Total Depravity

Paul’s teaching in the third chapter of Romans constitutes one of the major Scriptural supports for the Christian doctrine of “total depravity.” This doctrine is extremely controversial today and typically generates angry opposition when it is voiced or taught. Nevertheless, it has been a highly important doctrine throughout church history. Given these factors, as well as the Scriptural teaching we have been studying, it is worthwhile that we make ourselves familiar with the development and tenets of this doctrine. Therefore, we will pause in our studies in Romans for the remainder of this month to spend time working through concepts from Dr. R.C. Sproul’s “Renewing Your Mind” teaching series Total Depravity.

“Total depravity,” of course, is one of the “five points of Calvinism.” This leads many to suppose that it is a doctrine that came out of the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Actually, like so many Reformational teachings, its roots extend much further back into church history, and it is more proper to say that this doctrine was recovered during the Reformation. Its systematic formulation occurred early in the seventeenth century, when a group of protesters calling themselves the Remonstrants took issue with several Reformed teachings in Holland. In response, the leaders of the Reformed church there gathered with delegates from Reformed churches in other lands in 1618–19 in the Dutch city of Dort. They produced a systematic refutation of the Remonstrants’ five points of dispute. This response, being Calvinistic in doctrine, became known as the five points of Calvinism. And the first of the five was the doctrine of total depravity.

Even today, many people, both inside and outside of the church, remonstrate over this doctrine. It flies squarely in the face of liberal theology, which tends to deny that mankind is in need of salvation from sin. More surprisingly, it seems to be disputed by many evangelicals, the theological heirs of the Reformation. Surveys have found that a large percentage of self-described evangelicals believe that man is basically good. They would not go so far as to say that man is perfect or without sin, but they seem able to believe that, at the core of his being, man is more good than bad. As we will see, this viewpoint is sharply at odds with the doctrine of total depravity.