Theological glossary · FaithLogic

Total depravity

The Reformed teaching that sin has corrupted every part of human nature — mind, will, affections — so that no one can turn to God unaided; not that people are as evil as possible.

'Total' here means extensive (every faculty), not intensive (maximal wickedness); the first of the 'five points' summarised by the acronym TULIP.

Genesis 6:5; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:10–18; 8:7–8; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Ephesians 2:1–3; John 6:44, 65.

Articulated by Augustine and Luther (The Bondage of the Will), systematised by Calvin and the Canons of Dort (Third/Fourth Heads) against the Arminian Remonstrants.

The unregenerate person still does much civic and relational good and still bears God's image; what is lost is the ability and desire to love and trust God savingly. Often paired with 'total inability' and effectual grace.

Catholic, Orthodox, and Arminian theology hold the will is wounded and weakened but, by prevenient grace, able to cooperate; they regard 'total inability' as going beyond the texts.

Open in the glossary for related terms and the doctrines this concept appears in.