Let’s talk about this thing called total depravity. The sin of mankind is clearly evident in all that we see before us. But how far does this go? There is a lot of good being done in this world, so how do we reconcile the idea of “total” depravity with the incontrovertible fact that good is happening on a daily basis worldwide?
This idea is especially relevant in a discussion on personal freedom. Are we free to choose the path of our lives? Is freedom just an illusion/delusion on our part? Some believe this, both in the scientific naturalist position and in the Christian determinist position. Are we just prisoners to our genetic make-up, driven only by chemistry and biology, every choice having been predetermined by the whims of our parents and their parents before them? Are we pawns on the chess board of God, being moved from square to square by a sovereign hand from on high, without any say as to where we are moved?
The following points are not meant to be a thoroughly exhaustive theological discussion, only “food for thought” on the subject. Two things are sure: man has freedom of choice, and God is sovereign and not surprised by anything we do.
Essentially total depravity is the impossibility of man to save himself by good works because man is incapable of choosing good in his own power. That’s the way I define it.
• All men are born in sin and are sinners by nature
• All persons are born lost and in need of salvation
• Good works cannot save
• People cannot choose good without the power of God working with and in that person
• No person has ever accepted Christ as His Savior without the call of God (the Holy Spirit)
• The Holy Spirit calls all men to be saved
• When a person “accepts” Christ as His Savior, that person is choosing Christ and God’s plan of salvation by faith and repentance, and receives forgiveness of sin by God
• Choosing Christ is not a good work; the work is done by God; all a person does is surrender to God’s plan of salvation by their individual/personal faith and repentance
• It is good to choose Christ/God’s plan of salvation, but not a good work
• Therefore all humankind can choose to do good by accepting Christ as their Savior
• Total depravity does not mean that mankind cannot choose to do some good things, only that mankind cannot save itself without the work of God
• All people on the earth do occasional good; American citizens vote for candidates and issues that are in agreement with the Scripture and are “good” from time to time (actually this form of “good” has been done quite frequently in American history). This is why we seek to persuade our fellow man to choose Christ first, but also to make wise choices as citizens in who and/or what they vote for when each election comes along; this is a good thing (but no substitute for choosing to trust Christ as Savior)
• Indeed, as evangelical Christians we are working very hard to convince lost people to choose to do good in our communities, states and nations by being charitable and moral; we are constantly asking lost people to “do the right thing” and “choose life;” as well we ought to
• Therefore we do believe that lost people can do some good and make good choices, therefore total depravity does not mean (to most of us) that mankind can do no good at all at anytime; in other words, total depravity is not absolute, or the world would have ceased to exist a long time ago because of their total evil. The world is not totally evil; it is totally fallen and needs a Savior
• The ability of a lost person to choose to do occasional good does not save them; only faith in Christ and repentance of sin saves the individual person
• There is no such thing as universal salvation; salvation is an individual choice
• One of the great conversation blockers among Christians is their ability to talk past each other without understanding the meaning of the terms they are using. Christians have been notorious for using common theological phrases and words but then pouring different meanings into those words, thus two believers can be using the same words but meaning different things and therefore they don’t understand each other; they may as well be speaking in tongues (without an interpreter) when they do this
• For those who believe that people do not have freedom of choice to choose good, and never choose good, I submit that this is theoretical only and that no one lives this way. No matter how strong the person believes in the sovereign grace of God and that mankind has no freewill at all, no one truly lives this way. We all choose what we do first thing in the morning, where we’re going out to eat after church, where we take our car to be serviced, where we invest our 401k’s, etc. etc. Life is full of choices, both moral and non-moral, and no matter how many arguments one makes about there being no freedom of choice, the reality is that we are all choosing every day and therefore we can choose to accept Christ as our Savior or not
• Freedom of choice is the moral reality of all mankind, lost and saved, and therefore even a lost person can choose to do good. Now, “why” a lost person chooses to do good can be for a variety of reasons, either selfish or altruistic, but the fact that good was chosen, we are in agreement that it is a good thing
• It is far better to choose to do something good even if it is for selfish reasons; the individual person may not get a reward for it, but the people in his life are the better for it
• Of course, what we want is for people to choose to do good because they have a change in nature and are following the leadership of the Holy Spirit that indwells them in their new nature in Christ; one can make the argument that the only “true” good that exists is good that comes from the regenerate believer in the power of the Holy Spirit within. I believe that; but at the least we are still asking lost people to choose to do good in their lives and therefore this must be taken into account in our understanding of “total depravity.”
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