"Alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reighneth" Rev. 19:6

Total Depravity

Total depravity, sometimes also referred to as total inability, is the first section in the Calvinistic acrostic 'Tulip', the T standing for 'Total Depravity'. The doctrines taught through the acrostic are also commonly known as 'The doctrines of grace' or 'The five points of Calvinism'. The full list being:

T = Total Depravity
U = Unconditional Election
L = Limited Atonement, better known among Baptists as 'Particular Redemption'
I = Irresistible Grace
P = Perseverance of the Saints

This Biblical doctrine, or teaching, at first sight can seem somewhat harsh. Is God saying that all human beings are totally evil, forever seeking some new way to act out their inbred wickedness? The above question, being asked from the human perspective and a human understanding of what evil is, tends to put God in the dock of human justice and find Him guilty of being unfair, i.e. unjust. This is exactly what we, in are natural state, want to find, thereby giving us an excuse to reject the teachings of God and construct a religion of our own making, more in keeping with our own assessment of ourselves.

To understand this doctrine we must look at it from the point of view of God and not man. To do this we must look to God's written word 'the Bible', which is His revelation of Himself to us. From God's viewpoint all human action that excludes God and is done for the glorification of mankind, is evil. It is evil because it rejects God as the Sovereign ruler of all His creation. It sets Man up as the final arbiter of what is good and what is bad. It makes the judgement of man 'the measure of all things' and rejects the judgements of God.

Therefore the many good works that can be cited of human action, because they are done in rebellion against God rather than in obedience to Him, are not acceptable in God's sight. Good works, in and of themselves, will never make a person right with God. Human nature and therefore all human beings, are inclined to do that which is right according to their own understanding and will always resist the will of others being imposed upon them, particularly the will of God who is the ultimate personification of authority. Having rejected the Divine authority of God, man casts about looking for justification and authority from another source, ending up slavishly following the dictates of man which inevitably lead to misery and despair. God sees the heart of man, the innermost motivation that drives all his actions and He doesn't like what He sees.

Since Adam sinned all humans have inherited his fallen sinful nature. We are born rebels against the God of all creation. In our natural state we will never bend the knee to the one true Living God. This natural state to which we are all born into will always choose to do it our way, will always choose to reject the God revealed in the Bible in favour of one we make for ourselves, or none at all which puts us in the position of God, making ourselves to be God. We are totally unable to do otherwise because we are unwilling, our natural will being at enmity to God's.

This is the doctrine of 'Total depravity'.