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They claim the human will is not dead, but just wounded or sick,
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meaning it retains enough strength to cooperate with God's
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grace for salvation. But as we discussed with the
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Greek word necros, A corpse cannot cooperate with a
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physician, right? Finally, the texts firmly reject
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Arminianism's idea of provenient grace.
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What is that exactly? It is a theological concept that
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suggests God gives a universal grace to all people that
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neutralizes their depravity just enough to grant them a
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libertarian free choice. But the texts argue that this is
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a theological fiction. Yeah, it is attempting to give a
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spiritual corpse the ability to choose life before they are
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actually born again. Scripture simply does not grant
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fallen humanity that kind of neutral free will.
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The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God.
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Exactly right. And how does this historical
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compromise show up in today's culture?
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Well, the authors of our sources take a very sharp turn here into
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modern cultural frameworks, right?
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They point out that modern secular theories, things like
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critical race theory or various forms of liberal sociology,
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conflict directly with this doctrine.
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And just to be clear for you, the listener, we are not taking
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a political stance on those theories right now.
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We are just reporting on what the authors of these texts are
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arguing. Absolutely.
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We are just laying out the arguments from the source
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material, and the texts argue that the secular frameworks
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attempt to locate the source of human misery entirely in
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external social structures or systemic issues.
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The secular argument is that if we just fix the systems,
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redistribute resources and reeducate society, we will fix
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humanity. But the authors of our sources
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assert that this framework completely denies the radical
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corruption of the human heart. It assumes the problem is
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outside of us rather than inside of us.
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Furthermore, the texts point out that we see this denial heavily
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in pragmatism and the modern seeker sensitive church
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movement. Oh yeah, these are church growth
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strategies built on the premise that unchurched people are
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seekers who just need the right environment to make a decision
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for Christ. Yes, and the writers of these
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texts deliver a tremendously sharp critique of that entire
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church growth model. Their argument is pretty
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straightforward. If Romans chapter 3 says no one
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seeks for God, then the entire seeker sensitive movement is
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built on a theological lie. Pragmatism assumes that the
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unregenerate person possesses A neutral or even slightly
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positive orientation toward God. And they think that orientation
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can be triggered by the right music, the right lighting, or a
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culturally relevant sermon. But the biblical reality,
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according to these texts, is that the natural man finds the
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things of the Spirit to be foolishness.
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The unregenerate person is not a seeker looking for a friend,
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They are a fugitive running from a judge.
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The authors essentially argue that you cannot use worldly
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gimmicks to fix a spiritual problem.
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You cannot use fog machines, laser light shows, or Ted talk
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style self help sermons to entertain a spiritual corpse
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into life. Turning the sanctuary into a
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theater that caters to the felt needs of people who are
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spiritually dead is an exercise in futility.
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It requires the authoritative proclamation of the Word of God
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to awaken the dead. It really does.
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So after the authors tear down every false refuge and worldly
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gimmick, we arrive at the absolute climax of this deep
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dive. Yeah, the real turning point.
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If we are entirely helpless and our methods and gimmicks are
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useless, how is anyone saved? That is the pivotal question
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that shifts the tone of the entire discussion to the of the
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gospel. Total depravity makes sovereign
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grace absolutely necessary. The texts stress that
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regeneration must precede faith. Let.
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Me say that again because it reverses how most modern
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Christians think. Yeah, regeneration must precede
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faith. God must grant a new heart.
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He must take out the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh
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before a person can exercise saving faith.
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Because a corpse cannot believe until it is given life.
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This occurs through a doctrine called effectual calling.
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OK, effectual calling. God the Father draws sinners
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inwardly by the work of the Holy Spirit.
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He does not drag them kicking and screaming against their
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will. No, He renews their desires,
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changing their nature so that they see the beauty of Christ
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and come willingly. Going back to our analogy, the
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lion's nature is fundamentally changed so that it suddenly
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craves the grass. Yes, that is a great way to tie
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it back. And how does this specific total
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ruin point directly to Jesus? The sources breakdown the
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matching solution through Christ's threefold office.
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I love how symmetrical this is. Because our anatomy has fallen
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in three specific ways. Christ provides the specific
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corresponding rescue. Let's take them one by one
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first. He is our prophet.
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Because our minds are darkened and we actively suppress the
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truth, Christ is the prophet who reveals divine truth and
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illuminates our understanding by His Spirit.
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Second, he is our priest. Because our consciences are
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defiled and we are legally guilty, standing condemned under
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the law, Christ is the priest who offers a substitutionary
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death on the cross. Bearing our penalty and
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providing the active obedience needed for our justification, He
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fulfills the vertical goodness we lacked.
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And third, he is our king. Because our wills are enslaved
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to rebellion and bound by corrupt affections, Christ is
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the King who exercises sovereign authority to subdue our
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rebellious hearts and conquer our hostility.
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This matching solution eliminates every single ounce of
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human boasting. Salvation is a monarchistic
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work. Monarchistic.
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That is a theological term coming from 2 Greek words,
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right? Yes, mono meaning 1 and ergon
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meaning work. It means salvation is the work
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of one party, God alone. It is not a cooperative,
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synergistic effort where God does 99% and we do the final 1%
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by making a good choice. If grace were just divine aid
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offered equally to everyone, and the deciding factor was our own
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native ability to choose it, we would have reason to boast.
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We could look at our neighbor who rejected the gospel and say
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we were just a little bit smarter or a little bit more
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spiritually sensitive. Or a little bit more humble than
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they were. But the texts point out that the
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only thing we contribute to our salvation is the sin that made
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it necessary. Salvation is of the Lord from
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beginning to end. As we bring this to a close, we
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need to look at the practical application for your daily life.
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Because this is not just high level academic theology meant
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for a seminary classroom. It changes how you live tomorrow
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morning. The texts point out that this
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doctrine should produce intense humility and massive confidence
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in evangelism. It absolutely should.
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It crushes pride because you realize you did absolutely
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nothing to earn your standing before God.
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But it fuels immense worship and gratitude.
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And regarding evangelism, it removes the crushing pressure of
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thinking you have to perfectly argue someone into the Kingdom
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of God. Preachers and believers do not
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rely on their own persuasive abilities, their personal
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charisma, or their atmospheric lighting.
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They rely entirely on the Holy Spirit to awaken the dead
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through the proclamation of the truth.
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We speak the Word and we trust God to do the resurrecting.
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Furthermore, if the texts reference the Westminster
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Confession, specifically Chapter 19 regarding the third use of
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the law. Yes, for the believer who has
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been made alive, the law is no longer a terrifying ladder we
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have to climb to earn heaven. Because Christ fulfilled it
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perfectly, the law now functions as a helpful rule of life,
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guiding our grateful obedience. We obey not to be saved, but
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because we have been saved. So what does this all mean?
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It means that understanding the staggering depth of the ruin is
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the only way to genuinely cherish the absolute triumph of
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the rescue. You cannot appreciate the cure
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until you accept the reality of the disease.
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I'm. Going to leave you with a final
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thought to Mull over as you go about your week.
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Think back to that initial idea of a spiritual diagnosis, the
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realization that our condition is far worse than a broken bone.
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It is a complete lack of life. If your salvation relied on you
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generating even one single ounce of spiritual life, you would be
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entirely without hope. But since the God who commands
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the dead to rise is the exact same God who supplies the life
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to do it well, how does that reality completely free you to
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stop striving, drop yourself righteousness, and rest entirely
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in Christ's finished work today? Thank you for joining us for
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this deep dive on Reformed thinking.
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May this truth elevate your view of God's sovereign grace.