Radical Corruption: What Total Depravity Actually Means

The Problem: People hear “total depravity” and assume it means everyone is as completely evil as they could possibly be (sheer, utter maliciousness). Sproul’s Reasoning: No human is as bad as they could potentially be; we still bear the image of God. However, sin has infected the entirety of our being—our minds, hearts, wills, and bodies. Sproul chose “radical” from the Latin root radix, meaning “root.” Sin is a corruption that goes to the very root of human nature, causing a moral inability to choose God without spiritual rebirth.

Sproul used passages that demonstrate sin is a structural, internal problem affecting the “root” (heart and mind) of human nature, creating a total moral inability to seek God on our own. Ephesians 2:1–3: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked… and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Sproul argued that a spiritually “dead” person cannot make a spiritual move toward God without being made alive first. Romans 3:10–12: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.” Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” John 6:44: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” Sproul noted the Greek word for “draws” (elkuo) implies a powerful, necessary enablement because man is otherwise morally unable.