Quakers affirm that humanity is sinful and corrupted by the fall, rejecting Pelagian notions that humans are basically righteous. Robert Barclay's Apology explicitly teaches that all humans are born in a state of separation from God and prone to wickedness. However, Quaker theology uniquely emphasizes that the Inner Light—the work of the Holy Spirit—can overcome and transform this corrupted nature.

The Quaker position avoids both the total depravity of Calvinist theology and Pelagian perfectionalism. Humans are fallen and unable to save themselves, yet the Light of Christ meets every person with redeeming power. This allows for both a serious anthropology of sin and a hopeful soteriology of transformation. The Inner Light not only diagnoses our condition but heals and redeems it.