born broken
i was reading Ephesians 2:3 and it’s one of the Bible’s most unsettling sentences (at least to me)..“We were by nature children of wrath.” 😲🤯😲🤯😲🤯😲
as i go along in my journey of theology, human problem didnt begin with bad choices made later in life. it begins earlier > before action > before intention > before education > it begins with nature..
sin teaches that human beings are not born morally neutral. we’re born into a fallen condition, bent away frm God, already needing grace before we even know how to ask for it. (◞‸◟)💧tis doesnt mean God created humanity evil.
humanity fell and tht fall reshaped the condition into which every person is born.
“Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.” — Romans 5:12
Adam’s sin wasnt a private failure but representative. tru him, sth broke at the root of human nature. Paul makes this explicit later in the same chapter. “Through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners.” — Romans 5:19
humanity doesnt just commit sins. humanity exists in a condition that produces them. ִֶָ𓂃 ࣪˖ ִִֶֶָ🥀་༘࿐
tht brings us ->> to the doctrine of total depravity which i blog about it earlier, often misunderstood &emotionally resisted.
total depravity says sin reaches everywhere/every part of us/mentally/socially/all our actions/thoughts…. there is no part of us left untouched. 🫀❤️🩹
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🧠 mind, 💪 will, 𐔌՞ ܸ.ˬ.ܸ՞𐦯 emotions, ᯓᡣ𐭩 desires, 🖇 relationships, even our sense of ✔︎ right and ✗ wrong, all bear the ⛓️💥🤕🩼fracture. (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞ ՞ ՞ we still love… we still create... we still choose. BUT none of these operate in 💯 perfect alignment with God apart from grace. 🥺❤️🩹🕊️
this explains y Scripture insists salvation must begin with God †, not us.
as my previous post, If sin merely affected behavior, better behavior would solve the problem. If sin merely affected knowledge, education would be enough. But if sin affects the heart, then only grace can heal it.
That is why Paul does not stop at wrath. He moves immediately to mercy.
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ.” — Ephesians 2:4–5
Grace is resurrection.
Ephesians 2:1–3 details the sinful state of humanity, describing them as “dead in trespasses” and “sons of disobedience’; describes the condition of humanity before salvation, following the “course of this world” and the “prince of the power of the air”. later learnt the context verse 3 continues: “among whom we all once lived” “in the passions of our flesh” “carrying out the desires of the body and the mind” = Our sinful living flowed from a deeper condition.
know tht doctrine drawn from this passage does not claim babies commit conscious acts of rebellion/ infants actively resist God in the same way adults do. what it claims is humans are born with a nature inclined away from God / left to themselves, this nature inevitably expresses itself in sin.
& the doctrine of total depravity is uncomfortable because it removes our illusions of self-sufficiency. But it is also hopeful because it makes grace necessary, powerful& decisive.
If sin reaches everywhere, then grace must come from outside us. And it does.
total depravity teaches the extent of sin, not the degree. Sin reaches every part of human nature, heart, mind, will, body, but it doesnt mean humans lack conscience, commit every possible sin / retain no trace of goodness at all.
salvation must begin with God’s grace
