Calvinism:Total Depravity Flashcards
Does total depravity mean “Utter Depravity”?
No, Utter Depravity is when man is as evil and wicked as he could possible be. He is without conscience, or any sense of right or wrong, He can’t even do that which deemed good by human standards
Total depravity does not mean that man is as wicked or sinful as he could be, nor does it mean that man is without a conscience or any sense of right or wrong. Neither does it mean that man does not or cannot do things that seem to be good when viewed from a human perspective or measured against a human standard. It does not even mean that man cannot do things that seem to conform outwardly to the law of God.
What the Bible does teach and what total depravity does recognize is that even the “good” things man does are tainted by sin because they are not done for the glory of God and out of faith in Him (Romans 14:23; Hebrews 11:6).
While man looks upon the outward acts and judges them to be good, God looks upon not only the outward acts but also the inward motives that lie behind them, and because they proceed from a heart that is in rebellion against Him and they are not done for His glory, even these good deeds are like “filthy rags” in His sight.
In other words, fallen man’s good deeds are motivated not by a desire to please God but by our own self-interest and are thus corrupted to the point where God declares that there is “no one who does good, no not one!”
Total depravity means that the fall was so serious that it affects the whole person. The fallenness that captures and grips our human nature affects our bodies; that’s why we become ill and die. It affects our minds and our thinking; we still have the capacity to think, but the Bible says the mind has become darkened and weakened. The will of man is no longer in its pristine state of moral power. The will, according to the New Testament, is now in bondage. We are enslaved to the evil impulses and desires of our hearts. The body, the mind, the will, the spirit—indeed, the whole person—have been infected by the power of sin.
Do people beome sinners because they sinned?
No, we sin because we ARE sinners. We are born with a fallen or sinful nature, and so when we sin, we do so out of our own nature.
Why don’t people think that they are totally depraved?
because Satan “has blinded the minds of the unbelieving” (2 Cor. 4:4)
The true state of the human heart: Good, Neutral, or Evil?
We are not basically good, decent folks who will do what is right if we’re only given the chance. The very core of our being–”every intent of the thoughts of our hearts” is “only evil continually.”
It’s not just that people have a mean streak or that we occasionally sin. God’s declaration is that “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Gen 6:5
NIV
5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.
NLT
5 The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.
And before we think that this was only before the flood, God repeats this statement after the flood
Gen 8:21
21 And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things.
It the above verse we see that we don’t become this way, but that it is from Childhood that we are this way, indeed David says we are born this way
In Psalm 51:5, David laments, “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” .
So why then, if we are so evil, do we think of ourselves as basicaly good? For two reason:
2 Corinthians 4:4
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Jeremiah 17:9:
“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”
The phrase desperately wicked is from the KJV. Some of the modern translations use other wording such as “beyond cure” (NIV) and “desperately sick” (NASB and ESV). The Hebrew word translated “desperately wicked” has the idea of a terminal, incurable illness.
The Westminister confession about total depravity
By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of soul and body. They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed; and the same death in sin, and corrupted nature, conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation. 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
Why did ALL inherit Adams sin?
Adam was the representative of the human race, so that his sin was charged to all who followed. Some will protest, “That’s not fair!” But several things must be said. First, there is nothing unfair about the concept of representation. Our entire government is built on it. The decisions our elected officials make affect us. But you may still protest, “I didn’t vote for Adam to represent me.” But, God did! God determined that Adam’s choice would represent the human race. We have no reason to believe that we would have acted any differently had we been there ourselves. When our representative fell into sin, the human race was linked to him, so that all are born in sin
If the condition of the heart is incurrable, what then is the solution given in scripture
God promises to Give us a new Heart, a new Spirit of obediance.
Psalm 51:10
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Ezekiel 36
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
Jeremiah 31:33
33 “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
That promise finds it fullfillment in Christ
John 1:12-13
12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
The result of being reborn, being given a new heart, a new spirit, is a changed life.
1 Corinthians 6
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous[a] will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,[b] 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
2 Corinthians 3
2 The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves. Your lives are a letter written in our[a] hearts; everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you. 3 Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.
The doctrine summary
The doctrine of total depravity asserts that people are, as a result of the fall, not inclined or even able to love God wholly with heart, mind, and strength, but rather are inclined by nature to serve their own will and desires and reject his rule.
What does “Total” mean?
A.) Total means EVERYONE, there is NO ONE outside of the fall
1 Kings 8:46
46 “When they sin against you—FOR THERE IS NO ONE WHO DOES NOT SIN—and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive to their own lands, far away or near;
Psalm 143:2
Do not bring your servant into judgment, FOR NO ONE LIVING IS RIGHTEOUS before you.
1 John 1:8
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Romans 3:9
9 Well then, should we conclude that we Jews are better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles,[a] are under the power of sin.
B.) Our Rebellion and Hardness against God is total. Apart from the grace of God their is no seeking God, delighting in God, no glad submission.
Romans 3:10-12
10 As the Scriptures say,“No one is righteous, not even one.11 No one is truly wise; NO ONE is seeking God. 12 ALL have turned away; ALL have become useless. NO ONE does good, NOT A SINGLE ONE.”
John 3:19
19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.
C.) Mans inabillity to submit to God and to do good is total.
Romans 8:5 (NLT)
Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. 7 For the sinful nature is ALWAYS HOSTILE TO GOD. It NEVER DID OBEY God’s laws, and it NEVER WILL. 8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature CAN NEVER PLEASE GOD.
Romans 8:5
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.
John 3:5-6
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit.
Romans 6:17
17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
D.) Our damnation and destruction is Total
Ephesians 2:3
3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
1 Thesalonians 1:8-9
8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might
If natural man is completely unable to submit to God, then how can they beld acountable for not submitting?
The fact that people are so in love with doing evil and therefore does not choose to do good, does not excuse them of choosing good. In fact, it intensifies their guilt.
There is also a difference between moral inabillity, and physical inabillity. If a man is sitting in a chair, and with everything inside him he wants to get up, but he is physically unable to get up and you punish him, then you are treating him unjustly
But if a man sits a the chair, and he is told to get up, but he loves sitting in that chair so much that he refuses, then that love rises to moral inabillity, and it is just to punish such a man
The heart of natural man is in such bondage to sin that it loves it’s sin so much that it refuses to give it up, and is therefore morally unable to choose God.
