Theology of Depravity

As Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dialogue over the creation of the universe, God makes a remarkable comment about creating humans in Gen. 1. He says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…so God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him” (v. 26, 28). So humans have the special privilege of being created with the unique dignity of reflecting and representing God; glorious and holy, powerful and good, righteous and giving; we could go on and on.

The problem we have in believing this is that the stories of our lives seem to lack these qualities. We experience among other things, frustration, heartbreak, misunderstanding, abuse, confusion, and tragedy in a way that makes us feel powerless and insignificant. So what happened?

In Creation, God created Adam as a representative for all people. Gen. 1 describes the creation of humans generally as male and female and in Gen. 2, God describes creating Adam as the specific representative head of the human race. To Adam was given the rule of not eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and Adam was the one responsible for keeping that rule. Yet, he could not contain himself and decided to stray and blame others for his distrust of God, trampling of his image, forsaking of responsibility, etc. (Gen. 3:6,10-12). Eve had been deceived, but Adam, who was “with her,” was willfully disobeying (I Tim. 2:14).

God doesn’t weakly and powerlessly overlook Adam’s rebellion. In holy justice, He responds by cursing Adam. The curse involved losing intimate communion, right standing and becoming defiled and cursed enemies of God (Matt. 25:41, Rom. 5:12-14, 6:23, Eph. 2:3-5, II Thes. 1:9). This affliction was passed on to all humans as all now have a heart after Adam’s image and likeness to rebel spiritually (Gen. 5:3, Gen. 6:5, Rom. 5:12). While in popular thought, it is often taught that people are condemned because they commit sin, the Scriptures teach that we are condemned because we are sinners, that we commit sin because it is in our heart to do so (Eccl. 7:20, 29, Jer. 17:9, Rom. 3:9, 10, 23, Gal. 3:10, Eph. 2:3-5, I Jn 1:8).

This is what is meant by “depravity.” Humans were created for greatness, but have been corrupted. They do what they shouldn’t (what the Bible calls, “trespass”) and don’t do what they should (what the Bible calls, “sin”) (Rom. 7:15-20, Eph. 2:1). This perversion saturates people to their very depths. Though many want to celebrate a “free-will,” human will is held in captivity to this corrupting influence, evidenced by our inability to live perfectly or live forever. People need God to intervene over their wills (Psalm 51:1-12, John 6:44, 16:8-9, Rom. 7:18, 9:16).

This begs the question, how can we explain beauty and justice if we are corrupt? In other words, how do people who don’t indicate any inclination toward God do such good things? The Bible points out that although we are defiled, we still bear the image and purposes of God (Gen. 9:1-7). All people have exposure to the truth of God through creation and through the law written on their hearts (Ps. 19:1, Rom. 1:19-20, 2:14-15). This is called “Common grace,” and it explains why God allows good fortune to fall on all people (Eccl. 9:2, Matt. 5:45) sometimes causing trouble for those who lean into God (Psalm 73).

So what is our hope of escaping the curse of God? We need a representative who is not depraved and does from the heart what people were created to do. The good news is that Jesus is that representative (Rom. 5:16-19, Rom. 8:1-4). He became cursed for us and was raised in victory over God’s curse (Gal. 3:13, I Cor. 15:1-4). We now have the hope of being reborn, recreated, renewed and restored (John 3:1-21, II Cor. 5:17-21, Eph. 4:20-24). And our hope is to return to the urban garden where we have unbroken fellowship and joy in life as we reflect God (Rev. 22).

Theology of Holy Spirit

Unique to the Christian faith is the confession that God is One; united in power and substance yet distinct in the person of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This formula, One God in three persons, is known as the Trinity. As one of those persons of God, Holy Spirit is God. He is called God (Psalm 51:11; Isaiah 63:10, II Cor. 13:14) and does works as God (Gen. 1:2; Job 26:13, Titus 3:5). Lying to Spirit is lying to God (Acts 5:3-4). He is equal to Father and Son in addresses to God (II Cor. 13:4, Rev. 1:4-6, Matt. 28:19).

Holy Spirit is often the most abused or ignored person of the Holy Trinity. Generally speaking, He is nearly bypassed in circles that apply diligence to studying the Scriptures and have high views of doctrine and theology. Others who don’t know much of what the Scriptures actually say credit Holy Spirit with chaotic nonsense that doesn’t reflect the glory of Christ, but feed the selfish desires of men using God for toys. This not only causes frustration among those trying to communicate the Christian faith, but also, unhealthy division that grieves God.

Part of the confusion is from the difference between His work in the Old Testament (OT) and in the New Testament (NT). In the OT, the work of the Holy Spirit among people included the generation of life (Gen. 2:7; Psalm 33:6; Psalm 104:30) and the inspiration and qualification of people to works of service (Ex. 31:3-4; I Sam. 16:13). Jesus, during his ministry in the NT, explained that the age to come would be the age of the Spirit and that His ministry would be more dramatic and personal (John 16:7-15).

The ministry of the Spirit in the NT would include sealing, indwelling, and filling true believers of the Gospel. Sealing is God’s securing of believers, marking them as God’s purchased possession (Eph. 1:13-14). Indwelling is God’s personal dwelling among believers of all nations (not just Israel), enabling them to live in the likeness of Christ (John 7:39; Rom. 8:9, Gal. 5:22-25). Filling is yielding to the Spirit as the dominant influence of the believer’s behavior (Eph. 5:18). So in the OT, He was the power and presence of God among His people, and especially of some, while in the NT He is poured out on every class and race of people who truly believe the Gospel.

One of the most divisive teachings, which began to surface in the early 1900s, is the false idea that there are multiple stages to belief and that one does not have access to Holy Spirit upon believing in Jesus, but that subsequent prayers for Him will be met with the gift of speaking in “tongues.” One only has assurance that he belongs to God if he evidences it by spouting off random jibber-jabber and ecstatic utterances. This teaching ignores the Scriptural statements that believers are “sealed and indwelt” with the Holy Spirit upon believing in the Gospel (John 7:39, Eph. 1:13-14) and besides perverting the biblical teaching of tongues, overemphasizes a subjective experience over a more objective teaching of Scripture desiring to elevate a particular gift of God beyond its proper measure (I Cor. 12:4-11, 13:1).

As we encounter these false teachings, we should bear in mind two things. Not every claim of spiritual gifting is valid (I John 4:1-2), nor is it appropriately exercised (I Cor. 14:6-12). However, we must not overreact as some have and deny legitimate filling of the Spirit that encourages men and women to remember the Gospel of Jesus (John 16:14-15). Much of the chaos and unbiblical practice among so-called “charismatic” believers makes the worship of Jesus into a circus sideshow, but proper response isn’t the gagging out of the Holy Spirit’s power. Those who do not consider themselves “charismatic” can be guilty of ignoring the work of the Spirit. His presence is the fulfillment of the many promises of Jesus about God’s presence with His people and Ephesians points out that He is the guarantee of our future hope and our power for daily living and confession and faith. He is the most personal presence of God among us and we do well to take notice and be filled by Him.