Total depravity
Historic orthodoxy
Sin has affected every part of fallen human nature, so that no one can turn to God or please Him without His grace.
Also called: total inability, radical depravity
What it means
Total depravity does not mean that people are as bad as they could be, or that they cannot do things that are outwardly good. It means that sin has reached every part of us: mind, will, emotions, and body. Nothing in us escaped the fall untouched, and so nothing in us can be the starting point for turning back to God. Scripture describes the unbeliever as dead in sin, blind to the things of the Spirit, and hostile to God.
The historic confessions call this "total inability": fallen people have lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation. They are still responsible, because their inability is not a lack of faculties but an unwillingness rooted in a corrupt heart.
This doctrine is the first point of Calvinism, but it is not held only by Calvinists. Classical Arminians, following Arminius and Wesley, also affirm human inability, and teach that God's "prevenient grace" restores the ability to respond. The difference lies in how God overcomes it.
In Scripture
No one is righteous, no one understands, no one seeks God.
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
The fleshly mind is hostile to God and cannot please Him.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit and cannot understand them.
Every inclination of man's heart was only evil all the time.
We were dead in our trespasses and sins.
Where it comes up
Confessions: WCF 6.2; WCF 9.3; LBCF 1689 9.3; Canons of Dort 3/4.3; Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 8
Related terms
Original sinHistoric orthodoxy
Because of Adam's first sin, every person is born both guilty before God and corrupt in nature.
CalvinismA view held among orthodox Christians
The teaching that salvation is wholly God's work, from His choosing of sinners before creation to His keeping them to the end.
RegenerationHistoric orthodoxy
The work of the Holy Spirit by which a person dead in sin is made spiritually alive, given a new heart that turns to God in faith and repentance.
PelagianismOutside historic orthodoxy
The teaching that Adam's sin harmed only himself, and that people are born able to obey God and earn salvation without inward grace.
Semi-PelagianismSerious error
The teaching that sinners can take the first step toward God by their own power, after which God's grace helps them the rest of the way.