Glorious and Depraved (17): Inherited Sin (Part Two)

Inheriting Adam’s sin means inheriting his guilt, and it also means inheriting a fallen nature. Every child born into this world is…

…born destitute of original righteousness, and the subjects of a corruption of nature which is truly and properly sin…this corruption affects the whole man; not the body only to the exclusion of the soul; not the lower faculties of the soul to the exclusion of the higher; and not the heart to the exclusion of the intellectual powers…as that before regeneration fallen men are “utterly indisposed, disabled, and opposed to all good.” (Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, volume II, p.231)

Many Scriptures point to this condition of human beings:

When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin (Solomon, 1 Kings 8:46)

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of all of us. (Isaiah 53:6)

For we are all become like one who is unclean, and all our deeds of righteousness are like a polluted garment: and we all wither like a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have carried us away. (Isaiah 64:6)

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)

Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him. (Proverbs 22:15)

When left unchecked, the human penchant for sin will go to the extreme:

Yahweh saw how great the wickedness of mankind had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. (Genesis 6:5)

That this inherited sin a desire for autonomy or self-rule and rebellion against our Creator is evident:

¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who repress the truth in wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, having been understood from the things that were made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20)

Human beings do good, not because they worship and obey God, but because they intuitively know the law of God and have been trained to do good by parents or society. But they do not and cannot desire to submit to God:

No one is able to come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:44)

⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8, NIV)

Rather, humans are generally under the control of the Evil one:

²⁵ instructing his opponents with gentleness, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶ and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:25,26)

There is no hope for personal reform or becoming righteous enough to merit God’s approval:

[Yahweh says] The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9, NIV)

This is what some mean by saying that human beings are totally depraved. Not totally unable to do anything good, but unable to submit to God. Every human being is guilty of Adam’s sin, has inherited a sinful nature, and therefore every human being sins.