For, in the next verse Paul says that God loved us with a great love _when we were dead in trespasses and sins_, and children _of wrath_. It is therefore evident that “_children of wrath_” must mean something else. It may mean that men outside of Christianity—Jews and Gentiles—were afraid of God; living under a constant sense of his displeasure; that God seemed to them a terrible being, always disposed to punish them with severity. This was the fact. Jews and Gentiles were afraid of their gods, before Christ came, and so were “children of wrath.” Or it may mean that men are exposed to the consequences of sin; for, in Scripture language,— “God’s wrathful said to be, when he doth do That _without wrath_ which wrath doth force us to.” Moreover, “nature,” in Scripture usage, does not necessarily mean, “as human beings.” It often intends external position, origin, and race. So (in Gal. 2:15) we read, “Jews by nature;” and so (in Rom. 2:27) “uncircumcision, which is by nature.” The same word is used twice in James 3:7, and is translated _kind_. “Every _kind_ of beasts, birds, serpents, things in the sea, is tamed of man-_kind_:” literally, “the whole animal _race_ is tamed by the human _race_.” If φυσις here meant “constitutional depravity,” the same word in Rom. 2:14 must mean _constitutional goodness_, where we are told that some “do _by nature_ the things contained in the law.” So, too, we read of the olive tree, wild by nature, in Rom. 11:24. “By nature,” here, plainly means the original condition, not the original constitution. Just so we say that wild animals are in a state of nature, and call savages the children of nature. These five texts are the strongest in the Bible to support the doctrine of total depravity, and, as such, are constantly quoted. They have very little weight, and not one of them is from the words of Jesus. On the other hand, there are many passages which seem to declare that there is something good in man in his unconverted or natural state, and that even in that state he may turn towards the light, and struggle against evil. John 3:20, 21. “Every one that doeth truth cometh to the light.” Matt. 26:41. “... The spirit is willing, the flesh is weak.” Rom. 2:24. “Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, and show the work of that law which is written in the heart.” Acts 10:35. “In every nation, he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him.”