MacArthur:If we are to be awakened from that death...

But Scripture is clear about the extent of our depravity: “The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head there is nothing sound in it” (Isa. 1:5–6).

The word total in the expression “total depravity” refers to the fact that sin has so thoroughly infected us that no part of our being—mind, affections, or will—is free from the taint of sin. We’re totally dead spiritually.

Like an array of corpses ranging from freshly dead to thoroughly decomposed, some may be in a more advanced state of putrefaction than others, but all are equally dead. Our inability is total, too, because there is absolutely nothing we can do to earn our salvation.

If we are to be awakened from that death and redeemed from our sin, God must do it, and God alone.

MacArthur, J. (2009). The Sinner Neither Willing nor Able. In Proclaiming a cross-centered theology (p. 93). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

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