Calvinism Defended:
Total Depravity
By
This is the second section of the e-mail exchange I had with Bill, an individual who objected against Calvinism. Click here to go back to the contents, or here to go to the full 88 page exchange.
In this part of the exchange, Bill objects to the words in the acrostic TULIP themselves. In my response, I move from addressing that point right into an exposition of key texts related to each of the 5 points of TULIP, the first obviously being Total Depravity. Please note, I did not include every passage that could have been included, nor did I address any of the counter-texts used by Arminians (e.g., Matt 23:37-39, John 12:32, 1 Tim 2:1-7; 2 Pet 3:9, 1 John 2:2). My concern was to provide a positive presentation of what we believe and why we believe it. All of the so-called "problem texts" have been dealt with many times over by many well respected Reformed teachers who have provided in-depth exegetical analysis of the texts in question. The same simply cannot be said of the other side concerning the texts provided by Calvinists.
Bill's Writes: The above terms [TULIP] are quoted as if they were scripture in your article. They are not scripture. They are the fallible, erroneous, vain teaching of men. Scripture is the divine revelation.
My
Response: If
in my article (Of
Calvinism and Arminianism) I made it seem as though TULIP were all words
that were in the Bible, my apologies. I
know that when I provided the acronym, I did not provide the Scripture
references upon which each point is based.
I will be adding the Scriptural citations to those in the near future to
alleviate any confusion. For the record, I have stated on more than one occasion that
the acronym TULIP is more trouble than it’s worth because it is given to much
misunderstanding (which, in our discussion, it has proven to be so once again).
As
for the words themselves (total depravity, unconditional election, etc.), they
are simply words used to concisely convey or state truths concerning certain
truths taught in the Bible. There
is nothing wrong with that; as a matter of fact, it is impossible to avoid, as
you yourself demonstrate a bit later by using such terms as “triune” and
“Trinity.”
For
now, let me try to clarify further what is meant be each term.
I will deal with a handful of passages on each point:
Total
Depravity: Here we are using a term to
summarize what we believe the overall teaching of the Bible is with regard to
the nature of man after the fall of Adam and Eve.
We believe that the Bible teaches that man is “totally depraved,”
that is, man’s total being (his mind, emotions, will, body, etc.) have been
corrupted as a result of sin. There is no part of man that has escaped this corruption.
We are conceived in sin, born in sin, and are sinners from the start.
We sin because we are sinners. Here
are just a few of the passages that speak to just how radical and extensive the
corruption of our nature is:
Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
-- This verse calls attention to the fact of original sin, and that
man’s very nature is “shapen” in iniquity and sin.
If this is our state from the start, how is it that we can overcome it?
David answers the question for us in verse 10, “Create in me
a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
Notice the word “create.” This
is something God must initiate and forge within us, because it is something that
it totally foreign to us. Just as
God, when He created the universe, did not fashion preexistent material to form
the universe, neither does God use elements that already reside within humans to
bring about a clean heart. Creation
by God is always “ex-nihilo” (out of nothing).
God doesn’t take a stony heart and make it better; He removes
the stony heart and replaces it with a heart of flesh.
Jeremiah 13:23 “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.”
-- We who are evil can no more change ourselves, or incline ourselves to
spiritual good, than a person can change the color of his skin. To put it another way, it is impossible for fallen human
beings to do ultimate good (and the ultimate spiritual good is receiving
Christ). To put it yet another way,
man lacks the moral ability to do the ultimate spiritual good. To put it yet another way, “No one can come to Me
unless the Father has enabled
him.” (John 6:65)
Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
-- Again, the heart has
nothing in it that would enable it to desire that which is spiritually good.
Notice as well, it isn’t that man’s heart has some
wickedness in it; rather, it is desperately wicked.
The Bible elsewhere uses the term “dead” to describe the
nature of fallen humanity (Eph 2:1). Traditional non-Reformation thought says that man just needs
some medicine that can make him better. There
is a problem here though, because this says that man is incurably sick.
What is the remedy? The
remedy is a heart transplant. Can a
man perform a heart transplant on himself?
Of course not. The one who
is qualified, i.e., the doctor, must perform the operation.
Even if the man brought himself to the operating room, and administered
the anesthetic to himself, he would still be unable to perform the operation.
Only the doctor can do this. Natural
man, through the convincing power of the Holy Spirit, can be made aware of his
dreadful condition, and even go to the doctor to see about getting the cure
(notice, he doesn’t even do this on his own, but only by the convincing power
of the Spirit). But only the doctor
has the ability to cure the person through the transplant of the heart.
Matthew 7:16-18 “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? [17] Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. [18] A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.”
-- There are only two types
of trees. All of mankind, outside
of Christ, are corrupt trees. Notice,
a corrupt tree cannot (i.e., it is not able) to bring forth good fruit.
What is the ultimate good fruit that a person (tree) can bear?
Initially, it is the fruit of saving faith, i.e., embracing Christ. As Jesus says, “This is the work of God:
to believe in the One whom He has sent.”
Where is “free will?” The
will of a fallen sinner is only free to choose that which is in accordance with
his nature, and can only bring forth one thing:
corrupt fruit. It is only
when the fallen sinner’s will has been liberated by virtue of having been made
a new creature that he can choose the ultimate spiritual good.
Matthew 12:34 “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”
-- The greatest thing a fallen human being would ever speak would be to
confess unto salvation that Jesus Christ is Lord and was risen from the grave.
But, as Jesus says, how are we, who are evil, able to “speak good
things?” The abundance of the
human heart is, as Jeremiah has told us, desperately wicked, and the writer of
Ecclesiastes says, “full of evil and madness.”
John 6:44 “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
-- Who is Jesus referring to when He says “no man?” The context makes it clear
that it is every single person. What
does the verse say with regard to every single person?
It says every single person is unable to come to Jesus.
What is the final state of those who are drawn by the Father?
They are “raised up at the last day.”
Is every single person who ever has or will live raised up on
the last day unto salvation? No.
Only those who have been drawn by the Father are, hence, every single
person who ever has or will live has not, nor will be, drawn by the Father.
Who is it ultimately that is drawn by the Father?
Only those given to Jesus by the Father (John 6:37).
John 6:65 “And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.”
-- How is it then that a fallen person
who is unable to come to Jesus ever going to have any hope of coming Jesus?
It must be given unto him, or, as the NIV translates, “unless the
Father has enabled him.” Does the Father do this for every single
person? No, He does this only for
those that He has given to Jesus, as the Lord Himself testifies: “All that
Father has given Me will come to Me…” (John 6:37), and in John 6:44, all
those that are drawn are
(not might be) raised up. By the
way, the word “draw” in John 6:44 does not convey the idea of “wooing.”
Rather, it is the same word that is translated elsewhere as “drag.”
A better picture is that of a fisherman dragging his net to scoop up a
school of fish that he can clearly see. I
elaborate much more on this in my article which you claim to have read (I say
“claim to have read” because as I read your response, I find very little
interaction with what I stated there).
John 8:43-44 [43] “Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. [44]Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
-- Again we see the inherent inability of the human heart to heed the
words of Jesus. Why is it that
people do not come to Christ? Because they “cannot
hear.” Notice as well
that they are of their father the devil. Ultimately,
there are essentially only two groups of people:
the children of God and the children of the devil.
In Ephesians 2:1-4, Paul tells us that we, like the rest, were subject to
the “prince of the power of the air” (Satan), obeying the lusts of the
flesh, and were, by nature, objects of God’s wrath.
So, what is the difference between us and those who remain in that
condition, i.e., the rest? Paul
tells us in verse 4, “But
God…made us alive…” God
is the difference, not us. God
and His grace is the determinative factor and cause of our salvation, not us.
It wasn’t the power of our free will decision, rather, it was the power
of God that made us alive and gave us that ability to make a decision for Him.
Many
more passages could be offered, and I did not include some of the more popular
ones such as Rom 3:10-18, Rom 8:7, 1 Cor 2:14, and Eph 2:1-4.
Here
are a couple of quotes from the 19th century Baptist preacher,
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, that really put this into perspective:
“When
you say, “Can God make me become a Christian?” I tell you yes, for herein
rests the power of the gospel. It does not ask your consent; but it gets it. It
does not say, “Will you have it?” but it makes you willing in the day of
God’s power...The gospel wants not your consent, it gets it. It knocks the
enmity out of your heart. You say, I do not want to be saved; Christ says you
shall be. He makes our will turn round, and then you cry, “Lord save, or I
perish!”
“Oh!”
saith the Arminian, “men may be saved if they will.” We reply, “My dear
sir, we all believe that; but it is just the “if they will” that is the
difficulty. We assert that no man will come to Christ unless he be drawn; nay,
we do not assert it, but Christ himself declares it—“Ye will not come unto
me that ye might have life;’ and as long as that “ye will not come’ stands
on record in Holy Scripture, we shall not be brought to believe in any doctrine
of the freedom of the human will.” It is strange how people, when talking
about free-will, talk of things which they do not at all understand. “Now,”
says one, “I believe men can be saved if they will.” My dear sir, that is
not the question at all. The question is, are men ever found naturally willing
to submit to the humbling terms of the gospel of Christ? We declare, upon
Scriptural authority, that the human will is so desperately set on mischief, so
depraved, and so inclined to everything that is evil, and so disinclined to
everything that is good, that without the powerful, supernatural, irresistible
influence of the Holy Spirit, no human will ever be constrained towards Christ.
You reply, that men sometimes are willing, without the help of the Holy Spirit.
I answer—Did you ever meet with any person who was?... “
(http://www.efn.org/%7Edavidc/inability.html)
In conclusion of this point, Bill, you objected to the fact that we use
such terms as “Total Depravity,” etc. Well,
I’m sure you’d agree that instead of quoting every single passage and
providing exegesis of each one, using the phrase “Total Depravity,” etc., is
beneficial for the purpose of stating in as clear and succinct a way as possible
what we believe the whole scope of Scripture teaches with regard to the nature
man, etc. The simple fact of the
matter is that we would never be able to engage in any kind of meaningful
dialogue about the contents of Scripture if we did not use other words that are
not found in the pages of Scripture to summarize key things taught in the Bible.
Frankly, I’m surprised that I even need to point this out, especially since
you do the very same thing.
In terms of the nature of man, we are still created in the image of God. The problem is that the image has been seriously marred and defaced (Jer 18:1-4). We still think, feel, have desires, and make choices, etc. However, our thinking is fallen thinking (i.e., it is darkened). Our feelings are distorted. Our desires are wholly disinclined from God and wholly in bondage to our nature, and as such the only choices we can make are those that are in accordance with our nature, which is corrupted by sin, which means that as it relates to the ultimate spiritual good, the only choices we can make in our natural state is a sinful choice. To summarize the Reformed understanding of the human nature then, we would say:
1.
All men are created in the image of God
2.
That image has been seriously marred and defaced due to the fall of Adam
and Eve.
3.
As a result of the fall, every facet of our humanity (body, soul,
emotions, will, etc.) has been radically corrupted by sin.
4. We still retain the
ability to think, but our thinking is darkened.
We still retain the ability to have desires, but our desires are polluted
and bound to our nature. We still
retain the ability to make choices, however, since the choices we make are those
which flow from our desires, and our desires are polluted because our nature is
as well, the only choice we are capable of making is a polluted choice as it
pertains to spiritual matters.
I will speak more about the image of God a bit later.