Total Depravity, Part II
Before taking up the topic of "leaven", I would be remiss in not reminding everyone of a couple of companion verses that strongly support Mk 10:18. Paul, for one, tells us that he knew that "nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature". And he explains how he knew this: "For I have the desire to do what is right but not the ability to carry it out" (Rom 7:18).
And a prophet of Israel told the nation that there is nothing spiritually sound in them. That "your whole head is injured" and "your whole heart is afflicted" -- from the sole of your feet to the top of their head there was no spiritual soundness to be found (Isa 1:5-6). (Shortly, we will see why this is!)
And the reason why man isn't good is because he cannot perfectly keep God's law which is holy, righteous and good (Rom 7:12). Therefore, in Paul's indictment of mankind, he says, "there is no one who does good, not even one" (Rom 3:12b). What Paul means is that no one does "good" Godward because no one serves God. Even the good that an unbeliever does toward his fellow man is ultimately not good because God is not in the equation of the doing! Whatever good on the horizontal plane that man does toward another is not done to the glory and honor and praise of God. Therefore, this kind of "good" is still evil!
Now we come to primary subject of this post: Leaven! "Leaven" in the bible often refers to evil or sin. Paul teaches in Gal 5:9 that just a "little leaven leavens the whole lump". This is why the Israelites were commanded to not only abstain from leaven during the Passover Feast -- but to remove every bit of it from their households! They were not permitted to have so much as a scintilla of leaven in their homes during the Feast. The removal of it symbolized their purity in keeping the feast according to God's commands.
If someone takes a glass or cup and fills it with water and puts as little as one drop of deadly poison it, and a person drinks it, he will surely die -- just from one small drop. Well...isn't that what happened at the Fall? Adam sinned and he "poisoned" the entire human race with his one sin. Adam disobeyed and he died spiritually on that day and he spread that death to all progeny by his one sin. Paul tells us that "death reigned through that one man", and that the "many died by the trespass of one man..." (Rom 5:12-20). There isn't a more poignant illustration of the Leaven Principle than what is revealed in the Fall of man.
And we have more positive proof that man's depravity is total (as if death weren't enough) by the parallel metaphor of darkness. All the sons and daughters of the Prince of Darkness (seed of the Serpent) are themselves darkness (Eph 5:8) until God delivers his elect therefrom. In fact, God drove Adam out of the Garden because a thrice holy God who himself is Light cannot have fellowship with the Darkness (2Cor 6:14). This Darkness covers the entire earth and is over all the peoples (Isa 60:2), all mankind's foolish hearts are darkened (Rom 1:21, as well as their understanding (Eph 4:18).. It's no wonder that God himself has to rescue his people from Satan's kingdom of Darkness (Col 1:13) since the lost love the darkness because their deeds are evil, therefore, they hate the light for fear that their evil deeds will be exposed (Jn 3:19-20); therefore, God effectually called his people out of darkness into his marvelous light (1Pet 2:9). Is it any wonder that is written of the Light of the World:
Matt 4:13-16
13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— 14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
15 "Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, along the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned."
NIV
The antithesis of life is death, and of light is darkness and of good is evil. There is no middle ground between any of these categories.
The objection is often made that Reformers speak out of both sides of their mouths with respect to this doctrine; for we hold that man is "totally" depraved quantitatively in all his faculties, rather than qualitatively. (IOW, man isn't as evil as he could be.) How can someone be darkness itself or in a state of spiritual death only in a quantitative sense? I will answer this question in my next post.
