Yesterday we introduced the Calvinist concept of Total Depravity. We saw that in general, the basic understanding of this idea is pretty sound.
However, when most Calvinists speak of “Total Depravity” what they really have in mind is something they call “Total Inability.”
This is where the trouble with Total Depravity gets introduced.
Total Inability
Here is what Calvinists have to say about Total Depravity as Total Inability:
As a creature the natural man is responsible to love, obey, and serve God; as a sinner he is responsible to repent and believe the Gospel. But at the outset we are confronted with the fact that the natural man is unable to love and serve God, and that the sinner, of himself, cannot repent and believe (Pink, Sovereignty of God, 187).
Therefore, all people are conceived in sin and are born children of wrath, unfit for any saving good, inclined to evil, dead in their sins, and slaves to sin. Without the grace of the regenerating Holy Spirit they are neither willing nor able to return to God, to reform their distorted nature, or even to dispose themselves to such reform (Canons of Dort, III/IV.3)
Inasmuch as Adam’s offspring are born with sinful natures, they do not have the ability to choose spiritual good over evil. Consequently, man’s will is no longer free (i.e., free from the dominion of sin) as Adam’s will was free before the fall. Instead, man’s will, as the result of inherited depravity, is in bondage to his sinful nature (Steele & Thomas, Five Points of Calvinism, 19).
Natural (soulish) unregenerate men cannot comprehend the things of God. They are the unborn dead (spiritually) who know only darkness. They are totally depraved, wholly incapable of thinking, perceiving, or doing anything pleasing to God (Spencer, TULIP, 35).
In and of himself the natural man has power to reject Christ; but in and of himself he has not the power to receive Christ (Pink, Sovereignty of God, 128).
In summary, total depravity means that our rebellion against God is total, everything we do in this rebellion is sinful, our inability to submit to God or reform ourselves is total, and we are therefore totally deserving of eternal punishment (Piper, Five Points, 22).
There is a fundamental incapacity in the natural man. He does not accept the things of the Spirit of God (willful rejection), for they are foolishness to him. Why are they foolishness? Because he is not a spiritual man. He cannot (not “does not” or “normally chooses not to”) understand them. This is another phrase of inability… (Hunt & White, Debating Calvinism, 69).
In future posts I will discuss why I am uncomfortable with the way Calvinists talk about Total Inability, but for now, what are your thoughts on this idea from Calvinistic teaching? Do you think we have total inability as the Calvinists describe it in the quotes above? Why or why not?
If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.
Guess some are so depraved and unable they get predestined to hell.
Are there two salvations?
Two salvations? What do you mean? If salvation is “deliverance” then there are many things we can be delivered from.
As an illustration, think of salvation like “healing.” Is there only one “healing”? No, there are lots of things to be healed from.
Gen 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
As created beings there is something about us that reflects the image of God. The fall didn’t eliminate us, it just broke us. It seems to me the Total Inability doctrine takes things too far. People can even be and do good and with good intentions.
Looking forward to reading more of your thoughts.
Adam, I think, is the key…he had to be able, that is, to not have total depravity (or inability) and yet he sinned…is that not freewill in a nutshell.
Adam made a choice, and his choice was not caused by sinful nature but his reasoning, will and desires. Adam’s will was not corrupt, as ours is, so his choice was less corrupted, yet he CHOOSE to sin…we are in a different boat, our choice (by that I mean our will) is corrupted by sin…yet we can choose also…
With all of this confusion about what it means to live a life without sin, is it any wonder that most people just give up and conclude that they really cannot live a “sin-free” life? I believe there is a correlation to this idea and the continual drop in the influence Christianity and the church have in America and the Industrial world.
Noah did find grace in God’s eyes. And even Cain’s sacrifice would be been accepted if he did right (had an obedient spirit). In Hebrews the some of the patriarchs and matriarch are listed there. So it wasn’t total depravity/inability but they had to walk in obedience and have enough faith to do that.
We are dead in our sins and trespasses to God we cannot on our own do anything to bring us to salvation It is God who opens our hearts and eyes to see our need for him nothing that we do
Jesus never said “You can not come to me” he said “You will not come to me.” The language used throughout the Bible lays the responsibility of choosing to follow God’s commands on us. It seems like I can agree with each point of TULIP to a degree but then they all just step too far in order to protect the sovereignty of God from the free will of man. I honestly don’t see why they should be in conflict. Reasoning and choice is a gift from God that we, like everything else, abuse.
Of course Jesus said “you cannot come to me” …
[John 6:44]
[NASB] “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
[NIV] “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.
[NLT] For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up.
[KJV] 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.
The very next verse John 6:45
[ESV] “It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me-
So the keyword here for me is “all”. I’m currently not fully unconvinced of Calvinist doctrine but the verse you cited does not convince me in any way towards Calvinism.
It sounds like the god that the angry, aggressive new atheists love to hate. It’s certainly not the God I know.
How on earth did Calvin come up with this?
Omnibus Accredo was a fourth century mystic who devoted himself to faith. From youth he determined to believe everything within the Bible, not only the words of Jesus, but the prophets and apostles, too. With a young man’s high ambition he willed himself to believe earnestly so that no man before or after could rival his conviction.
Poor Accredo, how he suffered through the terrors of those wars of holy conquest, the babylonian exile, the Lord’s crucifixion and the paralyzing Revelations.
On his death bed Accredo found himself in utter distress, his mental and spiritual powers exhausted. Faith had acquired no meaning for him but debts to be paid, blood to be spilt and sacrifice owed.
Today he is almost forgotten, a footnote in a Patristic tome, but his spirit lives on. Venerable Omnibus Accredo, patriarch to Calvin’s church.
Total Depravity means that you and I cannot possibly read the Bible as a book published for our edification from God…Well if we cant then what made Calvin able? At 27 no less when he wrote the Institutes…it is nonsense, why would God bother to publish a book nobody can read.
I’ve heard the reckless notion that the bible was inspired by God, but never that God runs a publishing house. Post what you know on Jeremy’s thread about the NIV. It could be one problem finally sold.
Ah, you see God ruined my punch line. Solved of course. I better watch out for lightning.
My thoughts exactly. What is the point and power of the Bible under a Calvinist worldview?
Adam and Eve chose to disobey, i.e., they were created with a free will capable of making decisions. As a result of choosing wrongly, all mankind is now subject to Satan’s influence. But nowhere in Scripture does it say that our ability to make decisions (good or bad) was taken away. We are all (even atheists) still capable of making good decisions that are pleasing to God, whether we believe or not. So we can make decisions on everything under the sun except whether to accept or reject God’s gift of salvation? Nonsense. The word “gift” by definition implies acceptance or rejection. Otherwise it is not a gift. God’s wooing and offer are everywhere and to everyone; it is still up to us to decide.
Consider this one example of having free will but still being trapped in evil: Giving to the church. If someone is unsaved, not part of the elect – they could give generously (and even in secret) but have an unshakeable bitter attitude about having to give up their money – and therefore they sin when they give (2 Cor 9:6-7). Or they could choose not to give which would be stealing/robbing God (Malachi 3:8). Or take a lukewarm approach – which God really hates (Revelation 3:16). So its an inescapable trap where man cannot manufacture a desire to cheerfully serve God, and perform an act which is not considered a filthy rag to God – only God’s grace and mercy miraculously changes a persons heart, or gives a person a desire to seek God. Although it seems unfair that some are not part of the elect, if you’re alive and you hear his calling, you have reason to rejoice that you are part of the chosen few!