TOTAL DEPRAVITY

Total depravity is the term used to define the spiritual condition of every human being at the moment of his or her physical birth. Mankind’s depravity is realized when the human nature of man is compared with the divine nature of God. God is absolutely righteous. This means that He is absolutely good. There is no evil in Him. He is incapable of wrong-doing, and it is this quality about God that serves as the standard against which all human nature is to be measured.

If parents are going to understand their children, they must understand their nature. It is commonly believed that every human being is created in the image of God, however, this belief is in error. Only one person was created in the image of God, and that was Adam (Genesis 1:27). At the time of Adam’s creation, Eve was still Adam’s rib, so the only person created in the image of God was Adam. Adam was created. Eve was fashioned from existing material, namely, Adam’s rib. Because Eve was “in Adam” when he was created, Eve, too, had the image of God, but to say that she was created in the image of God fails to distinguish between created and fashioned. Ex-nihilo (out of nothing) explains creation. Fashioned implies building materials. Adam was created; Eve was fashioned.

Chronologically, Genesis 5:3 occurs after the spiritual fall of Adam, and when this verse is properly understood, it becomes clear that the progeny of Adam are NOT created in the image of God, but are born in the likeness of fallen Adam. Adam was created, and Eve was fashioned, but the remainder of the human race as Adam’s progeny are born in the likeness of his fallen nature.

Adam’s fallen nature is passed on from father to child, father to child, father to child, so that the entire human race is born with a fallen nature; and various terms are used to describe that nature: the Adamic nature, the principle of sin within us, the old-sin-nature. These are synonymous terms that refer to the total depravity of man.

Every human being is born with a genetically prepared old-sin-nature in every cell of his body. The female ovum, made perfect in nature by God through the process of meiosis and polar body, becomes contaminated by the old-sin-nature at the moment of impregnation, and through the process of mitosis, every cell of the baby in-utero becomes contaminated with the old-sin-nature. If this were man’s only sin problem, it would be enough to declare him depraved; however, he has two additional sin problems that declare his total depravity.

Scripture indicates that Adam’s original sin is judicially imputed to every human being. This occurs at the moment of physical birth whereupon Adam’s original sin is imputed to the genetically prepared old-sin-nature. Now, at the moment of physical birth, the new-born child has two strikes against him: a genetically prepared old-sin-nature, and Adam’s original sin imputed.

Stop right here and consider the implications: God is absolutely righteous and man is born with a genetically prepared old-sin-nature to which has been imputed Adam’s original sin. The very nature of God forbids relationship or fellowship with anyone who is not as good as He is good, therefore, man is born separated from the God who planned all of creation. This is not the end of the story.

Volition is part of man’s essence. Volition is freedom of choice and carries with it the capacity to make choices that are consistent with God’s plan for the human race or to make choices contrary to the plan of God for the human race. The depravity of mankind caused by a genetically prepared old-sin-nature and the imputation of Adam’s sin create within every human being a propensity away from God, not toward Him, so when volition is linked to a propensity away from God, it is not difficult to explain the habits of mankind from early childhood that are contrary to God’s plan. Isn’t it interesting that parents don’t have to train their children to say “no,” while having to train them to say “yes”? This is easily explained when parents understand that their children are born with a genetically prepared old-sin-nature, Adam’s original sin judicially imputed, and given time, they will commit personal sins as acts. Total depravity combines three different categories of sin: an old-sin-nature, imputed sin, and personal sin.

Some refuse to acknowledge man’s total depravity and prefer to look within man to find the “good” in him. No matter how hard or how deep the look, the absolute truth of the matter is that even man’s “good” stems from the source of his total depravity and is repugnant to God. Isaiah 64:6 (KJV) says, “But we are all as an unclean [thing], and all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Do you see the phrase “filthy rags?” Every English version of the Bible shrinks from correctly translating that phrase. Interestingly, the Roman Catholic Liturgiam Authenticam admonishes us that "in translating biblical passages where seemingly inelegant words or expressions are used, a hasty tendency to sanitize [Latin: abstergendi] this characteristic is ... to be avoided" . . . Thus the Latin Vulgate translates Isaiah 64:6, “et facti sumus ut inmundus omnes nos quasi pannus menstruatae universae iustitiae nostrae et cecidimus quasi folium universi et iniquitates nostrae quasi ventus abstulerunt nos.” An English translation of the Vulgate reads: “And we are all become as one unclean, and all our justices as the rag of a menstruous woman: and we have all fallen as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Sadly, the Catholic Nova Vulgata (New Vulgate) softens pannus menstruatae to pannus inquinatus, "polluted rag." When Isaiah 64:6 is translated correctly from the Hebrew into the English, it becomes clear that man’s inherent “good” is viewed as repugnant to God as discarded “rags of a menstruous woman” are to you and me. What is the point? The point is that from the moment of physical birth man is totally depraved, and there is nothing within man that can commend itself to God because of His righteousness and the total depravity of the one making the offer. To offer God man’s goodness is like offering Him the menstruous rags of a woman in exchange for “the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)

Let’s summarize this chapter. If parents are going to make sense out of parenting, they are going to have to come to grips with the fact that their children are not really “little angels.” From God’s viewpoint, they are totally depraved human beings, separated from Him from the moment of physical birth, and in need of salvation. They are safe in His hands until they reach the age of accountability, but nonetheless, totally depraved with no relationship or fellowship with God for the following reasons: they have a genetically prepared old-sin-nature that demands separation from an absolutely righteous God; they are the recipient of Adam’s original sin judicially imputed that demands separation from an absolutely righteous God; and given a brief amount of time after birth they will prove their depravity by the choices they make—perhaps beginning with a temper-tantrum or two.

A word about the age of accountability: the age of accountability is not a chronological age. It is a theological term that defines the moment in time when a child becomes God-conscious. This time element may differ from culture-to-culture, but it will nonetheless be present in every culture. At the moment a person becomes aware of God’s existence, regardless of his chronological age, that person is required to answer the first most important question in his life, namely, “Do I want more information about this God?” If the answer is “no”, God chronicles the horrible effects of that decision in the Book of Romans, chapter 1:18ff. Therein, we learn the direction that totally depraved man’s choices take him. If, however, a person at the point of God-consciousness answers “yes” to the first most important question in life, God Himself becomes responsible to get the Gospel to him or him to the Gospel. This is the story of mission’s. A combination of God’s justice, omnipresence and omniscience demands an understanding that no human being in any generation in any part of planet earth has ever gone without an opportunity to know Jesus Christ as Savior. To believe otherwise is simply to declare one’s lack of knowledge of what has been divinely revealed to man in God’s Holy Scriptures.

In conclusion, parent, your child is totally depraved, and will manifest that depravity early in his/her childhood, and unless you as a parent understand this, you will be hard-pressed for solutions to deal with raising your child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. If and when you learn “the big picture of life,” you will know that punishment is not God’s plan for dealing with disruptive behavior. RTP based upon PCT is the one model that approximates God’s plan for dealing with disruptive behavior during the Church Age, and the sooner parents learn this the sooner children will learn to respect others and God, and hopefully become an instrument in the resolution of the angelic conflict. Of this one thing we can be certain: children will be either part of the solution or part of the problem. The choice will always be theirs.