"Total Depravity" 2/7/08
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efore embarking on a study of the five points of Calvinism it is important to note that the acrostic T.U.L.I.P. and the so called “five points” are, historically speaking, not John Calvin's. These were developed in response to a group of Arminian followers known as the Remonstrants. This group leveled five arguments against Calvin and his predecessors. At the Synod of Dort in 1619 these arguments were rebutted with the five points (Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistable grace, and Perseverance of the saints). However, while the points themselves are not Calvin's points it is generally agreed that these five points sum up what Calvin and his followers believed regarding God's sovereignty in salvation.
“as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; (11) no one understands; no one seeks for God. (12) All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." (13) "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips." (14) "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." (15) "Their feet are swift to shed blood; (16) in their paths are ruin and misery, (17) and the way of peace they have not known." (18) "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
Here we see that “no one seeks for God.” What's important about this passage is that it points out man's total rejection of God. This verse is all inclusive, and states very clearly that no man seeks for God. The question then becomes: “If no man seeks for God, then how is it that they choose to follow him?” As Edwards so perfectly points out in his “Freedom of the Will” man can not choose what he does not choose.
-[Adam and Eve] being the root, and by God's appointment, standing in the room and stead of all mankind, the guilt of the sin was imputed, and corrupted nature conveyed, to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation, being now conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death, and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus set them free.
-From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.
For the Calvinist, it is a matter of God saving man, without man meeting any condition. It is this very point, Unconditional Election, that we will take up in our next article.
~ Founder and Teacher Jeremy J. Lundmark
The first of the five points of Calvinism is Total Depravity. The phrase “totally depraved” has in mind how much of the person is affected by sin's curse. At this point it is important to make a distinction. Total depravity is not saying “how sinful a person is” but rather “how much of the person is affected by sin.” So total depravity is saying that sin's curse reaches to every faculty of the person. The mind, the will, the emotions etc. They are all, to some degree, affected by sin's curse. If, as Jonathan Edwards stated, the will is the mind choosing, then every choice we make is somehow marred by sin.
Some theologians have, in an attempt at clarity, altered the phrase “total depravity” to “total inability”. Their point is that man, in his fallen condition, is incapable of making righteous decisions. This point must be rejected by the Arminian who believes that man has the ability to make the “right choice” in regard to salvation. The Calvinist, believing in total depravity, disagrees saying that man is so fallen that he can not make that choice. The reason is two fold. The first is that a choice to trust in Christ is a righteous deed, a good work. Second, the Calvinist holds that man, in his fallen state, has no desire for God or Christ since his mind is so affected by the fall. Man is unable to choose Christ because he fundamentally wants nothing to do with Christ.
The real question then becomes, where does the Calvinist find his support in Scripture? A number of passages may be cited but only a few will be dealt with in this brief article. The first, and most pointed, is found in Romans 3:10-18
Another passage that may be cited is found in the Psalms when David states that he was brought forth “in iniquity” (Psalm 51:5). The idea here is that when he was born he was already sinful. This goes along with the Calvinist belief that man is born “in sin”. We are born with only evil inclinations and evil desires. None of us seeks for God. What we need is a new heart, a heart of flesh to replace our heart of stone. In Jeremiah 17:9 we learn that “The heart is more deceitful above all things, and desperately sick”. The Calvinist can not conceive of that heart inclining itself to choose Christ, and the Arminian can.
The London Baptist Confession of Faith, in Chapter 6, describes the state of man in the following terms:
Original Date of Composition February 7, 2008