View source for Total depravity

{{Short description|Protestant theological doctrine}}
{{For|the 2016 album by the Veils|Total Depravity}}
[[File:Forbidden fruit.jpg|upright=1.6|thumb|A [[Sistine Chapel]] [[fresco]] depicts the expulsion of [[Adam and Eve]] from the garden of Eden for their sin of eating from the fruit of the [[Tree of the knowledge of good and evil]].]]
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'''Total depravity''' (also called '''radical corruption'''<ref>{{Cite web|last=Sproul|first=R. C.|date=March 25, 2017|title=TULIP and Reformed Theology: Total Depravity|url=https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/tulip-and-reformed-theology-total-depravity|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805035204/https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/tulip-and-reformed-theology-total-depravity|archive-date=August 5, 2021|access-date=August 5, 2021|website=Ligonier Ministries|quote=I like to replace the term ''total depravity'' with my favorite designation, which is ''radical corruption''. Ironically, the word ''radical'' has its roots in the Latin word for "root", which is ''radix'', and it can be translated ''root'' or ''core''.}}</ref> or '''pervasive depravity''') is a Protestant [[theology|theological]] [[doctrine]] derived from the concept of [[original sin]]. It teaches that, as a consequence of [[Fall of man|the Fall]], every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of [[sin]] as a result of their fallen nature and, apart from the [[Irresistible grace|efficacious (irresistible)]] or [[Prevenient grace|prevenient (enabling)]] [[Grace in Christianity|grace of God]], is completely unable to choose by themselves to follow [[God in Christianity|God]], refrain from [[evil]], or accept the gift of [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation]] as it is offered.

The doctrine is advocated to various degrees by many [[Protestant]] denominations, including [[Lutheranism]]<ref name=WELS-Compare>{{cite web |url=http://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=10&cuItem_itemID=15094 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090927073128/http://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=10&cuItem_itemID=15094 |archive-date=27 September 2009 |website=WELS Topical Q&A |title=Calvinism and Lutheranism Compared |publisher=[[Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod]] |quote='Total Depravity – Lutherans and Calvinists agree'. Yes this is correct. Both agree on the devastating nature of the fall and that man by nature has no power to aid in his conversions ... and that election to salvation is by grace. In Lutheranism the German term for election is ''Gnadenwahl'', election by grace—there is no other kind. |access-date=9 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last1=Andreä |first1=Jakob |author1-link=Jakob Andreä |last2=Chemnitz |first2=Martin |author2-link=Martin Chemnitz |last3=Selnecker |first3=Nikolaus |author3-link=Nikolaus Selnecker |last4=Chytraeus |first4=David |author4-link=David Chytraeus |last5=Musculus |first5=Andreas |author5-link=Andreas Musculus |last6=Körner |first6=Christoph |title=Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds3.iii.iv.html |year=1577}}</ref><ref>{{citation |editor-last=Melanchthon |editor-first=Philip |editor-link=Philip Melanchthon |title=The Augsburg Confession |url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Augsburg_Confession |year=1530}}</ref> and all [[Calvinism|Calvinist churches]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Canons of Dordt |url=https://reformed.org/documents/canons_of_dordt.html |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=reformed.org}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Westminster Assembly |title=Westminster Confession of Faith |author-link=Westminster Assembly |url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Westminster_Confession_of_Faith |year=1646}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Westminster Larger Catechism 1-50 |url=https://reformed.org/documents/wlc_w_proofs/WLC_001-050.html |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=reformed.org |at=Question 25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Heidelberg Catechism |url=https://reformed.org/documents/heidelberg.html |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=reformed.org |at=Question 8}}</ref> [[Arminian]] denominations, such as [[Methodist]]s, believe and teach total depravity, but with distinct differences,<ref>Arminius, James ''The Writings of James Arminius'' (three vols.), tr. [[James Nichols (printer)|James Nichols]] and W. R. Bagnall (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker, 1956), I:252.</ref><ref name= MQR/> the most important of which is the distinction between [[Irresistible Grace|irresistible grace]] and [[Prevenient Grace|prevenient grace]].<ref name="Arnold2020">{{cite web |last1=Arnold |first1=Johnathan |title=Do Wesleyan Arminians Believe in Total Depravity? |url=https://holyjoys.org/do-wesleyan-arminians-believe-in-total-depravity |publisher=Holy Joys |access-date=14 January 2022 |language=English |date=8 May 2020 |quote=Wesleyans and Calvinists primarily disagree on the nature of the grace that brings men to salvation. To answer the question, 'How do totally depraved sinners come to Christ?' Calvinists posit ''irresistible grace''; Wesleyans posit (universal, enabling, resistible) ''prevenient grace''.}}</ref>

== History ==
[[Augustine of Hippo]] argued that, since the Fall, all humanity is in a self-imposed bondage to sin. All people are inescapably predisposed to evil prior to making any actual choice, and are unable to refrain from sin.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kelsey |first=David H. |author-link=David Kelsey |editor-last1=Hodgson |editor-first1=Peter C. |editor-last2=King |editor-first2=Robert H. |chapter=Human Being |chapter-url=https://www.questia.com/library/117838118/christian-theology-an-introduction-to-its-traditions |title=Christian Theology: An Introduction to Its Traditions and Tasks |publisher=[[Fortress Press]] |year=1994 |pages=176–178 |access-date=2017-09-17 |archive-date=2017-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708203507/https://www.questia.com/library/117838118/christian-theology-an-introduction-to-its-traditions |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite book |last=Williams |first=Robert R. |editor-last1=Hodgson |editor-first1=Peter C. |editor-last2=King |editor-first2=Robert H. |chapter=Sin and Evil |chapter-url=https://www.questia.com/library/117838118/christian-theology-an-introduction-to-its-traditions |title=Christian Theology: An Introduction to Its Traditions and Tasks |publisher=[[Fortress Press]] |year=1994 |pages=201–202 |access-date=2017-09-17 |archive-date=2017-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708203507/https://www.questia.com/library/117838118/christian-theology-an-introduction-to-its-traditions |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Free will]] is not taken away in the sense of the ability to choose between alternatives, but people are unable to make these choices in service to God rather than self.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kelsey |first=David H. |author-link=David Kelsey |editor-last1=Hodgson |editor-first1=Peter C. |editor-last2=King |editor-first2=Robert H. |chapter=Human Being |chapter-url=https://www.questia.com/library/117838118/christian-theology-an-introduction-to-its-traditions |title=Christian Theology: An Introduction to Its Traditions and Tasks |publisher=[[Fortress Press]] |year=1994 |pages=176–177 |access-date=2017-09-17 |archive-date=2017-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708203507/https://www.questia.com/library/117838118/christian-theology-an-introduction-to-its-traditions |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Thomas Aquinas]] also taught that people are not able to avoid sin after the Fall, and that this entailed a loss of [[original righteousness]] or sinlessness, as well as [[concupiscence]] or selfish desire. [[Duns Scotus]], however, modified this interpretation, and only believed that sin entailed a lack of original righteousness. During the [[Protestant Reformation]], the Reformers took Scotus's position to be the Catholic position and argued that it made sin only a defect or privation of righteousness rather than an inclination toward evil. [[Martin Luther]], [[John Calvin]] and other Reformers used the term "total depravity" to articulate what they claimed to be the Augustinian view that sin corrupts the entire human nature.<ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Robert R. |title=Christian Theology: An Introduction to Its Traditions and Tasks |editor-last1=Hodgson |editor-first1=Peter C. |editor-last2=King |editor-first2=Robert H. |chapter=Sin and Evil |chapter-url=https://www.questia.com/library/117838118/christian-theology-an-introduction-to-its-traditions |publisher=[[Fortress Press]]{{Subscription required |via=}} |year=1994 |page=204}}</ref> This did not, however, mean the loss of the ''[[imago Dei]]'' (image of God). The only theologian who argued that the ''imago Dei'' itself was taken away and that the very substance of fallen humanity was sin was [[Matthias Flacius Illyricus]], and this view was repudiated in the [[Formula of Concord]].<ref name="Muller 2012">{{cite book |last=Muller |first=Richard A. |title=Calvin and the Reformed Tradition |publisher=[[Baker Academic]] |year=2012 |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |page=51 |author-link=Richard A. Muller (theologian)}}</ref>

[[John Calvin]] used terms like "total depravity" to mean that, despite the ability of people to outwardly uphold the [[Divine Law|law]], there remained an inward distortion which makes all human actions displeasing to God, whether or not they are outwardly good or bad.<ref name= "Muller 2012" /> Even after [[regeneration (theology)|regeneration]], every human action is mixed with evil.<ref>{{cite book|title= John Calvin: A Sixteenth-Century Portrait|last= Bouwsma |first=William J. |page= 139|url= https://www.questia.com/read/79070626/john-calvin-a-sixteenth-century-portrait |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=1989}}</ref> Later Calvinist theologians were agreed on this, but the language of the [[Canons of Dort]] as well as the 17th century Reformed theologians which followed it did not repeat the language of "total depravity", and arguably offer a more moderate view on the state of fallen humanity than Calvin.<ref name="Muller 2012"/>
=== In Arminianism ===
[[Arminianism]] also accepts a doctrine of total depravity, although not identical to the Calvinist position. Total depravity was affirmed by the [[Five articles of Remonstrance]], by [[Jacobus Arminius]] himself, and by [[John Wesley]], who strongly identified with Arminius through publication of his periodical ''The Arminian'' and also advocated a strong doctrine of inability.<ref>Sermon 44, [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/sermons.v.xliv.html#v.xliv-p0.2 "Original Sin."]; compare verse 4 of [[Charles Wesley]]'s [[hymn]] [http://gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/wesley/hymns/umh363.stm "And Can It Be"].</ref> ''The Methodist Quarterly Review'' states that:
{{quote|It is not sufficiently known, we opine, that Methodists—the genuine Arminians of the present—do not entirely agree with this view of depravity. To what has been said, as being the Calvinist view of the total depravity of our nature, we do heartily assent, with the following exceptions:—First. We do not think that all men ''continue totally depraved until their regeneration''. Secondly. We think man, ''under the atonement'', is not, properly speaking, in a state of nature. He is not left to the unalleviated evils of total depravity. The atonement has not only secured grace ''for'' him, but a measure ''in'' him, by virtue of which he not only has moral light, but is often incited to good desires, and well-intended efforts to do what is perceived to be the divine will.<ref name=MQR>{{cite journal|editor=George Peck|year=1847|title=Chalmers' Natural Theology |journal=The Methodist Quarterly Review|publisher=Lane & Tippett|location=New York|volume=XXIX|page=444}}</ref>}}
Some Reformed theologians have mistakenly used the term "[[Arminianism]]" to include some who hold the [[Semipelagianism|Semipelagian]] doctrine of [[limited depravity]], which allows for an "island of righteousness" in human hearts that is uncorrupted by sin and able to accept God's offer of salvation without a special dispensation of grace.<ref>{{cite book |last=Demarest |first=Bruce |title=The Cross and Salvation: The Doctrine of Salvation |publisher=Crossway Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-58134-812-5 |location=Wheaton, Illinois |page=56}}</ref> Although Arminius and Wesley both vehemently rejected this view, it has sometimes inaccurately been lumped together with theirs (particularly by Calvinists) because of other similarities between their respective systems such as [[conditional election]], [[unlimited atonement]], and prevenient grace. In particular, prevenient grace is viewed by some as giving humans back the freedom to follow God in one way or another.

== Theology ==
Reformed and Lutheran theologians have never considered humans to be absent of goodness or unable to do good outwardly as a result of the fall. People retain the ''imago Dei'', though it has been distorted.<ref name="Muller 2012"/>

Total depravity is the fallen state of human beings as a result of original sin. The doctrine of total depravity asserts that people are, as a result of the fall, not inclined or even able to love God wholly with heart, mind, and strength, but rather are inclined by nature to serve their own will and desires and reject his rule. Even religion and [[philanthropy]] are wicked to God because they originate from a selfish human desire and are not done to the glory of God. Therefore, in [[Reformed theology]], if God is to save anyone, he must [[Predestination (Calvinism)|predestine]], elect, regenerate and call individuals to salvation since fallen humanity does not want to, and is indeed incapable of, choosing him.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chapter IX |url=https://reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/ch_IX.html |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=reformed.org |at=9.3}}</ref> However, in Arminian theology [[prevenient grace]] (or "enabling grace") does reach through total depravity to enable people to respond to the salvation offered by God in Jesus Christ.

Total depravity does not mean that people have lost part of their humanity or are [[ontologically]] deteriorated. Just as Adam and Eve were created with the ability not to sin, people retain that essential ability either to sin or not to sin, even though some properties of their humanity are corrupted.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shuster |first=Marguerite |title=The Fall and Sin: What We Have Become as Sinners |publisher=[[Eerdmans]] |year=2004 |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |pages=159–160, 182 |author-link=Marguerite Shuster}}</ref> It also does not mean that people are as evil as possible. Rather, it means that even the good which a person may intend is faulty in its premise, false in its motive, and weak in its implementation; and there is no mere refinement of natural capacities that can correct this condition. Thus, even acts of generosity and altruism are in fact [[psychological egoism|egoist]] acts in disguise. All good, consequently, is derived from God alone, and in no way through humanity.<ref>{{cite journal| author=Ra McLaughlin |journal=Reformed Perspectives |title=Total Depravity, part 1 |url=http://thirdmill.org/newfiles/ra_mclaughlin/TH.McLaughlin.Total_Depravity.1.html|access-date=2008-07-14 |quote=[Any person] can do outwardly good works, but these works come from a heart that hates God, and therefore fail to meet His righteous standards.}}</ref>

==Roman Catholic and Orthodox perspectives==
The [[Roman Catholic Church]] maintains that a person cannot, "be justified before God by his own works,&nbsp;... without the grace of God through Jesus Christ",<ref>{{Cite web |title=CT06 – Council of Trent |url=https://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct06.html |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=history.hanover.edu |at=Session 6, canon 1}}</ref> thereby rejecting [[Pelagianism]] in accordance with the writings of Augustine and the [[Second Council of Orange]] (529).<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Canons of the Council of Orange |url=https://reformed.org/documents/canons_of_orange.html |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=reformed.org}}</ref> However, even strictly Augustinian Catholics disagree with the Protestant doctrine of total depravity.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1C.HTM |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=www.vatican.va |at=Item 407 in section 1.2.1.7.}}</ref> Referring to Scripture and the Church Fathers,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P5M.HTM |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=www.vatican.va |at=Item 1730}}</ref> Catholicism views human free will as deriving from God's image because humans are created in God's image.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P5G.HTM |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=www.vatican.va |at=Items 1701–1709}}</ref> Accordingly, the [[Council of Trent]], at its sixth session (January 1547), condemned as heresy any doctrine asserting "since Adam's sin, the free will of man is lost and extinguished".<ref>{{Cite web |title=CT06 – Council of Trent |url=https://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct06.html |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=history.hanover.edu |at=Session 6, canon 5}}</ref> Regardless, a concept of radical depravity is stressed in some Catholic theological currents like [[Jansenism]] and [[Molinism]].{{clarify|date=April 2025}}

The [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] embraces the "semi-Augustinian" position of [[John Cassian]] and also defends [[Augustine of Hippo]] relating to this doctrine. [[Seraphim Rose]], for example, contends that Augustine never denied the free will of every human,<ref>{{citation |title=The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church | first =Fr. Seraphim | last = Rose |publisher= St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood |year= 1982 |isbn=0-938635-12-3}}</ref> thus he never taught total depravity. [[Chrysostomos II of Cyprus]] has asserted that Augustine's teaching might have been used and distorted in [[Western Christianity]] to produce innovative theologizing, and that it is not Augustine's fault.<ref>{{citation |title=Blessed Augustine of Hippo: His Place in the Orthodox Church – A Corrective Compilation |url=http://orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/bless_aug.aspx |publisher=Orthodox Christian Information Center}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Reformed Christianity}}
* [[Christian views on the old covenant]]
* [[Free will in theology]]
* [[The Freedom of the Will|''On the Freedom of the Will'']], a book treating the extent of man's corruption by [[Jonathan Edwards (theologian)|Jonathan Edwards]]
* ''[[Incurvatus in se]]''
* [[On the Bondage of the Will]] by [[Martin Luther]]
* [[Peccatism]]
* [[Radical evil]]
* {{Ill| Theory of Evil Human Nature|simple}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource-multi|Original Sin|t1="Original Sin", a sermon by John Wesley|The Circumcision of the Heart|t2="The Circumcision of the Heart", a sermon by John Wesley}}
* [https://soteriology101.com/2017/09/02/did-the-early-christian-fathers-teach-calvinism/ Did the Early Church Fathers Teach Total Depravity]
* [https://davidfwatson.me/2019/02/18/did-john-wesley-affirm-total-depravity/ Did John Wesley Affirm Total Depravity?] by David F. Watson
* [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/hodge/theology2.iii.viii.xiii.html "Original Sin"], a section from [[Charles Hodge]]'s ''Systematic Theology'' (2.8.13) discussing the corrupting effects of the Fall
* [http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0182.htm "Human Inability"] by [[Charles Spurgeon]]
* [http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Depravity/depravity.htm ''The Total Depravity of Man''] by [[Arthur Pink]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050213075732/http://www.ccel.org/b/boettner/predest/10.htm "Total Inability"] from [[Loraine Boettner]]'s ''The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination''
* [http://monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/sproul/depravity.html "Human Depravity"] from [[R. C. Sproul]]'s ''Essential Truths of the Christian Faith''
* [http://monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/piper/depravity.html "Total Depravity"] by [[John Piper (theologian)|John Piper]]
* [http://www.heavensfamily.org/ss/calvinism/calvinism-total-depravity-and-irresistible-grace "Calvinism's Total Depravity"]—A refutation of John Piper's article "Total Depravity"
* [http://www.victorshepherd.on.ca/Course/STI/systematic_theology_i9.htm "What do the Protestant Reformers Mean by 'Total Depravity'?"] by [[Victor Shepherd]]
* [http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/Total-Depravity-of-Man/ Many articles] from a variety of authors supporting total depravity

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