Sinful Man
Do the scriptures teach that man is so totally depraved that he is completely unable to come to faith and trust in the Gospel through his own free will? The scriptures are filled with the calls from Jesus, the Prophets, and others for man to turn to the LORD God Almighty and Jesus Christ and come to repentance and faith.
These calls are there for the scriptures are true, and though man is a sinner and in dire need of God's Grace he is fully capable and able to respond in faith to the drawing of the Father, the drawing of Jesus and his atonement on the cross, the Word of God, and the Glorious Gospel.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! For this is one of the most important doctrines for which the Church was built on and to claim that man cannot come to faith without God's coercion is a very dangerous and one of the most destructive doctrines ever concocted. You can find the roots of the teachings of Total Depravity or Total Inability.
In the beginning God created man in His image, male and female He created them and He blessed them both and God saw all that He made, and behold it was very good.
Genesis 1:26-31
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. 31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
From the very beginning God created man in His image with freewill and the ability to choose right from wrong. This is established clearly in the events that occurred in the Garden of Eden for God gave Adam all of the trees in the garden to eat from, but He was instructed to not eat from the tree of knowledge.
As we know Adam failed the test and chose to eat from the tree in which God commanded him “You shall not eat from it”.
We can see clearly how God dealt with their rebellion as well as the deception of the serpent.
To the Serpent the LORD God said:
Genesis 3:14-15
14 The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
To the Woman he said:
Genesis 3:16
16To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.”
To Adam He said:
Genesis 3:17-19
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. 18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; 19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
Note: Nowhere in the scriptures do you find that due to Adam and Eve’s rebellion they have somehow lost their blessings and their freedom to choose, but rather we find that through Adams rebellion sin entered into the world.
Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned
We can see the wisdom of Solomon in that he see that it is God that made men upright, but it is man that sins and falls short of the mark,
Ecclesiastes 7:29
29 Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.”. . .
We see how David wrote of how awesome are the works of God and his creation and his foreknowledge of all the deeds of man.
Psalm 139:13-16
For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; 16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.
We can also see that the body of Man is called the temple of God.
I Corinthians 6:19
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
II Corinthians 6:16
16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.
Now do we stop here and claim that man is worthy to be praised, absolutely not for it is far from that, for all men are sinners and fall short of the Glory of God.
We can clearly in Romans 3 that Paul uses multiple Psalms to show just how far man has fallen from what God originally purposed him for.
Romans 3:9-18
9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; 10 as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; 11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; 12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.” 13 “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”; 14 “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”; 15 “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, 16 DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, 17 AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.” 18 “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”
As we look into the scripture verses that Paul is quoting in Psalms and Isaiah will we come to the conclusion that man is somehow totally depraved and unable to come to faith on his own? Not at all, for as you study these Psalms we can see the contrast of the Righteous and the Wicked as you can see also throughout the book of Proverbs.
In Romans 3:10-12 Paul quotes is Psalm 14:1-3
Psalm 14:1-3
The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good. 2 The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God. 3 They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.
Then as we continue we find that God is with the righteous generation and the Lord is his refuge.
Psalm 14:4-6
4Do all the workers of wickedness not know, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call upon the Lord? 5 There they are in great dread, For God is with the righteous generation. 6 You would put to shame the counsel of the afflicted, But the LORD is his refuge.
In Romans 3:13 Paul quotes is Psalm 5:9 and as we look at verses 10 we see that the Psalmist makes it clear that “they are rebellious to You”.
Psalm 5:9
9 There is nothing reliable in what they say; Their inward part is destruction itself. Their throat is an open grave; They flatter with their tongue. 10 Hold them guilty, O God; By their own devices let them fall! In the multitude of their transgressions thrust them out, For they are rebellious against You.
Then as we continue we see the following in verses 11-12 we see that there are some that take refuge in the LORD, and it is the LORD who blesses the Righteous man.
Psalm 5:11-12
11 But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You. 12 For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O LORD, You surround him with favor as with a shield.
In Romans 3:13 Paul also quotes is Psalm 140:3 and as we look we see that the Psalmist asks the LORD to preserve me from violent men.
Psalm 140:3-4
Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men; Preserve me from violent men 2 Who devise evil things in their hearts; They continually stir up wars. 3 They sharpen their tongues as a serpent; Poison of a viper is under their lips. Selah.
4 Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; Preserve me from violent men Who have purposed to trip up my feet.
We then see later in verse 12 that surely the righteous will give thanks to Your name, and the upright will dwell in your presence.
Psalm 140:12-13
12 I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted And justice for the poor. 13 Surely the righteous will give thanks to Your name; The upright will dwell in Your presence.
In Romans 3:14 Paul also quotes is Psalm 10:7 and we see again the attributes of the wicked man.
Psalm 10:7
7 His mouth is full of curses and deceit and oppression; Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness.
Then we once again see that the LORD hears the desire of the humble and vindicates the orphan and the oppressed.
Psalm 10:17-18
17 O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear 18 To vindicate the orphan and the oppressed, So that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror.
In Romans 3:15-17 Paul quotes from Isaiah 59, and we see again the attributes of the wicked man.
Isaiah 59:7-8
7 Their feet run to evil, And they hasten to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, Devastation and destruction are in their highways. 8 They do not know the way of peace, And there is no justice in their tracks; They have made their paths crooked, Whoever treads on them does not know peace.
In Isaiah we see no example of man being anything other than sinful, but we do see that Isaiah says that God saw there was no man, and there was no one to intercede, then his own arm (which is Jesus) brought salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.
Isaiah 59:16-17
16 And He saw that there was no man, And was astonished that there was no one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him. 17 He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.
In Romans 3:18 Paul also quotes from Psalm 36 and we see again the attributes of the wicked man, and not he has ceased to be wise and to do good.
Psalm 36:1
1Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart; There is no fear of God before his eyes. 2 For it flatters him in his own eyes Concerning the discovery of his iniquity and the hatred of it. 3 The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; He has ceased to be wise and to do good.
We then see later in verse 10 the Psalmist contrasts the wicked with those that “know You” the LORD and for him to provide “Your righteousness to the upright in heart”.
Psalm 36:10
10 O continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, And Your righteousness to the upright in heart.
In closing it is clear that Paul nor the scriptures were proclaiming that man is so depraved that he cannot come to knowledge of the truth and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but rather as we continue further into Romans 3 we see that he was teaching that sinful man was not able to be justified under the law.
Roman 3:19-20
19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; 20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
We then see Paul reveal clearly Jesus and the new covenant and the propitiation of sins through His blood through Faith.
We all can have the “righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.
Roman 3:21-31
21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.