Radical Corruption

Romans 8:8
"Those in the flesh cannot please God".

Ephesians 2:1-2
You were dead through your trespasses and sins in which you once walked".

So my last few post have revolved around sin. This series of post sprang out off the thought that becasue of God's grace, human beings are not as sinful as they could be. I then answered some questions on sin and God's forgiveness and, yesterday, I wrote about the fact we are born in sin and are born in a state of condemnation and a lack of ability to chose God. Today I want to think through the theological truth of total depravity or as I have come to understand it clearer, radical corruption.

The truth or thought behind the idea of radical corruption states, "since we are born condemned and in a state of sin, this sin has made the whole human fallen or all of the human corrupt in their entire being".  Simply put, this means that every single part of every single person has been impacted by sin and has made every single part of every single human fallen. That means our bodies have been impacted and have sin as part of them. This means our mind, our thinking, has sin impacting it. This also mean that our soul/spirit or the immaterial parts of our being have been totally impacted and effect by sin. Our desires, wants, affections, will, and core, have been corrupted by sin. Sin has reached our inner core and has encompassed all that we are. This is why Paul can say in Romans 3 (which I quoted yesterday), that no one can please God, no one seeks after God, and no one can do any good before God. Radical corruption teaches that the Bible is very clear in that sin and the death that sin has brought as totally encompassed the entire person and made every single part of them fallen.

But let me also be very clear here. This truth of radical corruption or total depravity, is not utter depravity. Utter depravity would mean that we are all as sinful as we possibly could be. We know by our own lives that this is not the case. No matter how much we have sinned, we all agree that we are able to think of worse sins that we could and can commit, but do not. Even some of the greatest sinners in the world could have been worse sinner, for example Hitler never murder his mother. So radical corruption then is not total or complete corruption in the sense that we could not be any worse.

And this truth, that we are not utter depravity is an example then of God's grace. We could be utter depraved. We could be completely corrupt. Each human being, and in fact every human being, could be as sinful as they possibly could be. But becasue of God's grace in the lives of all of those who do not seek Him, they are not as sinful as they could be. But the reality of the situation is, if God would remove that grace from their lives, they would be in more serious trouble than they already are. For example, think of Pharaoh from Exodus. As the story unfolds, Pharaoh's hard is hardened and it in the end leads to bad choices and loss and physical death. The story said the God hardened Pharaoh's heart. This is an example of God removing His grace from the life of Pharaoh, and all of a sudden, he becomes a lot more sinful and corrupt than he was before. This is a very clear example of the grace of God, even in the lives of those who reject and do not seek Him. And this truth should lead us to be more grateful for God's grace in the world, even His grace outside of salvation.

So why is the doctrine of radical corruption important for us to know, study, and think about? This doctrine first should produce gratitude in our lives as we, His children, come to realize that God made a way through this radical corruption and placed in us that desire for Him and the ability that follows, to want and have Him as our Lord and Savior. This doctrine should also produce hope in us. We should have hope becasue if God can make a way through our radical corruption, then there is nothing that can stand in His way. Hope in God means that God is sitting on the throne of our life.
And finally this doctrine should produce contagious joy in our lives. We should have joy that despite all we are, as corrupt beings in our self-seeking, God still desires a relationships with us and makes a way to have that relationship with us, where we can once more glorify Him.