Beginning this blog, I pray that all who read it may not be distracted by the words that I write, thinking that I have turned this journal into a lair where men wear black robes and discuss ancient books by fire light. Mike and I have been planning to do a theological journey in an attempt to find identity within us and with the sole purpose of discovering truth, the real truth. For the next few entries, we’re going to be exploring the five points of Calvinism, TULIP
Total Depravity
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance of the Saints
Tonight, we tackle Total Depravity:
Sin has affected all parts of man. The heart, emotions, will, mind, and body are all affected by sin. We are completely sinful. We are not as sinful as we could be, but we are completely affected by sin.
The doctrine of Total Depravity is derived from scriptures that reveal human character: Man’s heart is evil (Mark 7:21-23) and sick (Jer. 17:9). Man is a slave of sin (Rom. 6:20). He does not seek for God (Rom. 3:10-12). He cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14). He is at enmity with God (Eph. 2:15). And, is by nature a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3). The Calvinist asks the question, "In light of the scriptures that declare man’s true nature as being utterly lost and incapable, how is it possible for anyone to choose or desire God?" The answer is, "He cannot. Therefore God must predestine."
Calvinism also maintains that because of our fallen nature we are born again not by our own will but God’s will (John 1:12-13); God grants that we believe (Phil. 1:29); faith is the work of God (John 6:28-29); God appoints people to believe (Acts 13:48); and God predestines (Eph. 1:1-11; Rom. 8:29; 9:9-23).
According to this doctrine, men have no possibility to choose or desire God. Could this be accurate? My answer: One of the fallacies of Calvinism consists of the severe downplay when it comes to free will. I may state whole-heartedly that I am not either Armenian nor Calvinist, but when it comes to contrasting the two, neither really make sense. To maintain a doctrine of Total Depravity suggests (or rather insists) that the free will of man does not exist. I don’t believe that Calvin considers the fact that men may resist the gospel (Luke 10:9-11) as well as the fact that the calling of the kingdom is quite demanding (Luke 9:62, Matthew 11:12, Luke 16:16). I do agree with this concerning that men are by nature children of wrath, however their argument concerning faith being the work of God is weak; I believe faith to be something of free-will. If the faith of one to place into the Creator wouldn’t that remove the significance of faith? If I were to fall in love with my girlfriend because she secretly is a witch and cast a spell on me, would not the love that I offer her be less significant than that if I choose to love her? Our God is a great God worthy of the highest praise, logically I would imagine that the Lord would desire love of the highest significance; of the highest quality, by freewill. Since creation, God has always been the initiator, and I believe that God initiates saving grace for all by the great commission and His own desire (1 Timothy 2:4). Concerning pre-destination, the verse affirming our seal in Christ to be valid, but we must be very careful with this terminology in context of evangelism. My only challenge to all of this would be from Romans 11:23, 25
Though Israel blew it with God, the Gentiles are also to be the people of God. It was never ordained that only Israel was to be God’s people.
1 Corinthians 3:16
To sum this all up, let us affirm that the validity of Calvinist arguments being that man is a slave of sin, he does not seek for God, he cannot understand spiritual things, and is by nature a child of wrath. I seem to be fumbling over pre-destination, however it is biblical and I will side with it; I do not claim to have a complete understand over the area of pre-destination. Read the introduction to Ephesians and see what I mean. This entire course is a summary, a very, very rough sketch of my conclusion of Total Depravity. Most of this argument is valid, however the missing element throughout Calvinism is the free-will of man. We’ll continue to explore this, feel free to drop a comment or correct me.
Let us end with a reminder of Christ’s great love for us, that he has died that we may live. Love one another, and do not neglect your own vineyard ☺
In His Service,
Dennis
Comments (3)
In terms of total depravity, I also found the absence of free-will from Calvinism to be a big stumbling block. Most of my research on this topic came from an article by Piper entitled Total Depravity by John Piper. I wanted to hear it from a Calvinist, but none of my Calvinist friends answered their phones. I agreed with most of his points, but ultimately the whole doctrine was unstable for me as well. Man is depraved and sinful and disgustingly egoistic.
One thing that was tough for me to grasp, at first, was the concept that no matter how altruistic or "benevolent" our actions are, if they are not rooted in a clear desire to glorify God and pursue His will, they are totally worthless. Above that, they're even sinful! That messed with me. There are so many "good" people going to Hell! I know, I know. They're not good. They're still nasty little sinner-wretches, but I can't help but mourn over how many of them would make great kingdom servants! (This could be a good way to end a total depravity sermon on a happy note, with a call to evangelism!) I totally want to be there when you preach this one!
Anyway, I just could not wrap my mind around the idea of not being able to choose. It's like God is just right-clicking people and choosing "love me!" It's funny because Paul continuously preaches on election and being chosen. You have to wonder if he's just superimposing his calling onto every other believer. (Borderline-blasphemy, I know, but I just had to say it.) Looking back on my calling, I remember consciously choosing to follow God. Did God tug on my heart? Sure, he did. However, he did allow me to make a choice. If he was just forcing me to do it or deceiving me, I don't know, (doubtful.) All I know is that I'm grateful, regardless of the sequence.
In summary, yes, people are depraved and disgusting. Our "good" acts are really just as bad as our sinful ones if they don't come from a desire to glorify God. And lastly, while God initiates a saving encounter, he ultimately leaves the choice to the believer.
Jesus used terms for entering into a saving relationship with him that implied a conscious decision by the lost person. This is seen in Matthew 16:24 when he says, "if anyone would come after me..."
I agree that salvation requires a conscious choice.
Rock on, bro. Good stuff. I guess I'm up next with Unconditional Election. Nice.
In Christ,
-Mike
Nicely done. But I may simply argue that the choice you made to say "yes" to the Lord is exactly the out-ruling of freewill. He alone could've moved you to "yes", to surrender to Him. You can't choose God out of your depravity. Only by His grace and the faith instilled in you BY Him alone were you able to receive Him.
@well... -
Nice,
I'm not entirely sure that we can define ourselves as "totally" deprived, of course though it may depend on your view of God's sovereignty. I'm no Openness advocate, but I don't believe that we can define ourselves as being deprived of free-will, otherwise what significance do we possess to God is He made us love Him. I'm not sure if I'm going off, what do you think?
Thanks for the response btw :)