Depravity
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate and hath shed His own blood for my soul... (Horatio Spafford)
The theologians tell me I’m totally depraved. That’s a bit rude, don’t you think? I’ve been called a lot of things over the years, but this seems a bit excessive. Now, before you boast confidently of your own pious standing, those religious thinking heads say the same thing about you. In fact, they suggest that every citizen of our planet is equally corrupt. I suppose that puts us all in the same boat, sinfully speaking. Oddly, there is some comfort to be found there, knowing there is equity in the human condition. Of course, there is no pride to be found in our waywardness, despite our collective disrepute. There is, however, a remedy, a healing solution for that which we cannot escape on our own: grace there is, my every debt to pay.
To fully understand this issue of depravity, we must start at the beginning, in the garden where our first parents lived in harmony with God, created in His image, bearing His divine approval, basking in the warmth and perfection of unfettered relationship. Theirs was a utopian existence. God gave them oversight of the earth. They were told to be fruitful and multiply. The Genesis creation was as it was meant to be... until it wasn’t.
The downfall of humankind was at hand, instigated by free-will choice. Adam and Eve had been given explicit instructions: do not eat from the tree in the center of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you fail to heed this warning, you will surely die. It was one, solitary mandate, simple enough to obey, yet an irresistible choice in the face of temptation. Thus, the die had been cast, and man’s nature was changed.
That original sin has infiltrated our being and tarnished us all. From birth, our depravity is evident. At the outset of our first breath, the competition of wills between God and humanity is initiated and the totality of our moral existence tainted by that fateful decision long ago. John Wesley did not mince words when he said that human nature, unaided by God, is “wretched, and poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked... he has the deep sense of the loathsome leprosy of sin, which he brought with him from his mother’s womb, which over-spreads his whole soul, and totally corrupts every faculty and power thereof.” We are compelled to ask: is there hope for this errant soul of mine?
Do not be disheartened my friends. God, despite our perilous condition, has provided the means for our reclamation. It is not His intent that we should languish in our moral frailty. The Father’s primary and holy instinct is love for His flawed creation. His grace chases us. He longs to bring us home. In the person of Jesus Christ, our sins have been atoned for. The scriptures recite for us, in beautiful fashion, the promise and confirmation of redemption: He took our infirmities, carried our sorrows, He was pierced for our iniquities, His punishment was our peace, and by His wounds, we are healed. We have all turned to our own way, but the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He poured out His life unto death and was numbered with transgressors. He bore the sin of many and made intersession for all (Excerpts from Isaiah 53:4-12).
But there is more to the story. While the atonement provided justification, forgiveness, and reconciliation, placing us in right standing with God, it also provided the means by which our depraved nature could be brought into submission. Salvation is thankfully accompanied by regeneration. We can call it the re-configuration of the soul. This regeneration is brought about by the working of the Holy Spirit in the believer. The Spirit convicts, imparts new life in Christ, enables, sanctifies, re-awakens, enlightens, and empowers God’s people. The Holy Spirit’s indwelling is meant to defeat the compulsion of our rebellious character and re-create in us a holy inclination. Where once we were led by the appetite of our lower nature, life in the Spirit liberates us from the immoral impulses of our depravity. Indeed, we are participants in a holy re-creation. Thanks be to God!
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV).