children of wrath

Of the proof-texts used to support the doctrine of Total Hereditary Depravity, few are cited with more confidence than Ephesians 2:1-3. To the proponent of inherited sin, Paul’s description of humanity as being “by nature children of wrath” is the definitive smoking gun. It is argued that if we are under God’s wrath by nature, then that nature – and its attendant guilt – must be something we possess from the moment of conception.

B.H. Carroll, the founder of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, articulated this position clearly in his Interpretation of the English Bible:

This passage knocks the bottom out of the thought that sin consists in the willful transgression of a known commandment. The apostle here refers to original sin – the nature with which we are born. ₁

If Carroll is correct, then the Bible teaches that infants are born under the judicial condemnation of God. However, if we examine the context, the grammar, and the historical understanding of the Greek language, we find that Paul is not describing an inherited nature, but a spiritual condition manufactured by personal choice.