Whatever Happened to Total Depravity?

Vain is the salvation of man

“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.” (Genesis 6:5)

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The reality of human sin is one of the most obvious and indisputable facts of our world. It doesn’t require any special powers of perception in order to detect, nor does it take any particular context or set of experiences in order to perceive. Rather, sin makes its presence known the same way a pile of manure does: by its rancid odour and unpleasant effects. The stench in the nostrils, the burning in the eyes, the sudden confluence of flies, maggots, and other unsavoury creatures all work in concert to alert even the dullest of chumps that he is standing knee-deep in a pile of excrement. 

Sin, in other words, is ubiquitous. And it doesn’t take a genius to see it. 

At the same time, we also have to note that human beings have an impressive knack for denying reality — even when it’s overflowing their boots and running down their legs. And nowhere is this skill more evident than in our dogged evasion of our own depravity. As the firestorm of the last several years has demonstrated, we will use anything — or anyone — as a scapegoat, if it means shielding ourselves from a confrontation with our moral rot and decay. The determined effort to boil all of society’s ills down to one or two causes (i.e. “Trump!” or “the patriarchy!”) is simply evidence of this trend. Anything will suffice as long as it allows us to locate the source of the world’s evil “out there” instead of our own hearts. 

Malcolm Muggeridge put it well when he said, “The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.” This is true. We simply can’t bear to admit that we are sinners. 

In such times as these it is especially important for Christians to remind themselves, and remind themselves often, where the true source of evil and sin resides. And to give you a hint, it isn’t the Left, nor is it the commies, nor is it progressive ideology, “the Jews,” or any other one people group or institution. Rather, the fountainhead of sin and misery in the world today, gurgling and puking like a pot of boiling tar, is your heart and mine.

The human heart, it must be said — irrespective of ethnicity, skin colour, heredity, sex, nation, or political bent — is the ultimate seat of sin, evil, and degeneracy in this broken and cursed world.

The Bible is clear on this, and no amount of blame-shifting can change it: 

“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 heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9)

“For it is from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mk. 7:21–23)

What this means, then, very practically, is that we cannot look for a solution to our depravity from without. The problems we are facing go much deeper than culture and politics and thus cannot be resolved with a mere changing of the guard. Our sinful hearts are the issue. They are the root. They are the source of all the rot and decay, misery and injustice, corruption and oppression we see in our world at present. Thus, if we are ever going to see any substantive transformation, it must begin here, at the source, and nothing less will do. God Himself must have mercy. Every other recourse be damned.

The good news is that God is merciful, and out of the abundance of His mercy He has contrived a way of salvation for all men. By sending His own Son “in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin”, He has condemned sin in the flesh, “in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us” (Rom. 8:3–4). Moreover, by sending His Spirit, He has also raised us from the dead through faith in Christ, delivered us from bondage to sin, and written His law upon our hearts (Jer. 31:33). If we are in Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin and unrighteousness; we are new creatures in Him (2 Cor. 5:17), indwelt by the very Spirit of God and raised to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4). 

This gospel is the only answer to the problem of sin and rebellion. It is the only remedy that gets deep enough to deal with the actual issues. This being the case, our constant hope and prayer in these troubled times ought to be that God would cause this gospel to ring out again through our land.

No matter how evil the human heart may be, it is no match for the Lord Jesus Christ. So take heart, Christian, and preach with confidence and hope.