Man is depraved through and through, as bad off as he can be, but not as bad as he can be. It is like being pregnant; you can't be a little pregnant. Note that this is God's estimation of man, not man's estimation of man. Sin affects every aspect of our being which means we have a radical corruption or total depravity. Rom. 7:18a says, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh."
I don't mean utter depravity (that we are as bad as we can be), but total depravity (every aspect of our being is spoiled by sin). We all have feet of clay (we all have weaknesses not readily apparent) and can't "clean up our act;" nor ingratiate ourselves to God. We show our solidarity in Adam when we sin--we sin because we are sinners, we are not sinners because we sin. It is not okay to "fudge a little" because we a diabolically alive--we all are like a moon that has a "dark side" no one can see. We may be a run-of-the-mill sinner compared to Hitler and see ourselves as saints in comparison; but Christ is the standard and exemplar, not Hitler.
We are inherently bad, biased to evil, having lost our inclination to good at the fall. Evil permeates our nature and we are defiant volitionally. This is all God's estimation of man, not man's estimation of himself. This is called original sin by some. Augustine of Hippo said we can only do evil (non posse non peccare). But Jesus sees through the veneer and our facade. We are "by nature children of wrath" and enemies of God before we are saved.
We must see how bad we are to be good and we don't know how bad we are till we've tried to be good. There are many verses that support depravity including Jer. 17:9 ("The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?"); Isa. 1:5-6, 64:6; Jer. 13:23; Rom. 8:8; Gen. 6:4-5. The law shows us how we are: "Indeed, it is the straightedge of the law that shows us how crooked we are" (J. B. Phillips trans. of Rom. 3:23). Soli Deo Gloria!
I don't mean utter depravity (that we are as bad as we can be), but total depravity (every aspect of our being is spoiled by sin). We all have feet of clay (we all have weaknesses not readily apparent) and can't "clean up our act;" nor ingratiate ourselves to God. We show our solidarity in Adam when we sin--we sin because we are sinners, we are not sinners because we sin. It is not okay to "fudge a little" because we a diabolically alive--we all are like a moon that has a "dark side" no one can see. We may be a run-of-the-mill sinner compared to Hitler and see ourselves as saints in comparison; but Christ is the standard and exemplar, not Hitler.
We are inherently bad, biased to evil, having lost our inclination to good at the fall. Evil permeates our nature and we are defiant volitionally. This is all God's estimation of man, not man's estimation of himself. This is called original sin by some. Augustine of Hippo said we can only do evil (non posse non peccare). But Jesus sees through the veneer and our facade. We are "by nature children of wrath" and enemies of God before we are saved.
We must see how bad we are to be good and we don't know how bad we are till we've tried to be good. There are many verses that support depravity including Jer. 17:9 ("The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?"); Isa. 1:5-6, 64:6; Jer. 13:23; Rom. 8:8; Gen. 6:4-5. The law shows us how we are: "Indeed, it is the straightedge of the law that shows us how crooked we are" (J. B. Phillips trans. of Rom. 3:23). Soli Deo Gloria!
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