Key Verse:
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them too we all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest.” —Ephesians 2:1-3
It is difficult for the human mind, particularly the American mind, to accept that there is something we cannot do – we are often up for the challenge, our pride rises up within us and we possess that burning desire to prove to the world that we can rise above the tide and emerge victorious. Challenges in life speak of the inferred inability to do something that must be proven otherwise; we are told we don’t have the “stuff” so we strive to prove that we do. This kind of pioneering spirit conquered the American west, set the Industrial Revolution in place, inspired the technological wonderland we are beholding today in this information age and lurked behind the most inspiring military victories in human history (as well as the most insidious).
When theologians speak of the term “total depravity” (also known as total inability or total corruption), they refer to a lack of ability in man to respond to God in a manner that will result in their justification. I have full sympathy for the man who immediately reacts to such a term as a challenge to his autonomy, particularly regarding his volition (will). If we were being told that we are unable to lift five hundred pounds with our bare hands, perhaps we would accept this more easily (although some might begin a serious regimen of training to prove otherwise!); but to be told what we are able to choose? Really!
It is here that the limitations of human language intersect with the mission of theology: to explain what the Word of God is really saying to us. This is the reason theological terms often possess “alternates” (such as total inability or total corruption in this case, along with more current options offered by Reformed theologians). I suppose that there is always a better way of putting something which conveys the truth of God’s revelation more accurately. Admittedly, terms like total depravity give the impression that there is absolutely nothing “good” or redeemable about man in his fallen state; that he is as bad as he can possibly be; although this is not what the doctrine of total depravity means. I suppose total inability infers the notion that man is “willing to be willing” but unable to do so in much that same way a paraplegic desires to move his legs but cannot physically accomplish the task. This too is not what the doctrine means.
The truth is: the Scripture speaks of our will in terms of what it is conditioned to want to do (because the will only knows how to do one thing: want). When theologians speak of total depravity, they are speaking about the effects of the fall on the human will and what it is conditioned to desire. These effects of original sin are clear in Scripture: from the very beginnings of God’s story in His Word, fallen man is pictured as possessing great wickedness and that “the intents of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5) David lamented to God that he was conceived in sin (Psalm 51:5) and it was the prophet Jeremiah who posed the penetrating question: “can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard change his spots?” Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.” (Jeremiah 13:23) It was the same prophet who informed us of the condition of the human heart in its fallen state: it is exceedingly wicked and sick to the point that we cannot truly know it (Jeremiah 17:9).
“Alright,” you retort, “sick, but not incapacitated from doing something a benign as asking for help!” Fair enough – let’s see what Scripture says. Jesus said in Mark 7:21-23 that from the heart of fallen man come all kinds of wicked things (He lists them) and these are the things that defile us. The apostle John tells us that the reason Jesus was rejected although He was the Light of the world is that men (not certain men) loved darkness and hated light, because their deeds were evil (John 3:19).
At this point, many of you might still be objecting to such passages as speaking only of the sad, sinful state of man, but still insist that such persons can reach out and grab the lifeboat of salvation in choosing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. After all, while we do not have the will to do good as God would demand of us, we do have the power of choice, right?
Read the third chapter of Romans, verses 10-20 and try to maintain this position. “There is none who do good, there are none who seek God.” None who seek God … does this mean that man does not possess the power of choice? Don’t miss this: no – man does possess the power of choice – the Scripture nowhere teaches that man cannot make choices; it reveals the inner nature of fallen man as someone who will never choose to submit to God and trust Him for salvation. He is philosophically able to make the choice, meaning that he possesses a will that under different circumstances can feasibly make the choice to respond in faith to the call of salvation. We need to remove this fictitious picture in our minds of sinners going to hell kicking and screaming and crying, “We were willing but we were not chosen!” This is a twisted caricature of the Biblical picture of man who is more truly spoken of as rebellious and unwilling to follow God to such a degree that he can rightly be called “unable” due to his hard-boiled condition.
This is why the apostle Paul speaks of the unregenerate mind (the mind of the person who has not been affected by the power of the Holy Spirit to change his disposition before God) as both hostile to God and unable to subject itself to the law of God (Romans 8:7). Commentators John Walvoord and Roy Zuck make this observation about this verse in their Bible Knowledge Commentary: “The unsaved lead lives that are totally void of spiritual life and ability.” What does the unsaved lack the ability to do? They lack the ability to choose for God in submitting to His command to receive and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Does this really mean that unsaved man is so hardened in his sinful condition that he is unable to choose for God with his own twisted will? Jesus said that no one could come to Him unless it was granted them by the Father.” (John 6:65). Yes, but perhaps He was just speaking about Himself as the only way to God that men need to choose (and they are able to do so). No – Jesus said earlier in this very chapter that no one could come to Him unless the Father draws them to Christ (John 6:44). You see, while Jesus certainly claims to be the only way to God, He is equally clear that we cannot come to Christ (not the Father) who in turn brings us into a right relationship with God, unless something supernatural happens that God must do, and in view of man’s unwillingness, initiate.
“Man! What can be so hard about just choosing Jesus? It’s not like faith is a work or something so incredible that it should require an act of God!” Really? Paul said, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that we all were once “foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our lives in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.” (Titus 3:3) “That wasn’t me before I was saved! I was a sinner, but I was an otherwise decent person!” Jesus too recognized that we can give good things and do things that man in his sinful and short-sighted state may consider benevolent, but He still calls us “evil” (Matthew 7:11).
Our biggest problem in accepting the doctrine of total depravity is that we have a very different standard than God does in what it means to love Him in the way a truly pure heart, like Jesus’ would. God’s overriding command, the thing upon which the law and prophets depended (Matthew 22:36-40) demands from us a love for God that encompassed the whole heart, the whole will and the whole mind. Are you willing to admit that you have never loved God this way for a split second in your entire lifetime? Every “good” action, every “pure” thought, every “fine” motive, every “sacrificial” gesture still possesses enough self, pride and personal agenda so as to make our own righteousness as filthy rags compared to what God both demands and deserves. In fact, I think He said that once (Isaiah 64:6)! It is so imperative that we possess a right, Biblical view of ourselves so that we might possess the right view of our salvation and exult in the glory of the gospel! More on that next time.
—Larry Carrino
Post By: Dr. Larry Carrino, Educational Director of The Omega Institute. ©2008 The Omega Institute, Inc.
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