Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and death spread to all men
Total Depravity
“First, Spurgeon affirmed the foundational doctrine of total depravity, sometimes called radical corruption. He clearly understood that before an evangelist can communicate the good news of salvation, he first must convey the bad news of condemnation. The black velvet backdrop of man’s sin must be laid out before the sparkling diamond of God’s sovereign grace can be seen in its dazzling luster. This begins with the Bible’s teaching on Adam’s sin, which brought about death. Spurgeon asserted:
In the day that Adam did eat that fruit
his soul died;
his imagination lost its mighty power to climb into celestial things and see heaven,
his will lost its power always to choose that which is good,
his judgment lost all ability to judge between right and wrong decidedly and
infallibly, though something was retained in conscience;
his memory became tainted, liable to hold evil things, and let righteous things glide away;
every power of him ceased as to its moral vitality.
Goodness was the vitality of his powers—that departed.
Virtue, holiness, integrity, these were the life of man;
but when these departed man became dead.
But Adam’s sin did not affect only himself.
His fallen nature spread to the entire human race, and every part of every person is fatally plagued by spiritual death.
Spurgeon wrote: “As the salt flavors every drop in the Atlantic, so does sin affect every atom of our nature. It is so sadly there, so abundantly there, that if you cannot detect it, you are deceived.”
He added: “The venom of sin is in the very fountain of our being; it has poisoned our heart. It is in the very marrow of our bones and is as natural to us as anything that belongs to us.”
He believed that the entire person—mind, affections, and will—is polluted and poisoned by original sin.
The result, he said, is that “a very hell of corruption lies within the best saint.”
Spurgeon recognized that sin lies deep within the souls of even the best of men.
This inward corruption makes every man a savage beast:
“There is no beast in wolf or lion or serpent that is so brutish as the beast in man.”
All people are spiritually dead, unable to see, desire, or respond to the gospel message.
