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HOW FAR DID ADAM’S RACE FALL? (A Study in Total Depravity) By Jay Wegter INTRODUCTION – The Importance of Studying Total Depravity 1.) We cannot know God’s purposes in His
grace unless we know how far we have fallen.
It is essential to know the Scriptural truth about our deadness,
helplessness and rebellion if we are to understand how and why He saves us. 2.) The Scriptures affirm authoritatively
that nothing can reverse the human condition save the crucifixion of God in our
nature. The cure reveals the
seriousness of the “disease.” 3.) Man is not fit to judge and diagnose his
own case. Left to his own reasoning,
man will fail to assess his condition and ill desert correctly. 4.) Without an accurate diagnosis, men will
settle for an ineffective cure. 5.) By nature man believes that there is
something he can do to recover himself. 6.) Grace is not grace unless it is sovereign
and free. God has used the “bulldozer”
of His law to remove the possibility of human merit from the face of the
planet. 7.) The message of man’s moral inability is
actually conducive to a sense of urgency in seeking God. 8.) One’s view of man’s depravity is
inseparable from one’s view of God’s grace. THE MEANING OF
TOTAL DEPRAVITY Total depravity
entails man’s complete lack of merit before God due to original sin. “Depravity”
concerns man’s inability to achieve saving favor before God. “Total”
means that the defilement extends to all aspects of man’s nature (every
faculty and capacity). WHAT IS THE
ORIGIN OF HUMAN SIN? Adam was the representative of us all. (1 Cor. 15:21,22) Through Adam we
die, through Christ we gain life. Both
Adam and Christ stand as representatives.
Adam was placed in unique position to be representative of the human
race. His actions directly affected all of humanity. Adam’s fall was the fall of us all. (Rom. 5:12, 18a) Adam was placed
in the garden not only to act for himself, but also for all future
generations. When he was tested, he was
also being tested for all mankind. When
he fell, we fell with him. WHAT IS THE
EXTENT OF HUMAN SIN? We are not as sinful as we could be. (Matt. 5:43-47) Though fallen,
it does not mean that all men indulge in every conceivable sin. Even the lost show considerations toward
each other. (Jesus stated that Gentiles
and tax-gatherers love and bless their friends.) Unsaved people have a
conscience. They can distinguish
between forms of good and evil (Rom. 2:14,15). We are sinful by nature. (Jer. 17:9,10) All people are
born with a fallen, sin-sick heart.
Jesus argued that sin has its source in the very center of a person’s
being, his heart (Matt. 15:19). The
lost person’s bad heart or sin nature
is compared to a fruit-producing tree.
The fruit of the tree is determined
by the nature of the tree (Matt.
7:17-20). People sometimes
imagine that their faculties function with complete independence and
objectivity. The Word tells us that behind a person’s willing, acting,
speaking, choosing and desiring is the inner man. Behind our capacities is the heart
or nature. We are sinful in all of our capacities. (Ps. 53:2,3) Mind, affections
and will are influenced by our fallen natures.
Man thinks with a darkened mind (Eph. 4:17-19). Man’s feelings and affections are corrupted,
he loves darkness (Jn. 3:19). The fallen
nature so influences the faculties that everything men do is tainted with sin, none are righteous (Rom. 3:9-12). Even our best works are unrighteous before
God (Is. 64:6). We are spiritually dead. (Eph. 2:1-3) God’s testimony
of our spiritual condition is not an injury report, it is a coroner’s
report. The language is that of
finality with no hope of recovery or revivification. The natural man’s spiritual death is manifested in his
unresponsiveness to God. He is cut off
from the life of God and dead to the things of God (Eph. 4:18). “Dead in
transgressions and sin,” describes a state of having no power to obey God or
show devotion to Him. (An example that
describes both state and place would be as follows. Picture a corpse face down in a reservoir. He does not conspire how he might return to
physical life, neither does the natural man chart how he might love and know
God.) IN WHAT WAYS ARE
SINNERS IN BONDAGE? We are in bondage to our sinful natures. (Job 14:4; Prov. 20:9) No man can
cleanse or change his own heart (Jer. 13:23).
Jeremiah’s point is that there is a fixedness
to the sinful heart of man that renders it completely unable to make itself
good. Apart from a mighty work of God,
the spiritual state of the heart is immutable. We are in bondage to sinful deeds. (Jn. 8:34) God’s testimony
is that lost people are slaves to sin.
When confronted with the choice
between holiness and sin, the natural man always chooses sin (Rom. 6:17,19,20). The lost man is
not free to escape from sin. True
freedom entails the gracious divine bestowal of soul-life that rests upon the
truth in Christ (Jn. 8:32-36). We are in bondage to Satan. (2 Tim. 2:24-26) Those in bondage
to Satan are unaware of their plight. A
merciful work of God is needed in order for them to “come to their
senses.” The word “perhaps” affirms
that it is a sovereign act of God (2 Tim. 2:25). To be in bondage
to Satan is to be under the “authority” of
darkness (Col. 1:13). If the lost man
is ever to repent, God must move his heart and awaken him from his stupor (Eph.
2:1-3; Jn. 8:44; 1 Jn. 5:19). IS THE SINNER’S
CONDITION BEFORE GOD ONE OF INABILITY? We cannot understand the Lord. (Jn. 8:43) Perhaps the most
difficult concept to grasp concerning the fall is that of inability. The Lord calls all persons to believe upon
Christ and to repent, but the majority do not respond to that summons. When Jesus said
“cannot,” He affirmed that the misunderstanding of His hearers was not just a
matter of bad choice, it was a matter of inability
(Jn. 8:43). In 1 Corinthians
1:26-31, God sovereignly saves primarily the foolish and the weak people of
this world. This proves that salvation
is something that neither wise people can figure out nor strong people achieve. Romans 3:11
stresses that without exception, “There is none who understands.” 1 Corinthians
2:14 tells us what makes the difference between those who understand and those
who don’t. One must possess the Spirit
of God in order to be capable of understanding the things of God. Unregenerate
man “moralizes” the gospel into a work.
(Matt. 19:16 ff.) When the natural
man hears the gospel of God’s free grace, he immediately reinterprets it into a
work that lies within his capacity. “Is
it self-reformation? I will do it. Is it religious requirements? I will vow to do them. Is it a decision? I will make it. Are there
conditions to meet? I will comply with
them.” Man cannot bear
the admittance of the thought that he is too far gone to be a spiritual
resource at all in his own salvation.
It is absolutely essential that an unregenerate man be convinced of his
inability. Otherwise, he will not see
his absolute need of Christ and the power of His grace (Rom. 5:6). To be brought to the end of self is to be an
absolute debtor to Christ. It is to
fall at His feet, totally obligated to Him forever. We cannot desire the Lord. (Rom. 5:10) The natural man
maintains an active enmity toward God.
The unsaved man is not just alienated from the life of God, but has a
positive real hostility in his carnal heart against God. Romans 8:7
reveals the central source of that enmity.
It is rebellion against God’s moral authority. God’s moral reign is manifested in His law. Men despise God’s kingly authority. They resent the fact that their Creator
should have an absolute claim upon their lives that governs thoughts, words and
deeds. The natural
man’s heart is set upon the flesh. He
possesses a bias in favor of sin. John
3:19 tells us that unbelievers love darkness
with an agape (self-sacrificing
love). They lack affection for
God. When confronted with the true
living God, man does not want Him (Rom. 3:11; 8:6-8). We cannot come to the Lord. (Jn. 6:44; Rom. 8:8) Not only is the
natural man unable to understand and desire the Lord, he cannot even will to choose Him. After the
feeding of the 5000, Jesus found unbelief instead of faith. Jesus indicated to His listeners why they
did not believe. 1.) They won’t come
because they cannot come. Their wills
have a bias fixed against God. By nature,
people cannot choose God of their own volition. 2.) This inability is universal to all persons. Without exception, all individuals lack the
ability to come to Christ and be saved (Jn. 6:65). This is a most
humbling truth that man (by nature), has nothing
in himself for his own recovery. ( NOTE: The inability of man is voluntary. There is no such thing as a sinner desiring to come to Christ and
be saved the gospel way -- but barred by inability.) CONCLUSION God commands men to do what they will not
do. Repent (Acts
2:38); Be reconciled (2 Cor. 5:20); Seek the Lord (Is. 55:1-7); Come to Christ
(Matt. 11:28,29). The refusal to
come involves an habitual, active, exercise of the heart and will in desiring
not to come (Rom. 1:18-23; Acts 7:51; Jn. 5:40). God sent His Son to do what we could not
do. There is
sovereign help for those who cannot help themselves. He became sin for us, that sinners in Him by union with Him,
might have the righteousness of God.
Christ sovereignly raises sinners out of the grave of their spiritual
deadness (Eph. 2:4-6). The ability to
understand and receive the gospel is pure revelation. We are not the authors of our own spiritual life (Gal. 1:15,16;
Matt. 11:25). |
