Human Depravity is a humbling doctrine
The doctrine of total depravity
is a very humbling one. It is not that man
leans to one side and needs propping up, nor that he is merely
ignorant and requires instructing, nor that he is run down and
calls for a tonic: but rather that he is
undone, lost, spiritually dead. Consequently,
he is “without strength,” thoroughly
incapable of bettering himself; exposed to the wrath of God, and
unable to perform a single work which can find acceptance with
Him. Almost every page of the Bible bears witness to this
truth. The whole scheme of redemption takes it for granted. The
plan of salvation taught in the Scriptures could have no place
on any other supposition. The impossibility of any man’s gaining
the approbation of God by works of his own appears plainly in
the case of the rich young ruler who came to Christ. Judged by
human standards, he was a model of virtue and religious
attainments, yet, like all others who trust in self-efforts, he
was ignorant of the spirituality and strictness of God’s Law,
and when Christ put him to the test his fair expectations were
blown to the winds, and “he went away sorrowful” (Matt. 19:22).
- A. W. Pink, The
Doctrine of Human Depravity
