That fallen humanity cannot turn to God
In Adam’s fall, the whole of human nature was corrupted — the mind darkened, the will bound, the affections bent away from God. Fallen humanity is not merely weakened but “dead in trespasses and sins”: incapable, apart from regenerating grace, of so much as turning toward its Maker. Not that every person is as wicked as they could possibly be — but that no faculty is left untouched by sin, and none can begin the journey home.
As confessed at the Synod of Dort · 1618–19
Are humans totally depraved?
Is total depravity true — is it what Scripture teaches?
The question opens into smaller ones, each raised by the text itself:
“Dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1) — does dead mean a corpse’s inability, or an estrangement that can still hear a summons?
“No one seeks God” (Romans 3:11) — yet “you will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). Which is the rule, and which the exception?
When God commands “choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19) and invites whoever desires to come (Revelation 22:17) — do the commands imply the ability to answer them?
Is the image of God in fallen humanity destroyed, or defaced and still bearing light (Genesis 9:6; John 1:9)?
Is depravity total in extent — every faculty touched — or total in effect, no response possible? And which of the two does Scripture actually describe?
The case for and the case against, from the early fathers through Dort to the moderns — with the voices of this desk’s own teachers heard alongside.
The texts weighed and an honest verdict — still to come.