Human Depravity

By R.C. Sproul

Notes from The Reformation Study Bible*, page 889

Psalm 53 has been added by the administrator of A Crooked Path

A common point of debate among theologians focuses on the question, are human beings basically good or basically evil? The hinge upon which the argument turns is the word basically. It is a virtual universal consensus that nobody is perfect. We accept the maxim “To err is human.”

The Bible says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Despite this verdict on human shortcomings, the idea persists in our humanistically dominated culture that sin is something peripheral or tangential to our nature. Indeed, we are flawed by sin. Our moral records exhibit blemishes. But somehow we think that our evil deeds reside at the rim or edge of our character and never penetrate to the core. Basically, it is assumed, people are inherently good. But if we lift our gaze to the ultimate standard of goodness — God’s holy character — we realize that what appears to be a basic goodness on an earthly level is corrupt to the core.

The Bible teaches the total depravity of the human race. Total depravity means radical corruption. We must be careful to note the difference between total depravity and utter depravity. To be utterly depraved is to be as wicked as one could possibly be. Hitler was extremely depraved, but he could have been much worse than he was. I am a sinner. Yet I could sin more often and more severely than I actually do. I am not utterly depraved, but I am totally depraved.

For total depravity means that I and everyone else are depraved or corrupt in the totality of our being. There is no part of us that is left untouched by sin. Our minds, our wills, and our bodies are affected by evil. We speak sinful words, do sinful deeds, have impure thoughts. Our very bodies suffer from the ravages of sin.

Perhaps radical corruption is a better term to describe our fallen condition than “total depravity.” I am using the word radical not so much to mean “extreme,” but to lean more heavily on its original meaning. Radical comes from the Latin word for “root” or “core.” Our problem with sin is that it is rooted in the core of our being. It permeates our hearts. It is because sin is at our core and not merely at the exterior of our lives that the Bible says:

“None is righteous, no not one, no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12).

It is because of this condition that the verdict of Scripture is heard: we are “dead in…trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1); we are “sold under sin” (Romans 7:14); we are “captive to the law of sin” (Romans 7:23) and are “by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). Only by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit may we be brought out of this state of spiritual death. It is God who makes us alive as we become His craftmanship (Ephesians 2:1-10).

*ESV Reformation Study Bible – Hardcover Crimson, Bible | Ligonier Ministries Store

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There Is None Who Does Good

To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath. A Maskil^a of David.

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
there is none who does good.

God looks down from heaven
on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,^b
who seek after God.

They have all fallen away;
together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.

Have those who work evil no knowledge,
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call upon God?

There they are, in great terror,
where there is no terror!
For God scatters the bones of him who encamps against you;
you put them to shame, for God has rejected them.

Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When God restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

Footnotes:
a 1 Probably musical or liturgical terms
b 2 Or who act wisely