BIBLE STUDY MANUALS: TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MAN

DOCTRINE OF THE TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MAN

PG1: SHORT VERSION - DEPRAVITY

[Gen 8:21b]:

"The intent of man's heart is evil from his youth."

[Lk 18:19]:

" 'Why do you call Me good? Jesus answered. 'No one is good - except God alone. ' "

[Only God is good - man is totally depraved]

[Job 14:1-4]:

(v. 1) "Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.

[This speaks of ALL men, not just some]

(v. 2) He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

(v. 3) Do You [God, (cp. v. 5)] fix Your eye on such a one? Will You bring him before You for judgment?

(v. 4) Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!

[Eccl. 7:20]:

"There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins."

[Jer 17:9]:

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.

Who can understand it?"

[Ps 51:5]:

"Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me."

[King David of Israel and by application all mankind]

[Ro 5:12]:

INHERANT OR IMPUTED SIN:

"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, AND IN THIS WAY DEATH CAME TO ALL MEN, BECAUSE ALL SINNED."

[Compare Ro 6:20]:

"For when you were slaves of sin [before you were saved, (Ro 6:6] your were free in regard to righteousness. [i.e., not able to do anything righteous] "

[Ro 3:19, 23]:

(v. 19) "Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God; (v. 23) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"

[Ro 3:23]:

IMPARTED SIN - SIN NATURE:

"for all [men] have sinned and ("usterountai") are constantly falling short of the glory of God,

["usterountai" = are constantly falling short of = present tense which signifies that not only have all men sinned in the past through Adam, (Ro 5:12), - who represented all men as the federal head of the human race, (this is called inherant or imputed sin); but all men are constantly falling short of the glory of God because all men are born, as a result of Adam's original sin, with a sin nature, (this is called imparted sin). All men are constantly sinning - constantly falling short of the glory of God = all men are constantly committing sins, (these are called personal sins), as a result of our imparted sin nature. So man is obviously totally depraved and incapable of lifting one finger to save himself or even contribute to his salvation at all. Man has the inherant sin of Adam, he has an imparted sin nature and he has his own personal sins which create an impenetrable wall between himself and a holy God - man is totally lost. He needs a Savior.

Since there is no distinction in Scripture between elect and non-elect sinners in their unregenerate state - all men are totally depraved and incapable of providing anything toward their own salvation:

[Ro 3:19, 23 cont.]:

(v. 19) "Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God;

(v. 23) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"

Kenneth S. Wuest states, (Wuest's Word Studies From the Greek New Testament, Vol 1, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids, Mi, 1992, p.59:

" 'have sinned' is constative aorist, presenting a panoramic view of the human race as doing nothing except committing sin...

[Even the good that all men do is contaminated with whatever motivations come out of every man's sin nature, and is therefore unacceptable to God, (cp Isa 64:6)]

...The [root] word [which is translated as 'sinned'] is "hamartano", 'to miss the mark,' thus, 'to fail in obeying the law.' 'Come short' is present tense, [indicating a constant condition in the present of sinful behavior]: 'right now come short.' The verb is 'hustereo' 'to be left behind in the race and so fail to reach the goal, to fall short of the end, to lack.'...

[Isa 64:6]:

"For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment, and all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away."(Cp Isa 53:6)

Even faithful believers cannot claim purity:

[Ro 7:23]:

"But I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members."

So even the Apostle Paul from the time he became a believer still possessed a most difficult sin nature. As all we believers do.

[1 Jn 1:8]:

"If we [believers] claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."

This verse can be a startling one: if for even one fleeting moment one claims to be without sin - if one has ever even thought to himself, 'Well, I've gone for at least one second without committing a sin.' Then, think again! 1 John 1:8 refutes that. God says, through the words of the Apostle John, that believers who claim to be even for a moment without sin are NOT telling the truth.

The following section still needs to be edited.

THIS SECTION: COMPLETE NOTES

PASSAGES ON THE TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MAN:

Ps 14:1-3; 51:5, 58:3; Jer 17:9; Job 14:1-4; I Ki 8:46; Isa 55:8; Jn 3:5-6; Rom 1:21; 2:1-29; 3:9-19; 5:12; 7:18, 24; 8:7; Eph 2:1-3, 11-12; 4:18-22; Col 1:21; Jas 4:4.

[Ps 51:5]:

"Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me."

[King David of Israel and by application all mankind]

[Ps 58:3]:

"Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies."

If the wicked are evil from the time that they are in the womb, could not also those who are not so wicked - who are not without sin, which is all of mankind - be that way from the womb also?

The Bible says yes.

Job seemed to think so:

[Job 14:1-4]:

(v. 1) "Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.

[This speaks of ALL men, not just some]

(v. 2) He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

(v. 3) Do You [God, (cp. v. 5)] fix Your eye on such a one? Will You bring him before You for judgment?

(v. 4) Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!

[That is to say: there is nothing pure in mankind - in any man - from conception].

And children are inherently foolish, i.e., sinful. A verse in Proverbs indicates that discipline is required to control the child's foolish behavior.

[Pr 22:15]:

"Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child;

The rod of discipline will remove it far from him."

TWOT vol 2, p.20 states:

"'iwwelet. Folly, foolishness...

Discipline is important to children because foolishness is part of a child's nature. [Emphasis mine] A remedy for correction is the rod of discipline in order to drive the foolishness from him (Prov 22:15). One must keep in mind that this discipline is important to curb moral insolence that might lead in turn to rebellion against God. Proverb emphasizes the necessity for discipline...

[Eccl. 7:20]:

"There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins."

[Jer 17:9]:

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.

Who can understand it?"

[Ro 5:12]:

"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, AND IN THIS WAY DEATH CAME TO ALL MEN, BECAUSE ALL SINNED."

["because all sinned" = notice that it says that ALL men SINNED - past tense - even before they were born this passage states that all men have already sinned. This is so, as Scripture explains, because of what Adam did in the Garden of Eden, to repeat what the above verse is saying in part:

"just as sin entered the world through one man [Adam]...and in this way ... all sinned."

[Just as the President of the United States represents each American when he acts under the auspices of the office we elected him to, (whether we like what he does or not), so Adam represented each man, woman and child when he sinned in the Garden of Eden

- for which all men, women, children, babies and unborn babies are responsible! All of the above is in accordance with what God's Word inerrantly teaches throughout all 66 books of the Bible.

Now that is the bad news. The good news is so much the better:

[Ro 5:18]:

"Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men."

[So even though one is conceived in sin and destined to Hell, all it takes to reverse that destiny is to trust in Christ as Savior because He Himself paid the penalty for all of the sin of mankind and offers a perfect righteousness to each who accepts it unconditionally in order to go to heaven - to any one who will accept it as a gift - by faith alone]:

[Eph 2:8-9]:

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this [salvation is] not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."

Incidentally, until a child is of the age of accountability and can then decide for himself/herself whether or not to accept the free gift of salvation, that child is destined to heaven from the moment of conception. It is only after the point in a person's life that they are able to decide for themselves that God holds them accountable for where they placed their faith.

Note other passages:

Ro 6:17; Jer 17:1; Ro 3:9-19; Ro 3:23; Mt 19:17; I Kgs 8:46; Ro chapters 1-3; Ps 51:3; I Jn 1:8; Ro 7:18-25

REBUTTAL

The statement was made that anyone can make the Bible say anything and that there are other passages in the Bible that say just the opposite to what is said on the previous pages.

Therefore what was stated on the previous pages does not prove that all babies are born in sin.

Therefore the Bible is not a reliable source of information if one can truly prove anything one wants to by the Bible.

ANSWER

If it is maintained that the God creates babies - that He is our Creator. Then where did this information that God is our Creator come from - that God is responsible for the 'miracle' of babies. The answer is the Bible itself. Recall that most of the world today and throughout the ages does not believe in the Creator God as described in the Bible. So it is evident that this part of the Bible about God being our Creator is accepted as true by the party that has criticized the statement on the previous pages.

However, if one does not believe that the passages that are quoted on the previous pages are true, then how does one conclude that the passages in the Bible that say that God is our Creator are true? Perhaps the Bible is not true at all and there just is no God. After all, if one can just pick and choose which passages he or she wants to believe, then why believe any of it; especially the passages that say things one does not want to hear? What right does one invoke to arbitrarily pick and choose what is true and what is not in Scripture? Can anyone claim to be so infallible as to have confidence that he or she can know what is true and what is not? On what does such a person base their claim to infallibility. I base my claim that what I have stated on the previous pages solely on the Bible and what it says itself. If the words say differently than what has been presented, then where is my error?

Secondly, if it is maintained that there are other passages which say just the opposite of what was quoted on the previous pages - then what are those passages? Constructive and loving criticism provides constructive correction. One should not just say you are wrong but provide some loving criticism or just be silent. Incidentally, if there are passages in the Bible which contradict one another then the Bible is worthless because one would not be sure which passages really tell the truth and which do not. I challenge anyone to prove to me that the Bible has even one error or contradiction in it.

The Bible says:

[Ps 51:5]:

"Surely I [David, i.e., all men] was sinful at birth,

sinful from the time my mother conceived me."

[Job 14:1-4]:

(v.1) "Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.

(v.2) He springs up like a flower and withers away;

like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

(v.3) Do You [God] fix your eye on such a one?

Will You bring him before You for judgment?

[Job says, 'God will surely bring such a one as man before Him and judge him as impure]:

(v.4) Who can bring what is pure from the impure?

No one!

[Job says, "Man, 'born of woman', from birth - by nature - is impure"]

[Jn 3:5-6]:

(v. 5) "Jesus answered, 'I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water that is to say the Spirit"

(v. 6) Flesh gives birth to flesh,...............

[physical birth only gives birth to flesh - to another person with a dead spirit - resulting in a person who is born in sin, (Ro 5:12) and not righteous enough to go to heaven]

(v. 6 cont.) Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit ' ."

[Jesus says, 'It takes a spiritual birth to be qualified to enter the kingdom of God.' God the Holy Spirit overrides the condition of being born in sin and births your dead spirit into life - eternal life]

[Isa 55:8]:

" 'For My [God's] thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, ' declares the Lord."

[Man's thoughts and ways are impure - inherently evil - and are not the pure and righteous thoughts and ways of God. Cp Psa 14:1-3; I Ki 8:46]

[Jer 17:9]:

"The heart [of man] is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.

Who can understand it?"

[Lk 18:19]:

" 'Why do you call Me good? Jesus answered. 'No one is good - except God alone. ' "

[Only God is good - man is totally depraved]

[Ro 7:18a]:

"I [Paul, i.e., all men] know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.."

[man is hopelessly contaminated with sin]

[1 Jn 1:5 cont.]:

"And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

"God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all"

Dr McGee goes on to say, (Op. Cit., p.760):

"Modern science, I am told, is not quite sure what light is. Is it energy or is it matter? What is light? Oh, the source of light is one thing, but when you turn on the light in your room, the darkness lurking in the corner becomes light. What has happened? What was it that went over there in the corner and drove out the darkness? Or did it drive out the darkness? Because when the source of light up in the ceiling goes off, darkness returns to the corner. What is light?

Well, when John says that God is light, he is revealing many facets about the person of God..................................................

First of all, light speaks of the glory, the radiance, the beauty, and the wonders of God. Have you seen the eastern sky when the sun comes up like a blaze of glory?.....

Another characteristic of light is that it is self-revealing. Light can be seen, but it diffuses itself. It illuminates the darkness. It is revealing. It lets me see my hands - I've been handling books, and I see that one of my hands has dirt on it, and I'm going to have to take it out and wash it. If it hadn't been for the light, I would not have seen the soil. Light reveals flaws and impurity. Whittier put it like this:

'Our Thoughts lie open to Thy sight;

And naked to Thy glance;

Our secret sins are in the light

Of Thy pure countenance.'

And Dr. Chafer [founder of Dallas Theological Seminary] used to say it this way: 'Secret sin down here is open scandal in heaven.'

Our sins are right there before Him, because God is light.

Also light speaks of the white purity of God and the stainless holiness of God. God moves without making a shadow because He is light. He is pure. The light of the sun is actually the catharsis of the earth. It not only gives light, it is also a great cleanser. Many of you ladies put a garment out in the sun to clean it or to get an odor out of it. The sun is a great cleansing agent. Light speaks of the purity of God.

Light also guides men. It points out the path. Light on the horizon leads men on to take courage. It gives them courage to keep moving on. God is light. Let me go to the other extreme. Darkness is actually more than a negation of light. It is not just the opposite of light. It is actually hostile to light. The light and holiness of God are in direct conflict with the evil darkness and chaos of the world.

Now we are presented with this dilemma. I am a little creature down here on earth, filled with sin. If you want to know the truth, I am totally depraved. Without the grace of God for salvation, I would be nothing in the world but a creature in rebellion against God, with no good within me at all. God has made it very clear that He finds no good within man. Paul says,

[even after he has become a born again believer - indwelt by God the Holy Spirit],

'For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing...' (Rom. 7:18). Paul also says, '...There is none righteous, no, not one' (Rom. 3:10). Not only have they no innate goodness, but they are in rebellion against God.

Paul goes on to tell us about the rebellion that is in the human heart. He says, '...the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be' (Rom. 8:7). We are living in a world today that is in rebellion against almighty God. God is holy. I am a sinner. I am saved by grace, yes, but how am I going to have fellowship with Him? How am I going to walk with Him? Men have attempted to do this in three different ways which are presented here, and two of those ways are wrong...................................

The first method is to bring God down to the level of man................................."

[and John has something pretty direct to say about that]:

[1 Jn 1:6]:

"If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."

There are many who say that they no longer sin - or sin so rarely that it almost does not count. So they say that they are constantly in fellowship with God, meeting His approval with their behavior and wonderful good works. This verse quoted above in I John is especially directed to them. Consider also what the Apostle Paul, one of the greatest of spiritual men who ever lived, wrote about himself as a born again believer in Romans chapter 7:

[Ro 7:14- NAS]:

(v. 14) "For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.

(v. 15) For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing.............

[notice: present tense - 'for at the present time even as a believer I am doing]

...........for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

(v. 16) But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good.

(v. 17) So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me.

(v. 18) for I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh."

[Paul indicates here that his spirit is a different matter, i.e., that his spirit is indwelt with good as opposed to his flesh - his body and soul - which is inherently contaminated with sin. By "good" in this verse is meant the perfect standard of good which is of God. Recall that Jesus stated that "no one is good - except God alone." (Lk 18:19b).

(v. 18 cont) for know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh [inspite of the fact that Paul was a born again believer] or the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.

(v. 19) For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish.

(v. 20) But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

(v. 21) I fine then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good.

(v. 22) For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, [the born alive spirit of a believer],

(v. 23 cont) but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.

"body" = Paul is referring here to the sin nature - the flesh. Although the body, in and of itself is not sinful, yet it is used to sin with by the sin nature which is within man. That is the "different law" to which Paul is referring.

"the law of my mind" = Paul is here referring to the source of the sin nature which is in the mind of man.

So even the Apostle Paul from the time he became a believer still possessed a most difficult sin nature. As all we believers do.

So what can man do in order to have fellowship with God? The question remains unanswered - for so far this is impossible with man, he is so contaminated with sin.

Dr McGee states the following relative to verse 6 of I John, (Op Cit, p. 761):

" 'If we say that we have fellowship with Him' - there are a lot of folk claiming to have fellowship with Him when they do not in reality at all.

"We lie, and do not the truth.' Do you understand what John says in this verse? .......................................................He says that if you say that you have fellowship with God and you walk in darkness - that is, in sin - you are lying...

if you are going to walk with God, you are going to walk in light. And if there is sin in your life, you are not walking with Him. You cannot bring Him down to your level."

[1 Jn 1:7]:

"but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another."

["we" = God and the believers have fellowship, God with the believers]

...........but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another,

["we have fellowship with one another," = we believers and God have fellowship One with another. The previous verse 6 says, "If we [believers] claim to have fellowship with Him [God] yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.". The subject in verse 6 therefore is believers having fellowship with God as it is in this entire passage in I John. Verse 7 therefore continues with the subject of how the believers and God can "have fellowship with One another.."

"with one another" = "allelon" = the Greek pronoun = "allelon" = is a reciprocal pronoun meaning 'One with another', each other. It refers back to the two subjects in verse 6 that begins the 'if-then-but-if-then' statement; and those two subjects are "we" believers and God, ("Him").

[1 Jn 1:7 cont.]:

"but if we [believers] walk in the light as He [God] Himself is in the light, we [God & we believers] have fellowship with one another [believers with God], and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."

"but if we [believers] walk in the light as He [God] Himself is in the light,...." = but if we believers walk in, (not according to), the light. It has already been determined in this study that even a faithful believer cannot walk acccording to the light because he still possesses a sin nature that is active and alive. To walk according to the light, which this verse does not say, would be to walk in sinless perfection. This would be impossible for the believer to do considering his inherent sin nature; so the subject of the book of I John would be an academic and futile one.

[What this verse is saying is very well put by Zane Hodges in his commentary on 1 John in the Bible Knowledge Commentary, op. cit., p. 885]:

"It is significant that John talked of walking "in" the light, rather than according to the light. To walk according to the light would require sinless perfection and would make fellowship with God impossible for sinful humans. To walk in it, however, suggests instead openness and responsiveness to the light. John did not think of Christians as sinless, even though they are walking in the light, as is made clear in the last part of this verse. For John added that "the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from every sin." This statement is grammatically coordinate with the preceding one, "We have fellowship with one another." The statement of verse 7, in its entirety, affirms that two things are true of believers who who walk in the light: (a) they are in fellowship with God and (b) they are being cleansed from every sin."

Dr McGee states, Op. Cit., p. 761:

The important thing is where we [believers] walk, not how we walk. Have we come into the presence of God and allowed the Word of God to shine upon our sinful hearts?

Now, suppose you are a child of God, and you are living in sin - but you see it now in the light of the Word of God. Have you lost your salvation?....John says, 'And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.' That word "cleanseth is in the present tense - Christ's blood just keeps on cleansing us from all sin. You haven't lost your salvation, but you have lost your fellowship, and you cannot regain your fellowship with God until you are cleansed.

So what does it really mean in a practical sense to a believer when God says through the Apostle John:

"But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light,"? A believer cannot truly walk in sinless perfection, i.e., according to the light. What John is saying in verse 7 is that "God is light; in Him there is no darkness [sin] at all."(v.6); and so the believer is to focuse his mentality on the absolute perfection of God, especially as it is detailed and explained in His Word. This requires an earnest study of the Bible. Compare what Eph 5:25-27 says about how God the Holy Spirit - the "water" - washes the believer "through the word.". So if the believer focuses his mind on the absolute holiness of God with the perspective that, he, the believer truly recognizes before God that he, the believer himself has a depraved nature.................. ....................................in other words,

if that believer acknowledges his sinful condition to God on a moment to moment basis....................

then that believer is walking in the light. He is allowing the light which is the absolutely perfect righteousness of God to illuminate, his, the believer's sinful nature - his sins - his darkness, whatever that may be on a moment to moment basis.............. ....................and then that believer is truly walking in the light, his true nature being freely exposed to God for God's gracious working of cleansing and God's establishment of fellowship with the believer and Himself inspite of the sinful acts of the believer. Have you ever heard someone say to you, 'Keep your eyes on Jesus.'? This expression should have great significance when viewed in the light of the book of I John. Verse 9 of I John chapter one, which we will examine soon, tells what the believer must do in order for the believer to be placed by God in a position of fellowship with God Himself - in order for that believer to walk in the light, to have his sins cleansed. This command in verse 9 places that believer in the position of walking "in the light." The reason why God can do this - place a believer in fellowship with Himself - thus cleansing that believer of sin................. ...........the reason why God is justified in doing this - the reason why God does not violate His own holiness and absolute justice when he places a sinful believer in fellowship with Himself, is explained in the second half of verse 7:

[1 Jn 1:7 first half]:

"but if we [believers] walk in the light as He [God] Himself is in the light, we [God & we believers] have fellowship with one another [believers with God],

And here is the justification - the reason why God can provide cleansing and fellowship for His child, the believer:

[1 Jn 1:7 second half]:

and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."

and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us [believers] from all sin." = Because the believer has appropriated what our Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross through his, the believer's, once for all time act of faith in Christ as Savior, then that believer has available to him a cleansing - a payment of the penalty - for his sins relative to eternal life and relative to temporal life. (Temporal sins = the day to day sins of the believer which take him out of fellowship of God but not out of eternal life). A

believer can have fellowship with God because of what God the Son did on the cross. God does not cleanse a believer from his temporal sins without a penalty having already been made and thereby satisifying God's Holiness and Justice. God cannot just forgive and cleanse a man of his sin without exacting a payment for those transgressions. That would be letting the man get away with doing evil. So it is the literal blood of Jesus Christ which was shed for the believer which provides the means by which God can continually cleanse the repentant/confessing believer from his sin and continually bring that believer back into fellowship with Himself. Just as salvation is not accomplished by anything a person thinks, says or does; so fellowship is not accomplished by anything a person does either. It is all by the grace of God - all to His credit - to His exclusive glory.

[1 John 1:8]:

"If we [believers] claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."

of sin in one's life does not indicate that there is a sinless condition. One who considers himself as not having sinned for a time is deceiving oneself and has eyes which are not on God's Word. One is then not walking in the light of God's holiness one is then not keeping one's gaze upon the Lord Jesus Christ - one has then fallen from the grace of God's fellowship. Compare Gal 5:4 which indicates how a believer can fall from the grace of God's fellowship. The believer falls from God's grace because he is trying to keep a set of rules like the Law in order to maintain his salvation or his fellowship with God rather than to walk in the light of God's perfect holiness and then admit to his own shortcomings by confession. Salvation and fellowship with God cannot be accomplished by human effort - it is all by the exclusive grace of God. One does not achieve salvation or fellowship with God by trying to live by a set of rules in order to gain merit from God. The believer who attempts to do this is under God's discipline until he acknowledges to God his depravity and the impossibility of doing anything to gain or keep his salvation or his fellowship with God.

Zane Hodges, (Op. Cit., p.885), states: 'If Christians understand the truth that God's Word teaches about the depravity of the human heart, [cp Romans chapter 7] they know that just because they are not conscious of failure goes not mean that they are free from it. If the truth is 'in' them as a controlling, motivating influence, this kind of self-deception will not take place. Whether someone claims to be 'without sin' for a brief period of time or claims it as a permanent attainment, the claim is false."

As a matter of fact, verse 10, which follows, confirms that a believer cannot claim to not sin even for a brief period of time at the risk of calling God a liar because of what God has said in His Word:

[1 Jn 1:10]:

"If we..............................................

["if we" believers - recall that this part of John's epistle was written exclusively to believers, cp verse 2:1-2 "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody [any believer] does sin, we have One who speaks to the Father in our defense - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."]

[1 Jn 1:10 cont.]:

"If we [believers] claim we have not sinned, we make Him [God] out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives."

Notice that when we believers are out of fellowship with God - in this case by claiming not to have sinned - that God says that "His Word has no place in our lives. So how do we believers maintain fellowship with God? By living according to His Word. How appropriate are the words in the Old Testament to this effect:

[Psalm 119:9-11]:

"How can a young man keep his way pure?

By living according to your word.

I seek you with all my heart;

do not let me stray from Your commands.

I have hidden your word in my heart

that I might not sin against You."

[Ro 3:23]:

"for all [men] have sinned and ( ??? o ?? = ) are constantly falling short of the glory of God,

[There is no difference among men with respect to how men attain the perfect righteousness of God because all men, whether Jew or Gentile, outward sinner or moral individual, religious person or athiest, (Romans chapters 1 & 2), all men have sinned, (in Adam, see Ro 5:12, 18, 19 below), and will continue to sin and are constantly falling short of the glory of God by continually committing personal sins]

For the moment, let's consider a parallel passage in Romans chapter 5 which supports the doctrine that all men are sinners because of what Adam did:

[Ro 5:12]:

"Therefore..........................................

[therefore continues (from 3:19-23) the discussion of the universality of sin which was interrupted by verses 3:24-5:11 which discussed justification and its results].

[Ro 5:12-14]:

( Ro 5:12) "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, [Adam, (v. 14)] and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, BECAUSE ALL SINNED ............

["BECAUSE ALL SINNED" = Due to the past tense of the verb "sinned" this is saying and can only say, 'BECAUSE WHEN ADAM SINNED ALL SINNED IN ADAM'. Verses 13-14 of Romans chapter 5 which follow further explain that all men are held accountable by God for what Adam did in the garden:

(Ro 5:13) for before the [Mosaic] Law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.

[Verse 13 establishes that because there was no law - no Mosaic Law or any law of human conduct which defined what was right and what was wrong and the penalties for doing wrong - because of this, sin was not taken into account. People were actually NOT held accountable for their individual personal sins before God instituted the Mosaic Law. That's what this verse saying, (Compare Gen 4:2-16: God indicates that Cain's murder would not be held against Cain.)]

(Ro 5:14) Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, EVEN OVER THOSE WHO DID NOT SIN BY BREAKING A COMMAND.................

[Inspite of the fact that people were not held accountable for their sin, nevertheless, people still physically died, (which is not natural, for God created man to live forever). Even those who did not break a command from God before the Mosaic Law was given - they still died physically due to the mortal genetic structure they inherited from Adam which was altered due to Adam's disobedience in the garden. So every human being is born with the moral guilt of Adam imputed to his account. Consequently we all have a nature which is sinful - a sin nature. This sin nature is actually part of the human body. It is generated through procreation and is genetically in every cell in your body. The imputed guilt for Adam's sin has resulted in every human individual being so completely contaminated that nobody can do one single thing in the way of divine good, i.e., that which God esteems relative to our eternal destiny - relative to our salvation. We are so contaminated throughout by the sin nature that we can do no divine good. The only kind of good we can produce is human good which God completely rejects because it comes out of our contaminated sin nature. Human good is a product of our human capacities - a product of the expression of that sin nature. So it is impossible for a person to do anything to merit salvation. Each person is totally evil and totally incapable of approaching God in any way whatsoever. So it is impossible to do anything to earn salvation - to deserve it. Salvation, therefore, can only be secured as a gift from God.

(Ro 5:14 cont.) Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, EVEN OVER THOSE WHO DID NOT SIN BY BREAKING A COMMAND.................

"COMMAND" = Before God instituted the Mosaic Law system He issued innumerable commands - for example the command to Cain and Able to offer a bloody-type sacrifice at certain times. Able obeyed, Cain disobeyed by providing a bloodless crop offering. Cain sinned but God did not hold him accountable to the sin, He only brought the sin to Cain's attention. God also indicated that Cain's murder of Abel would not be held against Cain, Gen 4:2-16].

(Ro 5:14 cont.) Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, EVEN OVER THOSE WHO DID NOT SIN BY BREAKING A COMMAND, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the One [Jesus Christ] to come."

(Ro 5:18) Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.

(Ro 5:19) For just as through the disobedience of the one man [Adam] the many were made sinners........................

[This verse is saying, 'For through what Adam did - and not through anything that one does as a result of what Adam did - but only through what Adam did - all men, women and children - even in the womb - are automatically sinners and will die in condemnation just because they exist - even before they commit one single sin - even if they commit no sin at all']:

[Ps 51:5]:

"Surely I was sinful at birth,

sinful from the time my mother conceived me."

(Ro 5:19 cont.) For just as through the disobedience of the one man [Adam] the many were made sinners

C. I. Scoffield comments on this verse as follows, (Oxford NIV Study Bible, Oxford University Press, 1984, pp. 1181-1182):

"The first sin wrought the moral ruin of the race. The demonstration is simple. (1) Death is universal (vv. 12,14); all die - little children, moral people, and religious people equally with the depraved. For a universal effect there must be a universal cause; that cause is a state of universal sin (v. 12). (2) But this universal state must have had a cause. It did. The consequence of Adam's sin was that the 'many were made sinners' (v. 19): 'the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men' (v.18). (3) Personal sins are not meant here. From Adam to Moses death reigned (v. 14) [WITHOUT THE LAW BEING IN EFFECT]

although, there being no law, personal guilt was not imputed (v.13). Accordingly from Gen. 4:7 to Ex. 29:14 the sin offering is not once mentioned. Then, since physical death from Adam to Moses was not due to the sinful acts of those who die (v. 13), it follows that it was due to a universal sinful state, or nature, and that state is declared to be our inheritance from Adam. And (4) the moral state of fallen man is described in Scripture (Gen. 6:5; I Ki. 8:46; Ps. 14:1-3; 95:5; Jer 17:9; Mt. 18:11; Mk. 7:20-23; Jn 3:6; Rom 1:21; 2:1-29; 3:9-19; 7:24; 8:7; I Cor 2:14; 2 Cor. 3:14; 4:4; Gal 5:19-21: Eph 2:1-3, 11-12; 4:18-22; Col 1:21; Heb 3:13; Jas 4:4).

J. Dwight Pentecost comments on the doctrine of imputation as taught in Romans chapter 5, ("Things Which Become SOUND DOCTRINE", Revell, Westwood, N.J., 1965), p.41-42:

"When God views us in our position in Adam, God sees us as spiritually dead. We were born spiritually dead because the parents who begat us physically were themselves spiritually dead and could pass to us only that which they had. The Apostle Paul emphasizes, then, that death entered the world because sin had entered the world, and that men die because Adam's sin is set down to each man's account on the debit side of the ledger.

In order to make this very clear, the Apostle shows us that men do not die because they are sinners, but, rather, they sin because they are sinners. He shows us in verse 13, 'for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.

[v. 14] Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the One to come. [Christ]' Then, in the following verses, the Apostle shows that it was not the law that made men sinners; it was not breaking a law that made men sinners, because men were sinners, and men died before the law was ever given. Both physical death and personal sins had their root and origin in the sin of Adam. Because we were in Adam when Adam sinned.******* Adam's sin was set down to our account and we stand as guilty before God as though it had been our hand instead of Adam's that reached out to pluck the forbidden fruit from the forbidden tree in response to the enticements of Satan. We stand, therefore, before God, charged with Adam's sin. This is the act of imputation in which God sets down on the debit side of the ledger our indebtedness.

*******Just as Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek through Abraham generations BEFORE Levi was even born so all of humanity is responsible for the transgression of Adam before birth. For just as Levi was in the body of his ancestor Abraham before Levi was born, so humanity was in the body of Adam before the birth of one single baby:

[Heb 7:9-10 AMPLIFIED]:

(v. 9) "A person might even say that through Abraham, Levi himself, who received tithes, [who was not even born yet] paid tithes through Abraham.

(v. 10) For he was still in the loins of his forefather [Abraham] when Melchizedek met him [Abraham]."

So as Levi was in the loins of Abraham when Abraham met the High Priest Melchizedek and paid tithes to Him, so all of humanity was in the loins of Adam when he walked in the garden and when he ate of the forbidden fruit and thereby Adam and all of humanity received the altered and horrible condition of a sin nature and death and condemnation from God. The genetic structure of humanity which was contained in the loins of Adam was horribly altered at the moment that Adam sinned so that all of humanity that is born of a human father receives a sin nature and is born spiritually dead - completely separated from God. All of humanity is also hopelessly lost and under the insurmountable guilt of what it did in the garden while in the loins of Adam.

Surely each of us born into the human race needs a Savior.

Dr John Danish states in ONE OF HIS RO 6:3-4 TAPES RELATIVE TO ADAM'S NATURE IN EVERYONE OF OUR GENES:

[Ro 3:23 cont]:

"for all [men] have sinned and ( ??? o ?? = ) are constantly falling short of the glory of God,

["have sinned" = " ?? ?o " = aorist tense which signifies that all have sinned one time for all time in the past together - IN ADAM, cp Ro 5:12, same word, same tense., same point: all men are attributed with sin through Adam's sin in the garden. Adam,

( & Eve), became a sinner by sinning, the rest of humanity became sinners by being born into the human race - of human fathers, who descended from Adam. That is except the Lord Jesus Christ Who was not born of a human father but of the Spirit of God and

therefore He was not born with a sin nature or with the imputed guilt of Adam. Thus our Lord was born with the capacity to live a perfectly righteous life and take upon Himself the guilt of all men as a representative Man without fault and without the imputed guilt of Adam. One might say that it is not fair that one is attributed blame for something Adam did before one was even born. One would then be asked by God if one would not also have fallen were he Adam himself. An honest answer by every man except our Lord: Yes.]

[Ro 3:23 cont]:

"for all [men] have sinned and ( ??? o ?? = ) are constantly falling short of the glory of God, [ ??? o ?? = usterountai = are constantly falling short of = present tense which signifies that not only have all men sinned in the past through Adam - who

represented all men as the federal head of the human race, (this is called inherant or imputed sin); but all men are constantly falling short of the glory of God because all men are born, as a result of Adam's original sin, with a sin nature, (this is called imparted sin). All men are constantly sinning - constantly falling short of the glory of God = all men are constantly committing sins, (these are called personal sins), as a result of our imparted sin nature. So man is obviously totally depraved and incapable of lifting one finger to save himself or even contribute to his salvation at all. Man has the inherant sin of Adam, he has an imparted sin nature and he has his own personal sins which create an impenetrable wall between himself and a holy

God - man is totally lost. He needs a Savior.

(Ro 3:23 cont) "for all have sinned and are constantly falling short of the glory of God,

["the glory of God" = refers back to the phrase "a righteousness from God" (v. 21) - the main subject of this passage. Verse 23 indicates that this righteousness from God reflects His glory = His absolutely and

perfectly righteous character - which man is constantly falling short of and never able to attain on his own merits.]

BLAMELESS = Gen 6:9 = Noah confesed his sin before God and God accounted him blameless. Noah confessed because he trusted that God would indeed take care of his wrong doing. Confession of sin is the only way that a man who is born in sin can seal with his

sin before God other than simply being condemned for it. This confession to God first comes by faith in God's plan of salvation to deal with that sin by His grace alone which is through the sacrifice of His Son for that sin. Then God can purify the individual of all sin unto condemnation and also purify it relative to temporal fellowship: Cp 1 Jn 1:3-10.

So Noah, Job or anyone are not seen by God as blameless in their own right but by the right of Christ, the Son of God, Who died for that sin.

Even the good works that unbelievers do are unacceptable to God. They are motivated by the unbeliever's, (and the carnal believer's), sin nature. These 'human good' works are motivated out of the sin nature for example, by one's own desire for self glory or by pride or even by a substitute for what the Lord Jesus Christ already did on the cross so as to enable man to go to heaven. (If a man insists on offering to God his own human good works then he has refused to admit that he needs a perfect righteousness like that of our Savior. In effect he is spitting on the cross by refusing the free gift of perfect righteousness through what our Lord did for him on the cross. The man offers to pay God for eternal life which is offered to him as a gift.)

[Ro 6:20]:

"When you were slaves to sin, [as unbelievers] you were free from the control of righteousness.

[Nothing you did was righteous, even your good deeds were directed by your sin nature but under the guise of human good - all directed by the forces of the "prince of the power of the air,"(Eph 2:2), - for the devil's benefit]

Compare I Kings 8:46:

"When they sin against you - for there is no one who does not sin -...."

[Ro 8:7-8]:

(v. 7) "The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.

(v. 8) Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."

Man has the capacity to obey God but his sinful nature has turned his will totally against the exercise of that capacity, hence he cannot please God because he will not.

Just as some individuals with the capacity and intelligence to do well in school cannot do well because they will not, i.e., they have an incorrigible attitude problem - they will not do homework, nor study, nor carry books, nor appear studious in any waybecause it would jeopardize their self-image and association with a peer group or for a number of other arbitrarily rebellious reasons;

so all unsaved individuals all of which have the capacity to trust alone in Christ alone unto eternal life, (otherwise God would not ask them to trust in His Son, (Jn 3:5-18, etc.), cannot please God by trusting in Christ as Savior because they will not, i.e., because they all have totally depraved natures that simply will not accept anything that God commands them to do. They cannot believe in Christ as Savior because they will not.