01/31/2026
Simple Summary of the Teaching
Regular Baptist Doctrine Name
Total Depravity
(also called Total Inability or Spiritual Death)
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The Big Idea
The Bible teaches that people are born spiritually dead because of sin. This means we cannot choose God, believe the gospel, or save ourselves unless God first gives us new life.
Just like a dead person cannot respond, a spiritually dead person cannot respond to God unless God acts first.
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Lazarus Shows What Salvation Is Like
📖 John 11
Jesus raised Lazarus, who had been dead for four days.
• Jesus said, “Lazarus, come forth” (John 11:43).
• Lazarus obeyed—even though dead people can’t obey.
• He could only respond because Jesus gave him life.
👉 This is a picture of salvation.
God commands sinners to believe, but He must also give them life so they can respond.
Jesus said:
• “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25–26)
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All People Are Spiritually Dead
📖 Ephesians 2:1–3
• “You were dead in your sins.”
• People follow the world, the devil, and their sinful desires.
• Everyone is born this way.
📖 Romans 6:23
• “The wages of sin is death.”
📖 Matthew 8:21–22
• Jesus said, “Let the dead bury their dead.”
(Spiritually dead people)
📖 1 Timothy 5:6
• A person can be dead even while living.
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Dead People Cannot Please God
People can do human good, but not spiritual good.
📖 Romans 8:7–8
• The sinful mind is hostile to God
• It cannot obey God
• It cannot please God
📖 1 Corinthians 2:14
• The natural person cannot understand spiritual truth
📖 Ephesians 4:17–18
• Minds are darkened and separated from the life of God
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God Must Make Us Alive
📖 Ephesians 2:4–5
• “But God… made us alive with Christ.”
📖 Ephesians 2:8–9
• Salvation is by grace through faith
• Even faith is a gift from God
📖 Philippians 1:29
• God grants belief
📖 2 Peter 1:1
• Faith is something we receive
📖 Acts 3:16
• Faith comes through Jesus
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God Chooses and Gives Life
📖 John 1:12–13
• We are born not by human will, but by God
📖 John 3:5–8
• We must be born again by the Spirit
• The Spirit gives life when and where He chooses
📖 John 5:21
• Jesus gives life to whom He wishes
📖 John 6:44
• No one comes unless the Father draws him
📖 John 6:65
• Coming to Christ must be granted by the Father
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Our Hearts, Minds, and Wills Are Corrupted
The Heart
📖 Genesis 6:5
• Every thought of the heart is only evil continually
📖 Jeremiah 17:9
• The heart is deceitful and wicked
📖 Proverbs 20:9
• No one can say, “I am pure”
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The Mind
📖 Romans 1:28
• God gives people over to a corrupt mind
📖 2 Corinthians 4:4
• Satan blinds minds to the gospel
📖 Romans 8:6
• The mind set on the flesh is death
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The Will
📖 John 8:44
• People do the desires of the devil
📖 Romans 6:20
• People are slaves to sin
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Everyone Is Guilty
📖 Romans 3:10–18
• No one is righteous
• No one understands
• No one seeks God
• No one does good
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God Must Grant Repentance
📖 2 Timothy 2:25
• God must grant repentance
📖 Titus 3:3–5
• God saved us not by our works
• He saved us by regeneration and the Holy Spirit
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What “Total Depravity” Really Means
It does NOT mean:
• Everyone is as bad as possible
It DOES mean:
• Every part of us is affected by sin
• We are unable and unwilling to come to God on our own
• We need God to give life first
That’s why salvation is:
• All of God
• All of grace
• All for God’s glory
📖 Romans 11:36
• “From Him and through Him and to Him are all things.”
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Final Picture
Just like Lazarus, we were dead.
God called us.
God gave us life.
And all the glory belongs to God alone.
