From a previous post: The following scriptural proofs for the doctrine of total depravity are outlined under various headings…
6. By nature all people are slaves to sin and actually children of the Devil. Only by the regeneration (i.e. by a new beginning or a new birth) of the Holy Spirit does this nature change.
- Jn 8:34 “Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.”
- Jn. 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”
- Jn. 10:26 “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.”
- Rom. 6:20 “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.”
- Eph. 2:1, 2 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.”
- II Tim. 2:25, 26 “…in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”
- Titus 3:3 “For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.”
- I Jn. 3:10 “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”
- I Jn. 5:19 “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”
7. Because the reign of sin is over all men and throughout the whole nature of man, all are under its power and therefore none is righteous in himself.
- II Chron. 6:36a “When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin)….” (see also I Kings 8:46)
- Job 15:14-16 “What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous? If God puts no trust in His saints, and the heavens are not pure in His sight, how much less man, who is abominable and filthy, Who drinks iniquity like water!”
- Ps. 130:3 “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?”
- Prov. 20:9 “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?”
- Eccl. 7:20 “For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.”
- Is. 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
- Is. 64:6 “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
- Rom. 3:9-12, 23 “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
- James 3:2, 8 “For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”
- I Jn. 1:8, 10 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
Blog post content is taken from Rev. Paul Treick’s book, Faith of Our Fathers, Living Still: A Study of the Five Points of Calvinism, available for purchase. It is posted with the gracious permission of the author.
If you’d like to read the blog series from the beginning, start here.