Does The Bible Teach Total Depravity?
by R. L. Morrison Total depravity is the first of the five points of Calvinism. These points are often called “The Tulip Acrostic”. The first letter of each of these five points spell the word “TULIP”, thus the name. These five points are built one upon the other, like bricks in a wall. Therefore they all stand or fall together. If the first one is false, then it is not possible for it to support those that follow. They all stand or fall together, as they depend on each other for support. The first point, Total Depravity, is explained at length, but basically it is stated as follows: “Man is beyond all self help because, as Paul puts it, he is born into this world ‘dead in trespasses and sins’. Man’s depravity, or total inability to deliver himself from bondage to sin, is grounded in the fact that his human spirit is dead from birth. Total depravity means that man, in his natural state, is incapable of doing anything or desiring anything pleasing to God. Until he is “born again” of the
