Human Depravity is a testing doctrine
It is, therefore, a testing
doctrine, especially of the preacher’s soundness in the
Faith. A man’s orthodoxy on this subject
determines his viewpoint of many other doctrines of great
importance. If his belief here be a Scriptural one, then
he will clearly perceive how impossible it is for men to improve
themselves-that Christ is their only hope. He will know that
unless the sinner be born again there can be no entrance for him
into the Kingdom of God. Nor will he entertain the idea of the
fallen creature’s free will unto good. He will be preserved from
many errors. “I never knew a person verge toward the Arminian,
the Arian, the Socinian, the Antinomian schemes, without first
entering diminutive notions of human depravity or
blameworthiness” (Andrew Fuller). Said the well-equipped
theological instructor, J. M. Stifler, “It cannot be said too
often that a false theology finds its source in inadequate views
of depravity.”
