Total Depravity is the biblical doctrine that sin has affected every part of every fallen human being. It is the first of the five points of Calvinism (TULIP), and it is the foundation on which the other four stand. The doctrine does not mean that every person is as wicked as they could be. Plenty of unbelievers are kind, hardworking, loyal, and loving. They raise children, help neighbors, build institutions, and do much that is admirable. What Total Depravity does mean is that every aspect of every human being — mind, will, affections, conscience, body — is touched and twisted by sin. There is no "island of righteousness" in the fallen soul from which salvation could launch itself. The mind is "blinded... lest the light of the gospel... should shine on them" (2 Corinthians 4:4). The will is "in bondage to sin" (John 8:34). The affections love darkness rather than light (John 3:19). The conscience is "seared" (1 Timothy 4:2) or "defiled" (Titus 1:15). Paul's summary of fallen humanity in Romans 3 is brutal: "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one" (Romans 3:10-12). The practical implication is huge: salvation cannot be by any human initiative, cooperation, or contribution. "You He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1) — dead men cannot help themselves. If anyone is saved, it is because God sovereignly breaks in and gives life. This is why Total Depravity undergirds the doctrines of grace: without it, grace is unnecessary. With it, grace is everything. The doctrine should never make the Christian despair; it should make him grateful beyond words that the God whose holiness no fallen creature could approach descended Himself in the Son to save us.