by jimwalton » Tue Feb 06, 2018 4:00 pm
Thanks for your answer. I'd like to insert two more points, if I may.
First, the image of God. According to Genesis 1, people are in the image of God (acting on His behalf) by ruling and subduing the earth. God says, "I will make you in my image," and then he gives the command to rule and subdue. God used his sovereignty to order the world, and then conferring his image on people to take care of it, viz., continue to order it. It doesn't have anything to do with sin, morality, capability for good, or any of that. Because we are in God's image, we are commissioned to care for the earth as sacred space.
Secondly, the Bible doesn't teach that we have a propensity to sin but that we *are* sin. Romans 3.10-18 and 23 (as quotes from the OT) are clear that we are all unavoidably under sin's power and condemnation from the get-go. Sin is a matter of the entire person (mind, emotions, will, body).
There is no teaching in the Bible that we have the spirit of God in us even before we understand what it is. If you know of such a text, I'd be pleased to see it and discuss it with you.
> I believe that people are capable of good before they are saved, and that that good is God's Spirit working in them.
I certainly agree that people are capable of good even before they are saved. It's what Christians call "common grace": There are things like health, happiness, strength, intelligence, goodness, and such things that God has blessed all of humanity with, even if they don't know Him. Everyone gets to enjoy some sunshine (OK, except maybe the residents of Seattle...). We all get to laugh.
God's Spirit is working in people to bring them to Himself. I agree.
But what depravity means is that your goodness won't get you to heaven (Isa. 64.6). It doesn't earn anything for that ride. There is nothing about you that will buy the ticket. We all need to be changed (Rom. 5.6). We can only be made right by the atoning blood of Christ (Rom. 5.9).