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First we must give an accurate definition of the doctrine of Original Sin and from there we will see how the doctrine of Total Depravity is a necessity when the doctrine of Total Depravity is also correctly defined.
Original sin does not refer to the first sin of Adam but rather to the result of it for the entire human race. Adam stood as the federal head, (representative) of all mankind. He was created very good---that is, perfect, knowing and doing only good. Good is defined by the goodness of God. Anything less, is not good (as being sin and evil). Here, we must be careful to not use our own definitions of good and evil, particularly in defining evil as what we would see as evil based on social norms. Evil is the absence of perfect good. Or defining good as good deeds we do. Good is God's definition of perfect as he is perfect. We were created to bear this image.
When Adam fell from that state of perfect goodness, he corrupted the entire human race. That is what original sin refers to. We are born in the condition of being a corrupted sinner. It extends to all people born everywhere and at all times. That is who we are in Adam. Sinners.
It is this that sets the stage for the Doctrine of Total Depravity. It describes the extent to which sin has affected human nature. It reaches to every aspect of a human being. His mind, will, emotions, body, and soul, rendering him incapable of reconciling himself to God. Man is totally reliant on God's grace for salvation, and only God, himself can do the reconciling. That is why the "T" is the first doctrine in what is known as the Doctrines of Grace.
If man is totally reliant of God's grace for reconciliation, that means that nothing man does will bring it about. It can't be just grace offered and the choice of accepting or rejecting held out to the sinner. The minute they decided to accept, grace became nullified. And such a view implies that grace offered is what changes a person from a sinner at enmity with God into one who is no longer at enmity with God, who reconciles himself to God, by doing what it is impossible for him to do. Choosing to be reconciled while still dead in his sins. And if the offer is rejected, the grace that supposedly gave him the ability to be what he is not, didn't actually do what it is claimed (in this view) to have done. That being, to have changed the person from one thing to another. He is still the same as he was. The "change" would not have been a change at all, but a momentary blip in the condition in which all humans are born. A momentary, imaginary, offer of reconciliation that was not a reconciliation at all.
Original sin does not refer to the first sin of Adam but rather to the result of it for the entire human race. Adam stood as the federal head, (representative) of all mankind. He was created very good---that is, perfect, knowing and doing only good. Good is defined by the goodness of God. Anything less, is not good (as being sin and evil). Here, we must be careful to not use our own definitions of good and evil, particularly in defining evil as what we would see as evil based on social norms. Evil is the absence of perfect good. Or defining good as good deeds we do. Good is God's definition of perfect as he is perfect. We were created to bear this image.
When Adam fell from that state of perfect goodness, he corrupted the entire human race. That is what original sin refers to. We are born in the condition of being a corrupted sinner. It extends to all people born everywhere and at all times. That is who we are in Adam. Sinners.
It is this that sets the stage for the Doctrine of Total Depravity. It describes the extent to which sin has affected human nature. It reaches to every aspect of a human being. His mind, will, emotions, body, and soul, rendering him incapable of reconciling himself to God. Man is totally reliant on God's grace for salvation, and only God, himself can do the reconciling. That is why the "T" is the first doctrine in what is known as the Doctrines of Grace.
If man is totally reliant of God's grace for reconciliation, that means that nothing man does will bring it about. It can't be just grace offered and the choice of accepting or rejecting held out to the sinner. The minute they decided to accept, grace became nullified. And such a view implies that grace offered is what changes a person from a sinner at enmity with God into one who is no longer at enmity with God, who reconciles himself to God, by doing what it is impossible for him to do. Choosing to be reconciled while still dead in his sins. And if the offer is rejected, the grace that supposedly gave him the ability to be what he is not, didn't actually do what it is claimed (in this view) to have done. That being, to have changed the person from one thing to another. He is still the same as he was. The "change" would not have been a change at all, but a momentary blip in the condition in which all humans are born. A momentary, imaginary, offer of reconciliation that was not a reconciliation at all.
