Totally depraved, or totally powerless?

Recently we've been reconsidering many of the things we thought we understood regarding doctrine and faith. We have begun to question certain beliefs, church structures, and practices of the western church. Too often we have discovered unbiblical doctrines and activities. This causes us concern. We have deemed this our “Rethink.”

Our questions include, how did we arrive at our doctrines? Does the Bible really teach what we think it teaches? Why do churches do what they do? What is the biblical basis of church leadership structure? Why do certain traditions get entrenched?

It's easy to be spoon fed the conventional wisdom, but it's an entirely separate thing to search these things out for one's self. In the past we have read the Bible with these unexamined understandings and interpreted what we read through those lenses. We were lazy about our Bible study, assuming that pastors and theologians were telling us the truth, but we rarely checked it out for ourselves.

Therefore, these Rethinks are our attempt to remedy the situation.

We should note that we are not Bible scholars, but we believe that one doesn't need to be in order to understand the Word of God.
Calvinists describe their doctrines with the acronym TULIP, a rough representation of what are know as the "doctrines of grace:"

1. Total Depravity - The lost are in complete darkness and cannot respond in any way to God
2. Unconditional Election - God predestined those who would be saved
3. Limited Atonement - Jesus died only for the Elect
4. Irresistible Grace - The Elect cannot resist their salvation
5. Perseverance of the Saints - The Elect can never fall away from the faith

This is a perplexing if not odd collection of beliefs. Theologians have struggled for centuries to harmonize these doctrines with Scripture. It is the first of these, Total Depravity, we shall discuss today.

Before we go much further we should ask, what is the practical use of Calvinism? Review the above list. Is our former sinful state (#1) relevant to us as new creations? Are doctrines like the idea that God has already chosen those who will be saved (#2), a person cannot resist God's purpose to save them (#4), or a person cannot lose their salvation (#5), crucial understandings for the Church? Does it matter in any way that Christ died only for the Elect (#3) to the day-to-day life of a Christian?

No, these doctrines change no obligation to lead a holy life, to be a light, to serve one another, to be generous, to worship, or to grow in maturity of faith. None of these things are impacted by Calvinism. 

Depraved or Not?

When we think of depravity we think of vile evil. But if people are completely vile, completely evil, then we would not see anyone doing anything good at all. Yet even the lost know to do good. Paul wrote: 

Ro. 2:14:15 Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.

Since it is clear that unsaved people can easily do good things (though their good things are no eternal credit to them), we would suggest that what Calvinists really mean is that people are powerless to participate in their salvation. That is, we don't think Calvinists accurately describe man's lost state. People are not depraved (totally evil) but rather, totally unable: 

Ro. 5:6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

"Powerless" means without strength, weak. 

Every true Christian would agree there is no salvation by works. that people are powerless to save themselves. But we depart from our Calvinist brothers when they claim that making a decision is a work. Thus their logic that this "work" is salvation by works. 

Making a decision is doing a work... this the primary assumption needed to arrive at Total Depravity. However, there is no place in the Bible that tells us such a thing. It is merely inferred, a deduction made from what a doctrine implies. 

But making a decision is not an act of works. 

We believe doctrine is derived from the Bible; we should not use our doctrines to interpret the Bible. So when we approach something as critical as salvation, we ought to make sure we get it right, biblically speaking. 

Calvinistic Salvation

The study of salvation is soteriology, a theological term that makes wanna-be theologians sound clever and learned. The Reformed tradition teaches a process, likewise over-complicated, called Ordo Salutis (order of salvation):

1) election/predestination

2) Atonement

3) gospel call

4) inward call

5) regeneration

6) conversion

7) justification

8) sanctification

9) glorification.

Notice there is no step between "inward call" and "regeneration," and that regeneration is before conversion. Now, we should acknowledge that Calvinists/Reformists assert that these steps do not necessarily happen in exact procession. However, it is called an "order." If it's not an order, then there cannot be steps. 

And those steps suggest unusual concepts like one is born again (5) before he is converted or justified (6  & 7).

In any case, Reformists would say there is no interruption in this flow, from the call of the Holy Spirit to His indwelling when we are born again, on to when we are converted. It all happens by God's purpose, and we are in essence bystanders.

This is where the "Doctrines of grace" intersect. Everything happens when and how God causes it to happen, and His decisions cannot be thwarted. Which means our decisions or behavior leading to salvation, as well as subsequent to salvation, do not matter at all. 

How does Salvation Work?

So, what does the Bible actually teach? The first principle is that God desires mankind to be saved: 

2Pe. 3:9 ...He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

He acts with purpose to bring us to him:

Jn. 12:32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.

He does this by giving a measure of illumination to all men:

Jn. 1:9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

Mt. 4:16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light... 

And He has provided revelation of Himself:

Ac. 14:17 Yet he has not left himself without testimony...

Some will resist or ignore: 

Ac. 7:51 You always resist the Holy Spirit!

He. 2:3 how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?

But others will respond with faith: 

Ga. 3:22 But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.

Conclusion

Some would insist that lost men are in complete and total darkness, but it came as a surprise to us that the Bible never describes the condition of man in this way once the savior had come. It seems this moment in time created a new situation:

Is. 60:1-3 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

So the condition of an unsaved man is not in total darkness. Every man now has light, which is the ability to see God's holiness and respond to Him when He comes bringing conviction. That revelation does not guarantee salvation, it only presents itself. 

This is important: The response of the sinful, dead man is to make a decision is not based on intellectual process of the will, or due to the possession of a power to change anything, but rather due to revelation. Therefore, this is not a work, but simply a response to a spiritual stimulus.