Are ALL Hearts Desperately Wicked (Jer. 17:9)?
Is everyone’s heart desperately wicked? Calvinists often try to prove the doctrine of total depravity[1] by pointing to Jeremiah’s words:
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9).
This passage allegedly shows that all people’s hearts are wicked and deceitful, and thus, cannot turn to God unless God first regenerates them. But is that really what this passage is teaching?
First, this passage is not referring to everyone’s heart. It’s referring to Judah’s heart in Jeremiah’s day. Context is key to understanding this passage. When Jeremiah uttered this passage, Judah’s heart was mired in sin. Chapter 17 begins with:
“The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with the point of a diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of your altars, while their children remember their altars and their wooden images by the green trees on the high hills” (Jer. 17:1-2).
God is describing Judah’s heart in around 600 BC—not everyone’s!
God went on to say:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert,” (Jer. 17:5-6).
This passage is describing people who trust in man and make flesh his strength—not everyone!
Then God says:
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters” (Jer. 17:7-8).
As this verse says, some people do trust the Lord; and God blesses them for it. (Unfortunately, this was not the case with Judah at the time of writing.)
Then God says:
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? (Jer. 17:9)
God’s point here is that people often cannot objectively evaluate themselves because they are mired in sin, and thus, have deceitful hearts.
Then God says:
“I, the LORD, search the heart, and test the mind…” (Jer. 17:10).
In other words, God—who is able to objectively evaluate people (because he is not tainted by sin)—searches people hearts and tests their minds to see whether someone is trusting in the Lord…or trusting in man/the flesh.
Why would God have to “search and test” if everyone’s heart was wicked and deceitful? Obviously, this is not the case with everybody.
Second, Proverbs says to “guard your heart because it is the well spring of life” (Prov. 4:23). Why is it so important to protect our heart? Because whatever we allow to get lodged into our heart—whether good or bad—will determine who we are:
“As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man” (Prov. 27:19).
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45).
It’s vitally important to guard our hearts. And the way we do this is by staying far away from ungodly things/people which can, over time, make our hearts callous to sin.
By Alex Polyak, founder of Answering Calvinism, 10/5/25.
[1] Total depravity is the theological concept that allegedly describes humanity’s moral and spiritual condition as a result of the Fall. It teaches that every part of man’s nature—mind, will, emotions, and body—has been so tainted by sin, that a person is not able to seek or choose God unless God first regenerates him.