On Total Depravity - Part 1
I have interacted with a lot of people over the years, both inside and outside of Church. Roughly five years before the lockdown, I bumped into a friend who had left our church. We sat down and talked, and I let her share her reasons for leaving and her current perspective on God. She expressed her dislike for the concept of a vengeful God and her belief that people are naturally good. This observation did not surprise me, as it is a pattern I have noticed and confirmed by others.
People who leave the faith often adopt the New Age view that “God is love” and “people are inherently good.” Here’s a short post by Tim Challies back in 2015, titled, “God’s Not Really That Holy, I’m Not Really That Bad”
…how do you know that the gospel has really gotten you, that it has taken hold of you and begun to permanently transform you? I found myself pondering this question last week and was soon thinking about people I have known who once professed faith, but who eventually grew cold, grew distant, and fell away.
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The basic human condition is to believe that God isn’t really all that holy and that I’m not really that bad. God is lenient toward sin, and, as it happens, I am not really all that deeply sinful anyway. So we are a good match, God and I. It takes no faith to believe that. It takes no great change of mind and heart. —Tim Challies
Broadly speaking, those who reject Reformed Soteriology or Christianity all have one thing in common: God’s not really that holy, I’m not really that bad. Don’t believe me? Josh Nadeu (former Calvinist) wrote a Substack post, pay attention to the title, “Why I’m Not a Calvinist - Pt 1 : Humans Are Inherently Good”
“Provisionists reject the Augustinian Calvinistic presupposition of total inability.” —Leighton Flowers
“The first one and the one that everybody seems to agree on, or at least a lot of people seem to agree on is total depravity. The T of Tulip, total depravity is the first one that I actually reject. …Total inability is something I reject…” —Mike Winger
“…I don’t start with total depravity… we’re starting at a different starting point. Like we’re starting at a different foundation…” —Jason Breda
“T” is the Problem
When Christians watch debates, what most of them fail to see is the underlying starting point and how that influences the person’s entire worldview. Either you accept or reject what the Bible teaches on the depravity of man. If you get it wrong here, the rest will be filled with errors and inconsistencies. For example, in a recent debate with James White on John 6:
“Calvinists presume this audience is unbelieving by default. That’s White’s words, by default. Whereas provisionists teach this audience is unbelieving by their fault. In other words, provisionists reject the Augustinian Calvinistic presupposition of total inability.” —Leighton Flowers
Flowers is wrong that James is wrong. The fact of the matter is: James is right, it’s by default, and Flowers is also right, it’s their fault. Flowers should have known this if he was truly a Calvinist at one point. This is why I have a hard time believing that Flowers was a Calvinist. Calvinism teaches that it’s people’s fault and it’s default.
“From the Word of God I gather that damnation is all of man, from top to bottom, and salvation is all of grace, from first to last. He that perishes chooses to perish; but he that is saved is saved because God has chosen to save him.” —Spurgeon
Now, have I not answered these two questions honestly? I have endeavoured to give a scriptural reason for the dealings of God with man. He saves man by grace, and if men perish they perish justly by their own fault. “How,” says some one, “do you reconcile these two doctrines?” My dear brethren, I never reconcile two friends, never. These two doctrines are friends with one another; for they are both in God’s Word, and I shall not attempt to reconcile them. —Spurgeon
“This is the doctrine that we preach; if a man be saved, all the honor is to be given to Christ; but if a man be lost, all the blame is to be laid upon himself. You will find all true theology summed up in these two short sentences, salvation is all of the grace of God, damnation is all of the will of man.” —Spurgeon
“If a man is saved it is because God saves him; if he is lost it is because he has not believed.” —Martyn Lloyd Jones
“Since no man is excluded from calling upon God, the gate of salvation is open to all. There is nothing else to hinder us from entering, but your own unbelief.” —John Calvin
T is actually the starting point for all of your theology. T is the key. In general, I find it a waste of time talking about anything else when the T is denied. Unnecessary questions are asked when you have wrong starting point.
“One of the basic controversies today about salvation is the biblical doctrine of man’s inability. While controversy has raged for years about the doctrine of [election], most people don’t realize that the real issue is the doctrine of [depravity], which is what makes election necessary. Most people simply do not (or will not) comprehend (or recognize) the depth of man’s depravity.” —Dr. J. D. Watson
“When people have trouble with election—and many do—their real problem is not with the doctrine of election, although they think it is, but with the doctrine of depravity that makes election necessary.” —James Montgomery Boice
“That every person should grow up and do evil can be no coincidence. It calls for an explanation.” —John H. Gerstner
“The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.” —Malcolm Muggeridge
I hope you can see the consistency here. It’s not like Mike Winger denies the T and embraces the other points of Calvinism, while Flowers rejects the T and denies them all. They all deny the T and they all reject the other points of Calvinism. Perseverance of the Saints is an exception, but that’s another topic because not all Non-Calvinists reject Eternal Security.