“TOTAL DEPRAVITY”
Those who hold to the Calvinistic doctrine of “total depravity” go too far in their interpretation of the fallen state of humanity. This view contradicts many plain Bible passages, as well as causes some to think that they cannot exercise their will and their choice to make things right with God through Jesus. Which everyone can do.
The fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden must be taken seriously, because it has resulted in the corruption of everyone’s mind and will to an extent (Romans 5:12, 19). We go much too far, however, when we imply or state that because mankind is “fallen,” that therefore means that they/we cannot do anything good, not even make our own choice about whether or not we will follow Christ. Without God choosing for us, “total depravity” teaches, we cannot accept Christ. Think of that. Is that what the Bible really teaches? That people are so evil they cannot even exercise their choice to accept Christ? Is that what you really think? Have you read the book?
“Total depravity” is where “Calvinism,” a false system of belief and teaching, starts. There are five basic points to Calvinism and this one is the first. It teaches that a person who is not saved is so corrupt that they cannot choose to believe in Jesus. This, of course, contradicts many Bible statements and examples concerning people who exercised the human choice God has given to all of us to make our own decisions about whether or not we will receive or reject Christ.
It is true that the Bible says that there are “none who seek after God” (Romans 3:11). This is why Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). But He would not have had to seek and save the lost if the lost had already been “elected” in advance as individuals to be saved. That is totally illogical and silly. Jesus came to seek people who had already been chosen? Then that is not real seeking. He just “pretended” to seek according to Calvinism. No they do not say it that way, and most of them probably do not realize that is the logical conclusion of their views. But it is.
No, the truth is Jesus is seeking to save everyone who is lost. Which necessarily means that everyone can be saved. God seeks us first, but He seeks us through the Gospel message of Christ, not by making our decisions for us. That is not “seeking.”
Rather than interpreting Paul’s statement and the Old Testament quotation from which it comes—“there are none who seek after God”— as indicative of a complete and total, utter depravity on the part of all individuals, we should do better than that. Paul clearly meant it as an indictment of those who reject God for themselves, particularly those who reject the Gospel, since the Gospel is what the Book of Romans is about.
To understand the Bible, you must interpret statements in their context. And in the context, Paul had already noted the fact that Gentiles, although without the Law, can “do by nature what the Law requires” (Romans 2:14). Before they come to Christ, they are not “totally depraved” as Calvinists teach it.
It is certainly a Bible truth that we, at our core, do not care about God while we are living in rebellion against Him. Until we are confronted with the power of the Gospel, no one comes to Jesus. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). And the Gospel is a message that people are free to receive or reject. When a person hears the Gospel, they are not so corrupt that they can’t understand it or receive it unless they have been “elected” by God in advance. We are corrupt and sinful, but Calvinism uses this Bible truth to catapult into things that are NOT true.
The same man who wrote Romans chapter 3 told a group of unbelievers in Acts 17 that God created all of us so that we would “seek Him and find Him, because He is not far from any of us.” What is the matter with Paul? Can’t he keep his “theology” straight? Well, the fact of the matter is, Paul wasn’t worried about being a “dignified theologian.” He was a simple man of faith, following Christ and sharing Christ with everyone because he knew that everyone can be saved.
So, according to Calvinism, God created mankind so He could elect some to salvation and to elect others—whether “passively” or “actively”—to damnation in hell. Paul, however, said that God created mankind to seek Him and to find Him. Which means that they CAN find Him. He would not be expecting us and requiring us to seek Him if it were impossible for us to seek Him.
So the two ideas must be balanced. There is a sense in which there is none that seek after God. That describes the sinfulness of humanity. But Calvinism wants to “help the Gospel out” by taking it further than Paul intended. Paul said that people can seek God and find Him. Everyone can do that, not just some He “chose” in eternity past while NOT “choosing” others.
Without the Gospel, we cannot seek God. But with the Gospel, we can. The grace of God allows us to. God has predestined that those who will choose to trust in Jesus will be saved. Anyone can do that. But we don’t deserve salvation when we believe. We never deserve salvation. We are saved because God graciously saves us if we choose to believe. Grace enables us to be saved, but it does not coerce us to (Acts 17:30, 34).
Calvinism likes to rely on verses like Genesis 6:5, which says that the thoughts of mankind’s hearts was “only evil continually.” They say that that is literally true of everyone. But they are wrong. Noah, who lived in that corrupt society, is described as “a man of righteousness, blameless in his generation” who “walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). Was he just a puppet whom God made to walk with Him? Of course not. The thoughts of HIS heart were not ONLY “evil continually.” He willingly sought after God.
Abraham’s faith was credited as righteousness (Genesis 15:6), and he made his own choice to follow God (Genesis 22:18). Job is described as "blameless and upright" (Job 1:1). Daniel is also recognized for the fact that he was not corrupt (Daniel 6:4).
These people were not robots. They were people who knew right from wrong and made the decision to do what is right. To say that people cannot choose to do right and accept Christ is against the Bible and against any rational notion of human psychology and behavior.
If people cannot choose to do right, then why should unbelievers be punished for breaking the law? Even human law is not “totally depraved,” because it does not hold people responsible for things they cannot help. A traffic accident where someone’s life is taken, for example, is far different from someone willfully taking another’s life. Why does human law make that distinction? And we are supposed to believe that God Almighty does not make that distinction? That God condemns people for doing something they cannot do unless He does it for them? And that He chooses not to do it for everyone?
Maybe the lawbreaker has not been “elected” by God, and therefore he cannot do anything good, so he constantly does bad and breaks the law. If it is not his fault, why should he go to jail? But even Calvinists say it IS his fault. Because they know, as we all know, that everyone has the capacity to choose to do right or wrong in their lives. And they have the capacity to choose to accept Christ as their Savior, as well.
The Bible does not teach that EVERYTHING people do is evil. We have all done enough evil to be lost and we all need a Savior. But it is NOT true that mankind cannot choose to do things that are right. And it is certainly not true that one cannot choose to accept Christ.
There is a call to mankind to repent and this necessitates a human response that we can choose to make (Acts 17:30). Christ’s parable of the sower (Matthew 13:3-8) illustrates that people hear the same Gospel message, but they choose to respond to it differently. Some choose to receive it and some choose to reject it because everyone has the capacity to do both (Hebrews 4:7). We make the choice who we will serve—God or the devil (Joshua 24:15).
A biblical and simple view of the corruption of mankind through sin reveals that we can only be saved because God is gracious enough to save us (Ephesians 2:1, 8). But this is not the “depravity” of Calvinism. Calvinism says you are so corrupt that you cannot choose to follow Jesus unless God makes that choice for you. Which means you really make no choice at all.
But mankind does not possess a complete inability to do any good whatsoever. “Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They demonstrate that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them” (Romans 2:14-15). This statement was made by Paul before he wrote that there are “none who seek after God” and he was talking about people before they receive Christ and who had not received Christ. Paul certainly did not believe in Calvinism’s “total depravity.“
The correct view of the Bible is to say that all people have been extremely affected by sin, but they still have the image of God in them (Genesis 9:6). All have the ability to accept His salvation (Revelation 3:20). Jesus Himself said that those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness” will be filled (Matthew 5:6). He was talking to the general population.
Even after the fall of man, and in spite of it, God has graciously endowed all with the capacity to do good and to make independent choices about following Christ.
Bryan Dewayne Dunaway
