Where Do Christians Get the Doctrine of Total Depravity?
Thoughts of the Heart
I would want to avoid having proof texts for any doctrine. Doctrines arise out of holding together a whole number of biblical texts and then synthesizing internally related doctrines as they’ve been understood through church history.
So any doctrine is really a biblical, systematic construction, and having one proof text for it can be unhelpful. That said, I think that some texts really encapsulate what the doctrine of total depravity is saying.
Ruined Sinners to Reclaim
David Gibson, Jonathan Gibson
With contributions from more than two dozen well-respected Reformed theologians and church leaders, this volume offers a comprehensive defense of the doctrine of total depravity from historical, biblical, theological, and pastoral perspectives.
I’m thinking of Genesis 6:5: “. . . every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” That verse gives us four aspects of sin. It gives us the totality of sin—every thought. It gives us the intensity of sin—the intention of the thoughts of the heart. Sin is internal. And it also gives us the extensity of sin—only evil. And then finally, the constancy of sin—continually. “Every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
I think that verse in Genesis 6:5 really captures what the doctrine of total depravity is trying to say. There are other verses like Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
You have Paul’s vice list in Romans 3:9 and following where he explains that there’s “none righteous, no, not one; no one understands. No one seeks for God. . . . no one does good.” And then he starts to describe how it is that people are sinful with their mouths, with their throats, their lips, with their feet. I think those passages begin to get at what the doctrine of total depravity is saying.
Jonathan Gibson is coeditor with David Gibson of Ruined Sinners to Reclaim: Sin and Depravity in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective.
Related Articles
How (and How Not) to Fight Sin
Fighting sin is spiritual warfare, and warfare requires a battle plan. If left to our own devices, we would have little success against our unseen enemy.
The Spirit’s Work of Conviction through the Conscience of a Sinner
The work of conviction of sin on those who expected it not, who desired it not, and who would avoid it if by any means possible they could.
The Fruit of the First Sin Was Shame
We feel shame when some fault, imperfection, or vulnerability of ours conflicts with what we think we should be. Finding this shameful, we attempt to hide.
Podcast: How to Wait for Christmas in an Age of Instant Gratification (Jonathan Gibson)
Johnny Gibson discusses what it looks like to truly prepare our hearts for Christmas and talks about how and why the Advent season is meant to be a season of waiting.
