LIBERTY UNIVERSITY JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
All Have Sinned and Fall Short
A Paper Submitted to
the Faculty of the School of Divinity
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (Ed. D) Department of Christian Leadership and
Church Ministries
By
Mary Gracias
Lynchburg, Virginia
10/2022
All Have Sinned and Fall Short
Deep in our hearts, we all know something is desperately wrong with us. Our conscience
constantly confronts us with our own sinfulness. Try as we might to blame others or seek
psychological explanations for how we feel, we cannot escape reality. We cannot ultimately
deny our own consciences. We all feel our guilt, and we all know the horrible truth about who
we are on the inside.
We feel guilty because we are guilty. Only the cross of Christ can answer sin in a way that
frees us from our own shame. Psychology might mask some of the pain of our guilt. Self-esteem
might sweep it under the rug for a time. Other things—such as seeking comfort in relationships,
or blaming our problems on someone else—might make us feel better, but the relief is only
superficial. And it is dangerous. In fact, it often intensifies the guilt, because it adds dishonesty
and pride to the sin that originally wounded the con
science.
True guilt has only one cause, and that is sin. Until sin is dealt with, the conscience will
fight to accuse. And sin—not low self-esteem—is the very thing the gospel is given to conquer.
That is why the apostle Paul began his presentation of the gospel to the Romans with a lengthy
discourse about sin. Total depravity is the first gospel truth he introduced, and he spent nearly
three full chapters on the subject. Romans 1:18–32 demonstrates the guilt of the pagans.
Romans 2:1–16 proves the guilt of the moralist, who violates the very standard by which he
judges others. And Romans 2:17–3:8 establishes the guilt of the Jews, who had access to all the
benefits of divine grace but as a whole rejected God’s righteousness nonetheless.
Since Romans 1 Paul has argued eloquently, citing evidence from nature, history, sound
reason, and conscience to prove the utter sinfulness of all humanity. And in verses 9–20 of
chapter 3, he sums it all up. Paul reasons like an attorney giving his final summation. He reviews
his arguments like a prosecutor who has made an ironclad case against all humanity. It is a
powerful and compelling presentation, replete with a charge, convincing proof, and the
inescapable verdict.
The Charge
“What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both
Jews and Greeks are all under sin” (Rom. 3:9). Paul’s indictment thus begins with two questions:
What then? or, “Is there any need of further testimony?” And, Are we better than they? or,
“Can anyone honestly claim to live above the level of human nature I have been describing?”
“Not at all,” he answers. Everyone from the most degenerate, perverted sinner (Rom.
1:28–32) to the most rigidly legalistic Jew falls into the same category of total depravity. In
other words, the entire human race, without exception, is arraigned in the divine courtroom
and charged with being “under sin”—wholly subjugated to the power of sin. All unredeemed
people, Paul is saying, are subservient to sin, in thrall to it, taken captive to sin’s authority.
Paul’s Jewish readers would have found this truth every bit as shocking and unbelievable
as it must be to those weaned on modern self-esteem doctrine. They believed they were
acceptable to God by birth and that only Gentiles were sinners by nature. Jews were, after all,
God’s chosen people. The idea that all Jews were sinners was contrary to the beliefs of the
Pharisees. They taught that only derelicts, beggars, and Gentiles were born in sin (cf. John 9:34).
But Scripture clearly pronounces otherwise. Even David said, “I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin my mother conceived me” (Ps. 51:5). “The whole world lies in the power of the evil
one” (1 John 5:19). Modern humanity, weaned on self-esteem psychology, also finds it shocking
to learn that all of us are by nature sinful and unworthy creatures.
The Proof
Paul, continuing his courtroom summation, goes on to prove from the Old Testament
Scriptures the universality of human depravity:
As it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands,
there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless;
there is none who does good, there is not even one. Their throat is an open grave, with their
tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of
cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their
paths, and the path of peace have they not known” (3:10–17).
Notice how Paul underscores the universality of sin. In those few verses, he says “none”
or “not even one” six times. No person escapes the accusation. “The Scripture has shut up all
men under sin” (Gal. 3:22).
Paul’s argument is constructed in three parts. First he shows how sin corrupts the
character: “There is none righteous … there is none who does good, there is not even one”
(Rom. 3:10–12). Here Paul makes six charges. He says that because of their innate depravity,
people are universally evil (“none righteous”); spiritually ignorant (“none who understands”),
rebellious (“none who seeks for God”), wayward (“all have turned aside”), spiritually useless
(“together they have become useless”), and morally corrupt (“there is none who does good”).
The verse Paul is quoting is Psalm 14:1: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’
They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; there is no one who does good.”
The words at the end of Romans 3:12, “not even one,” are an editorial comment from Paul,
added to make the truth inescapable for someone who might otherwise think of himself as an
exception to the rule—as is the common attitude of self-justifying sinners.
Notice, Paul does not suggest that some sinners might be prone to think worse of
themselves than they ought to. The very opposite is true: “I say to every man among you not to
think more highly of himself than he ought to think” (Rom. 12:3). Undue pride is the typical and
expected response of sinners. Self-esteem teaching is the expression of that very pride. Making
a savage feel good about himself only increases his deadliness.
Again, the utter depravity Paul is describing certainly does not mean that all people play
out the expression of their sin to the ultimate degree. There are certainly some people who are
good in a relative sense. They may have characteristics of compassion, generosity, kindness,
integrity, decency, thoughtfulness, and so on. But even those characteristics are imperfect and
sullied with human sin and weakness. No one—“not even one”—comes close to true
righteousness. God’s standard, after all, is absolute perfection: “You are to be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). In other words, no one who falls short of the
touchstone of perfection is acceptable to God! What does that do to self-esteem theology?
How does one feel good about oneself when God Himself declares us worthy of wrath?
There is an answer to the dilemma, of course. God justifies the ungodly by faith (Rom.
4:5). Christ’s own perfect righteousness is imputed to our account, so by faith we can stand
before God clothed in a perfect righteousness that is not our own (Phil. 3:9). This does not
speak of external works that we do. It is a superior righteousness, the totality of Christ’s own
righteousness, credited to our account. Christ, on our behalf, has already fulfilled the
requirement of being as perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. His virtue is assigned to our
account, so God regards us as fully righteous.
But we are jumping ahead of the apostle’s carefully arranged evidence. He adds a
paraphrase also from Psalm 14: “The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men,
to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God” (v. 2; cf. 53:3). Ignorance and
depravity go hand in hand. But people are not sinful and enemies of God because of their
spiritual ignorance; rather they are spiritually ignorant because of their sinfulness and their
adversarial disposition toward God. They are “darkened in their understanding, excluded from
the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart”
(Eph. 4:18, emphasis added). In other words, because of their hatred of God and their love for
their own sin, they reject the witness of God in creation and the testimony of their conscience
(Rom. 1:19–20). This hardens the heart and darkens the mind.
The hard heart and darkened mind refuse to seek for God: “There is none who seeks for
God.” That again echoes Psalm 14:2. God invites the seeker and promises that those who seek
Him with all their hearts will find Him (Jer. 29:13). Jesus also promised that everyone who seeks
Him will find Him (Matt. 7:8). But the sinful heart is inclined away from
God and does not seek Him. Without God’s gracious, sovereign intervention, seeking and
drawing sinners to Himself first, no one would seek and be saved. Jesus Himself said, “No one
can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him … (John 6:44).
Rather than seeking God, sinners inevitably go their own way. Still using Psalm 14, Paul
cites verse 3: “They have all turned aside”—or as Romans 3:12 has it, “All have turned aside.”
This is reminiscent of Isaiah 53:6: “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned
to his own way.” Sinners are naturally wayward. Inherent in human depravity is an inescapable
drift away from truth and righteousness. Sinners always lose their way: “There is a way which
seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12).
The taint of sin further renders the sinner “useless” (v. 12)—translating a Greek word
used to describe spoiled milk or contaminated food to be thrown out. Unredeemed people are
unfit for any spiritual good, useless for righteousness, fit only to be thrown into the fire and
burned (John 15:6). Their great need is not self-esteem or positive thinking, but redemption
from their prideful sin.
In the next few verses Paul describes how sin defiles the conversation: “Their throat is an
open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips;
whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness” (3:13–14). One’s true character inevitably
becomes apparent in conversation. Scripture is filled with affirmation of this truth:
• “The mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man out of his good
treasure brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth what is
evil” (Matt. 12:34–35).
• “The things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart … ” (Matt. 15:18).
• “The mouth of the righteous flows with wisdom, but the perverted tongue will be cut
out. The lips of the righteous bring forth what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked, what
is perverted” (Prov. 10:31–32).
• “The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, but the mouth of fools spouts
folly.… The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours
out evil things” (Prov. 15:2, 28).
• “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have
hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and
your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken falsehood, your tongue mutters wickedness”
(Isa. 59:2–3).
• “They bend their tongue like their bow; lies and not truth prevail in the land.… Every
neighbor goes about as a slanderer. And everyone deceives his neighbor, and does not speak
the truth, they have taught their tongue to speak lies … ” (Jer. 9:3–5).
Paul chooses more passages from the psalms to underscore the point:
• “Poison of a viper is under their lips” (Ps. 140:3).
• “There is nothing reliable in what they say; their inward part is destruction itself; their
throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue” (Ps. 5:9).
• “His mouth is full of curses and deceit and oppression; under his tongue is mischief and
wickedness” (Ps. 10:7).
Those verses, all written to condemn “the wicked,” Paul applies to everyone. He is making
the point that human depravity is universal. All are wicked. Everyone is guilty. No one can claim
exemption from the charges Paul levels.
Moreover, he is illustrating how thoroughly sin pervades and permeates every aspect of
our humanity. Note how completely sin contaminates the conversation: it defiles the “throat,”
corrupts the “tongue,” poisons the “lips,” and pollutes the “mouth.” Evil speech, an expression
of the wickedness of the heart, thus defiles every organ it touches as it “proceeds out of the
mouth,” defiling the whole person (Matt. 15:11).
Third, Paul quotes several verses to show how sin perverts the conduct: “Their feet are
swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace have they
not known” (Rom. 3:15–17). Here Paul is quoting a passage from Isaiah. This is significant,
because in these verses Isaiah was excoriating Israel for their sins against Jehovah. This was no
denunciation of wicked pagans, but an indictment of religious people who believed in God:
“Their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of
iniquity; devastation and destruction are in their highways. They do not know the way of peace,
and there is no justice in their tracks; they have made their paths crooked; whoever treads on
them does not know peace” (Isa. 59:7–8).
The phrase “their feet are swift to shed blood” describes sinful humanity’s penchant for
murder. Remember, Jesus taught that hatred is the moral equivalent of murder (Matt. 5:21–
22). The seed of hatred ripens and matures, and the fruit it bears is the shedding of blood.
Sinners are naturally attracted to hatred and its violent offspring. People are “swift” in their
advance toward such acts. We see this very clearly in our own society. An article in Newsweek,
for example, recently reported that “a 12-year-old boy turn[ed] without a word and [shot] dead
a 7-year-old girl because she ‘dis’ed’ him by standing on his shadow.”12
In some of our larger cities, as many as two hundred murders will occur in a typical week.
Drive-by shootings, drunken brawls, gang violence, family strife, and other crimes all contribute
to the body count. If lack of self-esteem is the problem of the human heart, why, we must ask,
is the murder rate on the rise so dramatically in a society where self-esteem is also growing?
The answer is that low self-esteem is not the problem. On the contrary, pride itself is the very
problem that leads to all sin, including hate, hostility, and killing. A love for bloodshed festers in
the heart of sinful humanity. Remove the moral restraints from society, and the inevitable
result will be an escalation of murder and violence—no matter how good people feel about
themselves.
“Destruction and misery” further characterize the tendencies of depraved humanity.
Again, no one familiar with the trends of modern society can deny the truth of Scripture on this
point. The lid is off, and we can see clearly the true nature of the human heart. What else could
explain our culture—where people are robbed, beaten, raped, or murdered for no reason other
than sheer enjoyment? Wanton destruction is so much a part of society that we have become
inured to much of it.
“Gangsta rap”—music that glorifies murder, rape, and drug use—now accounts for many
of the hottest-selling albums on the record charts. The lyrics of most gangsta rap are
indescribably vile. They mix violence, sexual imagery, and unimaginable profanity in a way that
is repulsive and purposely offensive. Worse, they openly incite young people to join gangs, kill
policemen, rape women, riot, and commit other acts of wanton destruction. Gangsta rap is big
business. These recordings are not sold secretly out of the back of some hoodlum’s car, but
marketed openly in retail stores everywhere—with slick ad campaigns designed by executives
in companies like Capitol Records. And the prime target for such products are kids younger than
eighteen. A whole generation is being indoctrinated with these vices. Destruction and misery
are in their path. And woe to those unfortunate enough to cross their path! In recent months
several nationally-known rap artists have been charged with violent crimes, including murder
and gang rape.
Why is it that misery and despair are so characteristic of this modern age, even though
humanity has made such remarkable advances in technology, psycho
logy, and medicine? It is because depravity is at the very heart of the human soul. All these
problems are so bound up in the human heart that no amount of learning and no measure of
self-esteem will ever erase them. As science advances, people only become more sophisticated
in their use of evil means. The destruction and misery wrought by human sin does not diminish;
it accelerates. The history of this century, filled with world wars, holocausts, serial killers,
escalating crime, and bloody revolutions, is graphic proof of that. Depravity is bound up in the
human heart.
In other words, “the path of peace” is unknown to sinful humanity (Rom. 3:17). Though
we hear much talk these days of “peace, peace,” there is no peace (cf. Jer. 6:14).
Paul sums up the evidence for human depravity: “There is no fear of God before their
eyes” (Rom. 3:18). There he returns to the psalms for a final quotation. Psalm 36:1 says,
“Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.”
Human sinfulness is a defect of the human heart itself. Evil commands the heart of man.
People’s hearts are naturally attuned to wickedness. They have no native fear of God.
Fear of the Lord, of course, is the primary prerequisite to spiritual wisdom (Prov. 9:10).
Moses commanded Israel, “You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him,
and swear by His name” (Deut. 6:13). In fact, as Moses summed up the responsibilities of the
Israelites, this is what he said: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you,
but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His
statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?” (Deut. 10:12–13, emphasis added).
We in the New Testament era are likewise commanded to “cleanse ourselves from all
defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1). We are to
“honor all men; love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king” (1 Pet. 2:17, emphasis added,
cf. Rev. 14:7).
“The fear of the Lord is the instruction for wisdom” (Prov. 15:33). “By the fear of the Lord
one keeps away from evil” (Prov. 16:6). “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may
avoid the snares of death” (Prov. 14:27).
We do not hear much about fearing God these days. Even many Christians seem to feel
the language of fear is somehow too harsh or too negative. How much easier it is to speak of
God’s love and infinite mercy. But longsuffering, kindness, and such attributes are not the
truths that are missing from most people’s concept of God. The problem is that most people do
not think of God as someone to be feared. They do not realize that He hates the proud and
punishes evildoers. They presume on His grace. They fear what people think more than they
care what God thinks. They seek their own pleasure, unmindful of God’s displeasure. Their
conscience is defiled and in danger of vanishing. “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
The fear of God, by the way, is a concept diametrically opposed to the doctrine of self-
esteem. How can we encourage fear of the Lord in people and at the same time be obsessed
with boosting their self-esteem? Which is the more biblical pursuit? The Scriptures speak for
themselves.
The Verdict
Having presented a convincing case for total depravity, Paul makes the verdict clear:
“Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law:
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” (Rom. 3:19,
kjv, emphasis added).
Here Paul blasted the assumption of those who believed that merely having the law of
God somehow made the Jews morally superior to pagan Gentiles. The law carried its own
condemnation against those who did not keep it perfectly: “Cursed is he who does not confirm
the words of this law by doing them” (Deut. 27:26; cf. Gal. 3:10). “Whoever keeps the whole
law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (James 2:10). Merely having the
law did not make the Jews any better than the rest of humanity.
The Gentiles, on the other hand, were accountable to the law written on their own
consciences (Rom. 2:11–15). Both groups are proven in violation of the law they possess. The
prosecution rests. There can be no defense. Every mouth must be stopped. The case is closed.
Unredeemed humanity is guilty of all charges. There are no grounds for acquittal. The whole
world stands guilty before God.
Self-esteem is no solution to human depravity. It aggravates it! The problems of our
culture—especially the anguish that wracks individual human hearts—will not be solved by the
deception of getting people to think better of themselves. People really are sinful to the core.
The guilt and shame we all feel as sinners is legitimate, natural, and even appropriate. It has the
beneficial purpose of letting us know the depth of our own sinfulness. We dare not whisk it
aside for the faulty teachings of humanistic self-esteem.
I recently read an unusually clear-sighted article dealing with the myth of human
goodness from a non-Christian perspective. The author, a Jewish social critic, writes,
To believe that people are basically good after Auschwitz, the Gulag and the other horrors
of our century, is a statement of irrational faith, as irrational as any [fanatical] religious belief.
Whenever I meet people—especially Jews, victims of the most concentrated evil in history—
who persist is believing in the essential goodness of people, I know that I have met people for
whom evidence is irrelevant. How many evils would human beings have to commit in order to
shake a Jew’s faith in humanity? How many more innocent people have to be murdered and
tortured? How many more women need to be raped?13
This article lists five consequences of the people-are-basically-good myth. Notice how
they all contribute to the destruction of the conscience:
The first such consequence is, quite logically, the attribution of all evil to causes outside of
people. Since people are basically good, the bad that they do must be caused by some external
force. Depending on who is doing the blaming, that outside force could be the social
environment, economic circumstances, parents, schools, television violence, handguns, racism,
the devil, government cutbacks, or even corrupt politicians (as expressed by this frequently
heard foolishness: “How can we expect our children to be honest when the government
isn’t?”).
People are therefore not responsible for the evil they commit. It’s not my fault that I mug
old women, or that I cheat much of the time—something (chosen from the previous list) made
me do it.
A second terrible consequence is the denial of evil. If good is natural, then bad must be
unnatural, or “sick.” Moral categories have been replaced by psychological ones. There is no
longer good and evil, only “normal” and “sick.”
Third, neither parents nor schools take the need to teach children goodness seriously—
why teach what comes naturally? Only those who recognize that people are not basically good
recognize the need to teach goodness.
Fourth, since much of society believes that evil comes from outside of people, it has
ceased trying to change people’s values and concentrates instead on changing outside forces.
People commit crimes? It is not values and character development that we need to be
concerned with; we need to change the socioeconomic environment that “produces” rapists
and murderers. Irresponsible men impregnate irresponsible women? It is not better values they
need, but better sex education and better access to condoms and abortions.
Fifth, and most destructive of all, those who
believe that people are basically good conclude that people do not need to feel accountable of
their behavior to God and to a religion, only to themselves.14
That author, oddly enough, denies human depravity as well as human goodness. He
believes people are neither good nor bad but choose their way in life. (At the outset of his
article, however, he quotes Genesis 8:21: “The intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”)
Despite this inconsistency in the author’s position, the article shows very clearly the
dangers of the myth of human goodness.
The Church must safeguard sound doctrine by recovering the doctrine of human
depravity. As J. C. Ryle wrote nearly a century ago,
A scriptural view of sin is one of the best antidotes to that vague, dim, misty, hazy kind of
theology which is so painfully current in the present age. It is vain to shut our eyes to the fact
that there is a vast quantity of so-called Christianity nowadays which you cannot declare
positively unsound, but which, nevertheless, is not full measure, good weight and sixteen
ounces to the pound. It is a Christianity in which there is undeniably “something about Christ
and something about grace and something about faith and something about repentance and
something about holiness,” but it is not the real “thing as it is” in the Bible. Things are out of
place and out of proportion. As old Latimer would have said, it is a kind of “mingle-mangle,”
and does no good. It neither exercises influence on daily conduct, nor comforts in life, nor gives
peace in death; and those who hold it often wake too late to find that they have got nothing
solid under their feet. Now I believe that the likeliest way to cure and mend this defective kind
of religion is to bring forward more prominently the old scriptural truth about the sinfulness of
sin.15
You may be asking, on the other hand, Does God want us to wallow in shame and self-
condemnation permanently? Not at all. God offers freedom from sin and shame through faith in
Jesus Christ. If we are willing to acknowledge our sinfulness and seek His grace, He will
wonderfully deliver us from our sin and all its effects. “There is therefore now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free
from the law of sin and of death” (Rom. 8:1–2). The liberation from sin those verses describe is
the only basis on which we can really feel good about ourselves.
1 1. Adapted and abridged from The Vanishing Conscience (Dallas: Word, 1994).
2 2. Jerry Adler et al., “Hey I’m Terrific,” Newsweek 17 February 1992: 50.
3 3. Charles Krauthammer, “Education: Doing Bad and Feeling Good,” Time 5 February 1990: 70.
4 4. Cheryl Russell, “Predictions for the Baby Boom,” The Boomer Report 15 September 1993: 4.
5 5. Adler et al., “Terrific,” 50.
6 6. Adler, et al., “Terrific,” 50.
7 7. Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking (Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice Hall,
1952).
8 8. Ibid., viii.
9 9. Ibid., ix.
10 10. Adler et al., “Terrific,” 50.
11 11. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Plight of Man and the Power of God (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1945), 87.
12 12. George F. Will, “A Trickle-Down Culture,” Newsweek 13 December 1993: 84.
13 13. Dennis Prager, “The Belief that People Are Basically Good,” Ultimate Issues (January–
March 1990); 15.
14 14. Prager, “People Are Basically Good,” 15.
