Humanity's condition before God's liberating work is characterized by a state of profound spiritual bondage and utter hopelessness. Scripture reveals that individuals are slaves of sin, controlled by their desires and choosing sin over Christ. They are spiritually dead, insensible to the beauty and worth of spiritual realities and unable to perceive Christ as compelling.

In this pre-conversion state, people follow the ways of the world and are influenced by demonic forces, living according to their fleshly passions and desires. Consequently, they are by nature children of wrath, deserving of God's righteous anger. They love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil, leading to a hatred of truth and an unwillingness to come to it.

Furthermore, humanity exists under the dreadful and righteous wrath of God. The "natural person" suffers from spiritual blindness, unable to accept or understand the things of the Spirit of God. This inability extends to submitting to God's law and pleasing Him, including the incapacity for saving faith.

Ultimately, individuals are separated from Christ, alienated from God's people, without hope, and without God in the world. Their understanding is darkened, and they are alienated from the life of God due to ignorance and a hardened heart. In fact, entering the kingdom of God is described as humanly impossible on their own. This pervasive spiritual death and bondage underscore the absolute necessity of God's decisive providence in conversion to liberate humanity from this hopeless state.

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