Total Depravity

I must first declare that I am, generally speaking, a Reformed Augustinian with enough respect for John Calvin, Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards, and John Piper to which much of this topic arrives. Also most of these ideas are not my own but a collection taking from reading that I have done and, as you may very well see, is taking directly from the Bible. Total depravity does not mean we are utterly depraved. because we could do evil with greater degree and frequency if we were not made with a conscience as God's image bearers and if the restraining power of the Holy Spirit and the rule of such things as governmental law were lifted. Total depravity does mean, however, that we are totally sinful---our entire person is marred by sin. This includes the mind(Eph. 4:18), the will(Rom. 6:16-17), the emotions(Titus 3:3), and the physical body(Rom 8:10). Subsequently, everyone is a sinner whose inclination is to live for the glory of anyone and anything other than God(Ps. 29.2; Rom. 3:23; 11:36; 16:27) and is altogether incapable of doing even "good" things for the purpose of pleasing and glorifying God.(Matt. 7:17-18; Rom. 8:7-8) As the church father Augustine has sad, "Man has options, but those options are all sinful in nature. He is free to choose, but merely to engage in one sin rather than another." (1) The Bible is emphatically clear that our sin is so pervasive that left to ourselves not one person could or would pursue or choose Jesus Christ: "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."-Gen. 6:5 "The intention of man's heart is evil from his youth."-Gen. 8:21 "For there is no one who does not sin."-2 Chron. 6:36 "The hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead."-Eccl. 9:3 "The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies."-Ps. 58:3 "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned---every one----to his own way."-Isa. 53:6 "The natural person does no accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."-1 Cor. 2:14 "And you were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh..."-Col. 2:13 Many more include: John 8:34, 8:43-44; Rom. 3:10-18, 6:20, 8:7; Eph. 2:1-3, 4:1-19; Phil. 3:18; Titus 1:15, 3:3; 1 John 5:19 Clearly, the Bible says that every person without exception turns his or her back on God and is unrighteous, foolish, lost, at war with God, and spiritually dead. Though physically alive, the Bible says the we are not merely sick from sin but spiritually dead in that we are as inclined toward and capable of seeking God as a dead corpse is inclined and able to run a marathon. By way of analogy, Paul in Ephesians 2:1 says that unrepentant sinners are "dead in the trespasses and sins" and, as such, are akin to Lazarus who was dead and buried. Lazarus was not seeking Jesus, reaching out to Jesus, or doing anything, because he was physically dead in the same way that sinners are spiritually dead apart from the work of God. Yet, Jesus came to Lazarus and called him forth to new life physically in the same way he does for us spiritually, and one day he will do so physically---on the day of our bodily resurrection. As the church father Augustine said, "God does not choose us because we believe, but that we may believe."(2) (1) Augustine, Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.5; 3.24 (2) Augustine, Predestination of the Saints 17.34