Defense of Total Depravity and its effects on the human will

Total Depravity means that sin has touched all of what a person is. In the unbeliever this means that his intellect is now corrupted by falsehood. His speech no longer brings glory to God. His motives are selfish instead of pure. His character is stained and corrupted. Furthermore, the doctrine of total depravity does not teach that the person is as bad as he can be, or that he always does the worst possible thing. Instead, it teaches that all parts and passions of the person have been touched by sin and are affected by sin. It means that our intellect is corrupted, our speech does not glorify God, and that our motives are not pure. This is because we are stained by sin and we are flawed by its effect upon us. We can recognize this fact by comparing ourselves to Jesus because He exemplifies what it means to not be touched by sin.

Jesus' intellect has no corruption. His speech always glorifies God. His motives are always pure. His character is without stain and completely flawless. How many of us would dare say that the unregenerate, like Jesus, are able to equally choose good and evil and make the right choices. Not I. The truth is that we have all been touched by sin and Jesus Himself teaches us that our natures are corrupt and fallen. Jesus said of the unregenerate...

in Mark 7:21-23 Jesus said, "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. 23"All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man." and....

Matt. 15:19 He said, "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. 20"These are the things which defile the man." and... John 8:34, "Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin." and also... John 3:19, "And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil."

Why are their deeds evil? Because Jesus said, "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18"A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit," (Matt. 7:17-18). Jesus speaks of the nature of a thing. The nature of the fallen is that he is sinful, completely touched by sin in all that he is. Likewise the Bible elsewhere says of the unregenerate...

Jer. 17:9, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?" Rom. 3:10-12, “There is none righteous, not even one; 11There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God; 12All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” Rom. 7:18, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not." Rom. 7:23, "but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members." 1 Cor. 2:14, "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised." Eph. 2:1, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins." Eph. 2:3, "Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Since God's word declares that the unregenerate man has a deceitful heart, does not do good, does not seek for God, cannot understand spiritual things, has nothing good dwelling in him, is dead in his sins, and is by nature a child of wrath, we maintain that he is incapable of making a moral choice to decide to trust in Christ on his own. We maintain that his will is also affected by sin and, as the word of God says in Romans 6:14-20, he is a slave of sin. This means that he is incapable of coming to God on his own because he cannot and will not choose contrary to his fallen and sinful nature. We see proof of this in the following scriptures from Jesus.

John 6:44, "No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day." and again... John 6:65, Jesus said, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father."

If no one can come to God without the Father drawing and granting it to him, then the person is powerless to come to God of his own free will. Please consider this again. If the free will argument is that the will of man is somehow neutral enough, somehow uneffected by sin enough, that it can make a choice between coming to God and not coming to God, then it would not be powerless and the statement "no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father," would not be true. Since the unregenerate cannot come to God unless it has been granted to Him to do so (John 6:65), then it is logically necessary that it is God who is performing the action and work of salvation in the individual. This means that God is the one who predestines, God is the one who elects and it also means that His election is not based upon looking into the future to see who would pick Him because, as we have seen, the Bible says the unregenerate's heart is deceitful (Jer. 17:9), that he does not seek for God (Rom. 3:10-12), that he is a slave of sin (John 8:34), and that he cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14). In other words, left to his own abilities which are governed by his nature, He will never seek God. Why? Because the Bible says that no one seeks for God on his own. Rom. 3:10-12, “There is none righteous, not even one; 11There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God; 12All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” Furthermore, in Rom. 7:18, Paul says, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me."

Of course, we know that Paul is not speaking about the Spirit indwelling him, for the Spirit is good. Rather Paul is speaking about his sinful nature. Therefore, if it is true that the unregenerate can choose God out of His own free will (which I do not believe), then we find something good in that person, something that has made a good and wise choice. Furthermore, it would mean that God finds some sort of favor or merit in that person by which He then elects him since God is basing His decision to elect because of a quality and action in the individual. But, this would be contradictory to what the Word of God has declared that nothing good dwells in the unregenerate and that God is impartial in His elective choice. Furthermore, given the sinful nature of the unregenerate, it is not in the will of the unsaved to be born again. It is not of the will of man but of God since it is God who causes us to be born again. Proof of this is found in the two following verses...

John 1:12-13, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” and 1 Pet. 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." Therefore, we can see that because of the sinful nature of the unregenerate, because of the bondage of sin within him, because his heart is full of evil, because He does not seek for God, God must intervene and elect individuals lest none be found redeemed. In other words, God, in His sovereignty, regenerates the unregenerate giving them the ability to then desire God and granting that they believe as Phil. 1:29 so clearly states. The rest He lets go their natural way, to damnation. But then, some will object in various ways.

First, some will say that God does not intervene in the hearts of individuals so as to affect their choices. But the fact is that the Scriptures declare that God does exactly that.

Exodus 4:21, "And the Lord said to Moses, 'When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go."

Yes, Pharaoh also hardened his own heart (Exodus 8:32, "But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go."), but this verse clearly teaches us that God also hardened Pharaoh's heart. Deut. 2:30, "But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass through his land; for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to deliver him into your hand, as he is today." 1 Sam. 10:9, “Then it happened when he turned his back to leave Samuel, God changed his heart; and all those signs came about on that day.” Prov. 21:1, “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever He wishes.” Rom. 9:18, "So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires." Likewise, God also softens the hearts of people as is declared in the following scriptures.

Deut. 29:4, "Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear." Jer. 24:7, "‘And I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart." Still, some will say that God simply works a kind of prevenient grace in a person that cooperates with the person enabling him to choose God of his own free will. This prevenient grace is said to be a grace given by God to an unbeliever that woos the person and gently persuades the person, to come to Christ. It is a "quickening, aiding and directing of the energies of the free will of man" towards acceptance of Christ as a Wesleyan pastor once said. But, of course, the final decision is up to the individual.

But, where is this in scripture? Where does it say that God helps a person believe by working grace into him?

If you say John 6:44 ("No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him"), then you admit that human nature is incapable of coming to God on its own, thereby validating the truth of total depravity and the inability of man to choose God apart from God's regenerative work. If you look to John 12:32 ('If I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men unto me;'), then "all" here cannot mean every individual since there is no other way to be saved but by the gospel of Jesus and not all have heard that gospel of Christ. Still, some will ask how can God hold someone responsible for that which he cannot help but do?

First of all, total depravity does not mean that men cannot make choices. It says that their choices will only be consistent with the nature of fallen man which, we have seen from God's word, is fallen, a slave of sin, full of evil, is incapable of understanding spiritual things, and does not seek for God. Second, if the claim that it is not right for a person to be held responsible for doing only that which is consistent with his nature would mean that the devil himself is exempt from judgment since he also is only following the dictates of his fallen nature. There is so much more to say, but the simple truth is that God is in control of salvation. It is He who predestines. It is He who elects. It is He would guides the heart. It is He who grants that we believe (Phil. 1:29) and causes us to be born again (1 Pet. 1:3) because the truth is that as fallen people, we will not be born again of our own wills, but of God's will (John 1:13). To God be the glory for saving any of us and He did save us in spite of our bondage to sin, in spite of us never seeking for God, doing no good, and not understanding spiritual things. He saved us because of Jesus, for His glory, and by complete grace, not grace based upon the decisions of man. Instead, grace based on the decision of God.

" First of all, total depravity does not mean that men cannot make choices. It says that their choices will only be consistent with the nature of fallen man which, we have seen from God's word, is fallen, a slave of sin, full of evil, is incapable of understanding spiritual things, and does not seek for God. "

Jesus said that a man can not serve 2 masters, either they would love the one and hate the other.
Man has never been totally free since the fall, mankind is serving someone or something.
Having said that, the ONLY time man had total " Free Choice " was before the fall in the garden of Eden.
Man's character, spirit, being was totally pure and in right standing with GOD.
God told them they had a free choice, that they can eat of any tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, i.e. THE LAW , how else would we know what is good or evil unless we had GOD's law ?
There was also another tree in the mist of the garden called the tree of life ( Jesus Christ ), but, they rejected Free Grace and choose to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the law, so the knowledge of sin, and sin's consequences came into this world and was cursed.

Genesis 2

16. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

See there ? God gave man free choice before the fall.
He told Adam " of every tree of the garden you may eat ( * FREELY * )

But ? of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not ( heard that before ? shall not ? ) eat of it, in other words, no free choice, it's forbidden.

The LAW , the 10 Commandments kills, brings death, condemns, uncovers sins, condemnation , but, the spirit gives life, Jesus Christ gives life, Free Grace gives life ) ...

2 Corinthians 3 verse 4-11

4. Such confidence we have through Christ before God.
5. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.
6. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The Greater Glory of the New Covenant

7. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was,
8. will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
9. If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!
10. For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.
11. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

THEREFORE !!!!
THERE IS NOW NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS !!

Romans 8

1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

3. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

5. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

6. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

8. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

For those who mind the things after the law, human efforts, human merit mind in their natural state of the things of the flesh.

They are carnally minded, human minded and blinded.
They walk after and in the strength of their human efforts and flesh.
They are at war, enmity against GOD, for they are not subject to the law of Free Grace that is in the New Covenant, nor can they know free grace while abiding in the law blinded.
They can not please GOD in their human efforts, human works, human merits because GOD rejects it and declares it as stinking smelling rags.. i.e. their self prideful self made righteousness.
So they ? that are in the flesh, who walk after the flesh, who are not walking in faith, in free grace, can not please GOD,:

For without faith it is impossible to please GOD.

Jesus Christ IS the bread of life, there is no other one in whom we can get life here on earth, and ever lasting life.
Jesus Christ is the tree of life.

See there ? God gave man free choice before the fall. He told Adam " of every tree of the garden you may eat ( * FREELY * )

Just a note. I was at the nursing home where I give a Bible Study and an Elderly Woman justified Abortion by Free Will. Just thought you should know. On Adam and Eve, at that point, did not know sin. After the fall, much changed within them and for them.

But the Free Will folks have to say that their will was undamaged - that the Fall of Man was not so bad.

Of course the Apostle Paul puts it a different way, saying "Dead in Trespasses and Sin" over and over again. He cites the effects of sin quoting the Old Testament "There is NONE that Seeks for God" in Romans. And he cites many more effects of the fall on man.

But will you listen to Christ, who citing Abraham saying to the Rich man in Hell "Even if someone were to come back from the Dead they WILL NOT BELIEVE".

Funny how people dismiss these scriptures in Favor of the Man Centered Doctrine of Free Will.

" Funny how people dismiss these scriptures in Favor of the Man Centered Doctrine of Free Will. "

That is more in line with the doctrine of Arminianism, the doctrine that man has a free will, and that man has some good in him that he is able to respond to GOD.

The Arminianist preach a Gospel of works and the law.... but, the Apostle Paul says in the book of Galatians 1, that it is " ANOTHER GOSPEL " ...

Galatians 1

Verse 6-9 ....

( ** 6. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
7. which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.
8. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!
9. As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! .....

OPPS !!!! Paul says, " let them be under GOD's curse " ....

Galatians 3

1. You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.
2. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?
( 3. Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? )

( **** Romans chapter 8 verse 1-11 explains this:

1. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
2. because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free from the law of sin and death.
3. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.[c] And so he condemned sin in the flesh,
4. in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5. Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
6. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
7. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
8. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
10. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life[d] because of righteousness.
11. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of[e] his Spirit who lives in you. **** )

4. Have you experienced[b] so much in vain—if it really was in vain?
5. So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?
6. So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[c]

Paul is asking ? did you receive the SPIRIT of God by the law ? or by hearing ? hearing by faith ?
Was the Gospel effectual to you by doing works and keeping the law ? or was it by the HOLY SPIRIT through faith ?

Paul say in 2 Corinthians 3:6:

Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

Paul says in Galatians 3

That anyone who relies on the law will not be justified before GOD...

10. For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”[e]
11. Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”[f] 12. The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”[g]
13. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”[h]
14. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

Any one who rely on the works of the law are under a curse !

OPPS !!!

The only name that any man can be saved, is the name of Jesus Christ, and the only way any man can be saved is through the blood anointing work of Jesus Christ, for it is by Grace that your are saved through faith, and not of ourselves.
Anyone who tries to into the sheepfold by " another way " " another Gospel " other than Jesus Christ's work on the cross of his anointing work of his blood is a thief and a robber.
For the enemy comes but to steal, kill and destroy, but, Jesus Christ came to give us life and life more abundantly.
Anyone who preaches another way other than Jesus Christ is a anti-Christ.

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