Descent into Depravity

The apostle Paul is the writer of much of the New Testament, which writings are found in his epistles or letters written to the various Gentile churches of that time. The teachings contained in these letters comprise what many have called the Pauline Revelation.

Paul says in his letter to the Galatian church that he did not receive or learn these things from men, but rather he received them by revelation of Jesus Christ. In other words, they were made known to him, they were disclosed to him, by the Lord Jesus Himself, through the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall guide you into all truth.

Paul’s letter to the church at Rome, the book of Romans, is filled with many of these revealed understandings that God gave to Paul. One of the first things he talks about in the letter to the Romans is the descent of man into depravity.

Theories of Origin

The popular academic theories put forth today concerning the origin of man and the universe have to do with things like the Big Bang theory, which is the theory that there was a great cosmic explosion that started the universe into motion about 14 billions of years ago. And there are other theories like the theory of Evolution, which teaches that simple organisms came up out of the water and evolved into land-dwelling creatures that eventually evolved into animals and even into human beings. And, from that point, men supposedly began to advance in knowledge and intelligence through eons of time up to the present day.

Creationism

The Biblical story of creation is given in the first chapter of Genesis, which was authored by Moses. It presents a very orderly sequence of things created by the Lord on the first six days of creation. It starts with the making of the sky and the earth and progresses to the releasing of light into the creation, and the creation of the atmosphere which the Bible calls the firmament. Then dry land appeared from the watery surface, and grass and trees and vegetation of all types began to grow. After that, the sun, moon, and stars were set into the sky. After that, all marine life came forth, all fish and whales and oceanic life, and also every kind of bird and flying creature. Then all land-dwelling animals and cattle were made in all their variations, and every insect and thing that crawls on the earth.

The Creation of Man

The culmination of God’s work of creation was the forming of man. The Bible tells us that God created man in the image and likeness of Himself. Man was the highest level of created being that God made. In fact, Adam was placed in dominion and authority over all the earth and over all the other creatures that God had created. Adam was like God in the earth. He was made in the image of God, and he was set in authority over all things in the earth.

The Bible tells us that the man, Adam, walked with God in the cool of the day. He fellowshipped with God, he conversed with God, he had the capacity to understand God. Man was at his pinnacle of intelligence and mental and spiritual acuity when he was created. He was at one with God Himself. So, from the standpoint of Biblical Creation, man was at his absolute height of mental and spiritual development when he was in the garden of Eden. You could say that he started at the top.

The Fall of Man

As we continue in the book of Genesis, we find that there came a time when man disobeyed the Lord by eating of the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and was consequently separated from fellowship with God and driven out of the garden of Eden. Adam was now without God in a hostile world, a world that no longer would bring forth his provision abundantly as it did before, but now produced thorns and thistles. His provision was now to be gained by the sweat of his face, by toil and hard labor.

Descent into Depravity

As men multiplied and the generations of time went by, man became more estranged from God. Paul begins to describe here the process of time in which man began to move further away from God. He says that although they knew God, they did not honor Him, and they were not thankful to Him. And as they grew unthankful, they became vain in their imaginations, or, that is, their thinking became empty and foolish, and their nonunderstanding spirit was covered with darkness.

While descending into this dark place of spiritual ignorance, they professed themselves to be wise, and they became vain and foolish. Yet somewhere within themselves they retained a knowledge that God exists, as well as an inner desire to have divine fellowship, and so they created their own gods by making images that were like men, or birds, or animals, or things that crawl on the earth.

God gave them over to impurity of mind through the cravings and desires of their own spirits, to treat with shame and contempt their own physical bodies among themselves. This is the first mention of God giving them over to their own inner desires. God allowed man to do what he wanted to do.

The Result of Idolatry

Because they chose to worship the created thing more than the Creator, God gave them over to vile affections, or, that is, to disgraceful and shameful passions that they did not previously have.

The Quest to Forget God

It should be noted here that the root of their unfortunate condition was the desire to forget God, and to replace Him with objects of worship that were not divine in nature, but merely things created by the Lord. They did not deem it worthy to hold on to the memory of God or to acknowledge God, and He allowed them to be given over to an unapproved and castaway understanding and intellect, and to be the doers of things that are not fit, or, that is to say, things that are unbecoming.

Returning to God

That is quite a list of evil things. The first acts of unrighteousness mentioned in this chapter were sexual in nature, but the list of unsavory behaviors that resulted goes well beyond the sexual. Paul is, after all, presenting man’s need for a savior. He is giving a fairly comprehensive list of sins that men are guilty of before God and presenting the offer of being rescued that is available through Christ. It is by believing the gospel, the good news of Christ, by receiving the redemption that is through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, that man finds the means by which he can be saved from his sinful condition and be restored to a place of right standing with God.