Radical Corruption

One of the reasons the doctrine of total depravity is rather out of favor today is that the meanings of the words total and depravity, when taken together, are understood differently now than they were in the seventeenth century. Today, depravity is thought to describe a profound level of perversity. We use the word to speak of someone who is distinguished in his corruption by some gross or heinous crime, or of some ethical monster such as the Roman Emperor Nero or Adolf Hitler. When we amplify the term by coupling it with the word total and then apply it to a person, it tends to produce an image of someone who is so wicked that he is little different from a brutish animal, completely given over to evil. Contemporary unbelievers are understandably reluctant to accept this term as an accurate description to the entire human race, and so they reject both the doctrine and the Christianity that proclaims it.

But this is not the intended meaning of total depravity. The purpose of this doctrine is to define the depth to which corruption has invaded the human soul as a result of the fall of man. It is addressing this question: Is man left helpless or does he retain some power within himself to turn to God? The theologians at the Synod of Dort believed that fallen man was unable to do anything to accept the free offer of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus, when they spoke of depravity, they were thinking of moral inability. Likewise, when they amplified the term with the word total, they did not mean to imply that man is as sinful as he possibly can be. They were communicating the idea that the Fall affected every aspect of man’s being—his mind, will, emotions, and so forth. They might just as well have used a term such as thorough inability.

However, a still-better alternative for total depravity might be radical corruption. The word corruption accurately communicates the idea that man is fallen and flawed by sin. And the word radical, when understood in the classical sense, speaks directly to the question of the depth of human corruption. Radical comes from the Latin radix, which means “root.” Thus, to speak of radical corruption is to affirm that the effects of man’s fall into sin extend to the very root or core of his being.