missio

Here’s the second post in my series on my systematic, P.R.A.I.R.I.E. Check out the original post (here) and the post on the Providence of God (here). The “R” in PRAIRIE stands for Radical Corruption, for reasons other than acronymical (is that a word?) linguistics. Check it out from dictionary.com:

rad-i-cal (adj.)

1. of or going to the root or origin. fundamental.
2. thoroughgoing or extreme
3. forming a basis or foundation
4. existing inherently in a thing or person

cor·rup·tion (n.)

1. the state of being corrupt
2. moral perversion; depravity
3. perversion of integrity
4. putrefactive decay; rottenness

The phrase, “radical corruption” is similar to the Calvinistic phrase “total depravity”, but (I believe) it has a better denotation and connotation. Total depravity can be seen as utterly evil. This is not true of man. We do not murder, lie, steal, cheat, and idolize without ceasing, due to many reasons (all of which can be attributed to the grace of God). We have a conscience (a remnant of His image, perhaps?), we try to do good, there are threats of legal action (again, as part of God’s common grace on us), and of outcast from civilization. Instead, we are naturally inclined (prior theologians refer to our “tendencies” or “affections”) to evil, to idolize creation before Creator, and to commit morally depraved acts. Radical corruption refers to the corruption that is deeper than our outward actions, and speaks to our inward tendency; the word radical both connotates and denotes that the corruption is not simply carried out by our hands, but is indeed embedded in our hearts. What does Scripture say about this doctrine? A better question would be, regarding this truth, what doesn’t it say?

We can review a section of Scripture that we already discussed in the Providence of God, Ephesians 2:1-3

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

The most often quoted verse in Scripture with regard to total depravity would be Romans 3:23. But I personally think that the verses (10-18) leading up to verse 23 are much more telling:

 as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

The scary thing about radical corruption is that, because the corruption is foundational, we can’t escape it. It’s like being born inside a jail cell, and the key is nowhere to be found. Someone outside of the jail cell must let you out. Romans 8:7-9 speaks of our inability to free ourselves from our own corruption:

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

 As does John 6:44 -

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.

Where did the radical, foundational nature of our sin come from? From Adam, the first man, who freely sinned, and bound both the totality of mankind and all subsequent individuals of mankind due to his idolatry in the Garden of Eden, even if we don’t sin as Adam sinned. We can see this in Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 5, verse 12-21:

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

This passage is also clear that even though our corruption is radical, the righteousness and grace of our Lord Jesus extends past our outward actions and to our innermost being: the soul itself. Not only is the corruption inherited by us radical…but the grace extended to us is as well. 

 

 

 

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 10:42 am and is filed under Prairie, Teaching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.