Romans 5:12-14 "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned — (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
Ligonier Ministries has partnered with LifeWay Research to survey the beliefs of Americans on a number of theological and ethical issues. Like past surveys, the 2020 State of Theology survey reveals some encouraging results, but it also reveals confusion and a lack of theological knowledge among evangelicals.
It is said that everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature. The eleventh survey question inquires of people’s belief that nobody is perfect, but humans are basically good and almost everyone is going to heaven. The survey explains that the idea that people are basically good by nature echoes the ancient Pelagian heresy, which affirmed that Adam’s sin affected Adam alone, not the descendants thereafter. According to this view, human nature was not affected by Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden. Scripture teaches otherwise, asserting that Adam’s sin affected all his natural-born posterity.
Ephesians 2:1-3 tells us, “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, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” This is the theological point behind the phrase total depravity. This doctrine is found throughout both the Old and New Testaments (read Genesis 6:5; Psalms 14:1–3; 143:2; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Isaiah 64:6; Mark 7:18–23; Romans 1:21–32; 3:10–18, 23; 8:5–8; Galatians 4:3; Ephesians 2:1–3; 4:17–19; Titus 3:3).
Christians can become confused because Scripture teaches that human beings were created by God in His image (Genesis 1:26–27), and God calls all that He created good (verse 31). If everything that God created is good, and if God created human nature, then isn’t human nature necessarily good? Yes. As originally created, human nature was good. However, part of human nature is the human will. The first human beings (Adam and Eve) had the responsibility to align their created wills perfectly with God’s will—to obey Him. Instead, they disobeyed God. Like Satan, they turned their will, as it were, perpendicular to God’s will, introducing sin and misery into the world and into their own natures. In other words, they sinned. When they did this, human nature was distorted and corrupted. Like begets like, and all humans are now born with a corrupted and fallen human nature. Human beings are now born slaves to sin. In John 8:34, Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
Romans 3:21-23 “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed,
being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
He survey commentary explains that this is why the claim that “everyone sins a little” is also incorrect. We tend to measure ourselves against other human beings, and we like to pick the absolute worst specimens for comparison. We like to compare ourselves to people like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, or Mao Zedong. It’s easy to feel good about ourselves if the standard is refraining from killing millions of human beings. But this is not the standard by which the Word of God measures sin and Creator God is the final authority. The standard is God’s will, and the requirement is perfect obedience to that will. James 2:10 clarifies that “Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” (see Galatians 3:10). The question is not, Did you refrain from murdering millions today? The question is, Did you perfectly “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” today, and did you perfectly love “your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37–39)? How often did you fail to do this perfectly? Was it just “a little”? No. We fail to do this a lot, and that means we sin a lot.
Romans 6:21-23 “What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is why we need the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. He is the only One who has ever perfectly fulfilled the law. That is why John 3:36 states, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” The truth shall set you free!
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