Saturday, April 4, 2015

The Depravity of Man

Question: What do you man by the doctrine of the total depravity of man, and how do you prove it?

The doctrine that man is totally depraved does not mean that he is totally corrupt. It means that the will of the unregenerate man is set upon pleasing self and is therefore totally wrong, for it should be set upon pleasing God. The will that is not absolutely surrendered to God is turned the wrong way. Yet while seeking to please himself, a man may do thing that are morally attractive and beautiful. A man is not necessarily drawn to immoral and disgusting things. He may prefer things that are high and noble and true, yet he may not prefer them because they are what God wills but because they are the things that attract him. He is as truly depraved as the man who chooses the immoral things, but his tastes are not as corrupt as those of the man who chooses immoral things. What every unregenerate man needs is a total turning around of his will, so that he no longer seeks to please himself but surrender himself in all things to do the things that please God and to do them because they please God.

The doctrine of total depravity may be proved first by the Scriptures. For example, consider these verses, as well as many other Scriptures: "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" (Romans 8:7). "Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart" (Ephesians 4:18). "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9).

The doctrine of the total depravity of man may also be proved by an appeal to facts. The picture of the unregenerate man given in the Scriptures at first sight seems to be too dark. However, as we come to know men better - especially as we come to know ourselves better, and above all as we come to know God better and see ourselves in the light of His holiness - this Bible doctrine is found to be absolutely accurate.

~R. A. Torrey~

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