Defending the Doctrines of Grace and God's Sovereignty Part 2: Total Depravity

Defending the Doctrines of Grace and God’s Sovereignty Part 2

Total Depravity

*WARNING! Explicit images!*

     So begins my quest in defending the Doctrines of Grace, and what better place to start than the beginning! Ok so that's a bit melodramatic, but the point remains the same. Let’s start, as I did in my article on God’s Sovereignty, with a definition. Something you’ll undoubtedly notice is that each of the five doctrines (also referred to as the five points of Calvinism) are interlinked. Like a chain, one is locked to the next in such a way that they logically and biblically flow from one to the next. There are of course some out there who claim only four of the five points (Amyraldianism denies limited atonement) but we’ll deal with that later.

     Put simply, Total Depravity is the doctrine that, due to the fall of man in Adam, humanity is so corrupted, that we cannot come to God of our own choosing, and in fact, without His grace, and His replacing of our hearts of stone with a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) we will always hate God and love our sin. I once heard it put like this. We are all drowning, yet if Christ threw us a life preserver, we would throw it back, spit in His face and dive! That may seem like hyperbole, but I assure you it’s closer than you might think to the truth. For now, let’s focus on an argument against Total Depravity from our friends at CAHCT:

     As we see, a lack of a decent biblical understanding and hermeneutic is rather apparent. So to begin with we must first exegete John 15:24. Here we see Jesus talking with His disciples, explaining to them that they will be hated and persecuted for His name and the Gospel. In fact, here’s that verse with a bit of context John 15:22-25: “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.’”

     So as we can see, by adding just that small amount of context, what they were doing in hating Jesus, was what was foretold and decreed by God to happen. We also see that Jesus is saying that had He not come and done the miracles and signs among them, they would have an excuse, and claim ignorance of their sin. Something else we must also realize, and it’s rarely acknowledged by Arminians, is that total depravity, as well as the rest of the doctrines of Grace, do not negate the idea of human free will. It negates the idea of “autonomous” or “libertarian” human free will. It shows a mirror onto the heart of man, one from which the wicked heart flees. You see, we may have a will, but as Jesus said in John 8:34, “everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” In other words our nature can do nothing else but that which it truly desires, to sin. And since last I checked, Romans 3:23 is still in the Bible and still says: “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God", then that means all people are the slaves of sin. That’s what a proper biblical hermeneutic looks like. We see at the end of this failstorm the attempt at tying verse 25 back into the idea of total depravity. As I’ve already shown, this isn’t even a surface level understanding of total depravity, let alone a proper exegesis. They completely ignore the “fulfill” (whilst highlighting it showing an extreme level of lack of self awareness) which means that it was preordained by God to happen! It had to be fulfilled or God would’ve been a liar! And how do we wrap this up? First by misspelling “depraved” (I wouldn’t comment on it as I’m one to misspell words quite a bit, however they go on to continue to misspell “depraved” numerous times amongst comments in the group) and second by missing the entire point as to why the did not choose Jesus! They didn’t because they were still slaves of sin! There are of course, numerous other discussions within the group that touch on total depravity, but they are generally in long diatribes that only touch on the subject briefly, and continue on through other topics. If you follow the link from my first article in this series, you’ll see what I mean. For now, let me offer some biblical verses that support and shape the doctrine of total depravity.

     Let’s begin with Jeremiah 17:9 - “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Titus 1:15-16 – “to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.” Matthew 15:19 - “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” Genesis 6:5 – “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” 2 Peter 2:19 – “They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.”

  There are of course a good deal more, but I’d prefer not to belabor the point. I’d so like to take a quick look at the passages from Genesis 6, and 2 Peter.

     Genesis 6 struck me a bit more than some of the others, as it was part of a recent debate I had with another brother in Christ on the flood of Noah. If I recall a question was asked of whether or not all people in that time were wicked. As this verse proves, that was, and is, the case today. In fact it was only five chapters later that God confused the languages at the tower of Babel, because man thought himself worthy to build a tower to heaven.

     Now a quick look at 2 Peter 2:19, which is a great contrast of the two positions one can find themselves in. If one is still the slave of sin, and still holds the heart of stone, then that is what overcomes you, that is what defines what your will, will choose. However, if one has been freed of sins grip, has had their heart of stone removed for one of flesh, then the Holy Spirit has overcome them, and to God we are servants!

     One needn’t look far in this day and age, to see the effect total depravity has on humanity. Everything from “gay pride” events:

To “trans-gender/species” celebration:

To people shooting others in mass violence:

     Its easy to see the ripples of God’s wrath as He allows man’s depravity to run wild. Thankfully, He is in control, nothing is outside of His decree (as I pointed out in my last article) and so therefore I know all things will work to the good for those that love Him. I will also point out one last verse. One that should inspire an immense hope among those who love God, or those who are just awakening to their depravity. 1 Corinthians 6:11: “Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” So after Paul’s list of examples of sins which man commits on a regular basis, he lifts our hearts with that line: “such were some of you!” He is showing us here that no matter how grievous the sin, God can and will wash and sanctify you! So if you are feeling that draw of God, know that there is no sin, no wrongdoing, that could ever separate those that love Him from His sight. Even in Acts 8 we see God pick up Phillip and bring him to a eunuch so that he would be saved! Beloved there is nothing that you can do, that God cannot forgive. Call out to Him right now, and know His love! Until next time, God bless!