There is a popular saying in some Reformed circles. It is an evil saying which is detrimental to the promotion of holiness and the glory of God. I hesitate to say Reformed circles, because the saying is neither Reformed, nor even at all common in Reformed circles. The saying is simply, "I am totally depraved." That is, "I, a regenerated believer, am totally depraved." Although on the face of it, this saying seems an irreconcilable contradiction, it might sound orthodox to some, since it uses specifically Reformed terminology. After all, doesn't the "T" in "TULIP" (the five points of Calvinism) demand it? Doesn't the "T" mean "total depravity," in the sense that everyone without exception is totally depraved?
Therefore all men are conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath, incapable of saving good, prone to evil, dead in sin, and in bondage thereto, and without the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit they are neither able nor willing to return to God, to reform the depravity of their nature, nor to dispose themselves to reformation. (Canons III/IV:3)
Even this description of "total depravity" from the original "five points of Calvinism," the official confessional standard for Reformed churches, indicates that there is in fact an exception. Every man (but for Adam and Christ) were indeed "totally depraved" from their very conception and by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:1-10; Rom. 5:12-21), but the Heidelberg Catechism also highlights this exception:
Q. 8. Are we then so corrupt that we are wholly incapable of doing any good, and inclined to all wickedness?
A. Indeed we are, except we are regenerated by the Spirit of God. (LD3)
In fact, the original "five points of Calvinism" (the Canons of Dordt), in order to present the contrast and wonder of it, deliberately combines the treatment of "total depravity" with the treatment of the "I" in "TULIP": "irresistible grace."
[God] opens the closed and softens the hardened heart, and circumcises that which was uncircumcised, infuses new qualities into the will, which, though heretofore dead, He quickens [i.e. makes alive]; from being evil, disobedient, and refractory, He renders it good, obedient, and pliable; actuates and strengthens it, that like a good tree it may bring forth the fruits of good actions.
And this is the regeneration so highly celebrated in Scripture and denominated a new creation: a resurrection from the dead, a making alive, which God works in us without our aid. (Canons III/IV:11-12)
So in fact, to say "I, a regenerated believer, am totally depraved" is not an affirmation of the "T" in "TULIP," but a denial of the "I." The description of the changes made (since, God "infuses new qualities into the will") in the one who is regenerated are completely contrary to the description of the one who is totally depraved, and this difference is underscored further in Canons III/IV:R4. For example, the regenerate has a "good" will, where before he had an "evil" will (Canons III/IV:11). The bondage of the will in those who are totally depraved to evil is underscored also by Canons III/IV:1 with Canons III/IV:R2 and Canons III/IV:R3. But what does Scripture say? Some insist that Scripture teaches that the regenerate are (still) totally depraved, by appealing to such passages as this:
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. (Romans 7:18)
Notice the following:
- Paul deliberately qualifies in what sense no good thing dwells in him - not generally, but "in his flesh".
- By "flesh" he does not mean the totality of his human nature (which would include his will), since he confesses: "for to will is present with me".
- It is actually his (regenerated) will, and not merely Christ's will or the Spirit's will in or through him, since he says later "the good that I would".
- By "flesh" he also does not mean the totality of his (regenerated) mind, since he says "I delight in the law of God" (notice again qualified: "after the inward man", his inward man, not merely Christ or the Spirit in him, that is, his regenerated inner spiritual life).
- His (regenerated) mind is distinguished from his "flesh" since he says in the same passage "the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" whereas he delights in the law of God.
- The distinction between his regenerated life, involving mind, will, and affections in which there does dwell good things, and his "flesh" is not a case merely of the soul or spirit vs. the body, since in his members, when attempting to perform what is good, he finds another principle warring against the good.
- He does not mean that his members are the source of this sinful principle (which would be nonsense, since Christ teaches that sin comes from the heart (Mark 7:18-23), and sin necessarily involves not merely the body, but the mind and will and affections--some sins are specifically sins of the heart, such as covetousness which is the specific sin Paul is considering), since he confesses that he, not merely his body, is responsible for his sin: "what I hate, that do I".
- He makes clear that despite the sinfulness of his "flesh" and despite the fact that he takes responsibility for it, and longs all the more for final deliverance because of it, he no longer identifies with it, but considers his new spiritual life and his certain future full deliverance as ultimately his new identity in Christ: "Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." And "with the mind I myself serve the law of God"
- Not being thus "carnally minded" he walks "after the Spirit" which does not mean the Spirit or Christ merely walks in or through him, but he walks, and he walks according to the Spirit.
- Because of the "carnal mind", he says "they that are in the flesh cannot please God". Yet he concludes: "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit." So although he confesses that he has the "flesh" in which dwells no good thing, he denies that he is "in the flesh". When he says "in the Spirit" here, he specifically refers to what he just said about being "spiritually minded" and therefore walking "after the Spirit".
In conclusion, there is no way Paul would say without qualification that he is totally depraved, he does not do so in this passage, and in fact teaches very strongly against viewing ourselves in this way, urging us instead to consider ourselves to be "spiritual" and not "carnal" so that therefore we may all the more walk "after the Spirit" as true Christians, depending always upon God's grace which works so powerfully in us (Phil. 2:13). And he leaves no room for doubt, those who do not walk this way are not true Christians.
5 comments:
According to your post, it is wrong to say "I am totally depraved". I assume you would approve of saying "I am totally depraved according to my old man"?
Scriptures do not merely state that we are not totally depraved; they tell us we are perfectly righteous by faith: "I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity." (Psalm 18)
My question for you: If each individual one of our good works were only ours, and not also the active working of the Spirit of Christ in and through us... given the pollution that our flesh brings to each one of our good works, then how is it possible that we confess the above with David in Psalm 18?
Mike, it is difficult to answer because your question is, I think, aimed to make a point (rather than simply, for example, to learn or merely satisfy curiosity). My difficulty is that I don't know exactly what point you are trying to make. Your question seems to assume that David is describing a righteousness that is perfect according to the strict judgement of God's law. Certainly in the Psalms, David speaks as a type of Christ, but he also speaks as himself first of all, and then by extension, as a type of Christ. Therefore what he describes cannot be such perfect righteousness, as you say, "given the pollution that our flesh brings to each one of our *good* works" (I emphasize "good" because, despite the pollution that is what God calls them, and then He takes those imperfect and polluted, but *good* works, and He sanctifies them from all their pollution). Rather he is describing the uprightness of his walk of life, and even that he has been carefully keeping himself from specific sins to which he knows he is tempted and prone to ("I kept myself from mine iniquity"). This already indicates that he is not speaking as a perfectly righteous person, but as a regenerated child of God, who sincerely and really begins to walk according to all the commandments of God. Yet his obedience is not perfect--compared to the obedience of the saints in glory, it is merely a small beginning. Yet it can be described in the terms which David uses, the words even of the Holy Spirit by whom he prophesied, in the sincerity of his humble confession to the glory of God.
My question to you, is that if David is describing perfect righteousness, then how could they be his works at all in any sense? He confesses "I kept myself from mine iniquity"--only by the power of the Spirit working in him, not by his own power to be sure (nor even by a cooperation of his own power with the Spirit's power)--yet he did this. The Spirit kept him, and therefore, by that power, he kept himself from his iniquity. And he confesses that, praises God for it, and also in thankfulness relates that gift of obedience directly to the reward he received according to that obedience. And he does this certainly with the intent to encourage and inspire us to do likewise, since it pleases God to use the means of our fellow saints, teaching and admonishing one another with spiritual songs, to cultivate this same gracious obedience in us.
Hi Sam,
Thanks for the reply. My question is intended to reach the truth, and I appreciate you trying to address it. I don't think you address it correctly though, because this psalm is not merely prophetic such that it can only be spoken by Christ's person. It is a psalm, and is intended for God's people to sing in the first person. For support for this, look at I John 3:9 "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin...he cannot sin." It is not enough to say we are not totally depraved... we must say that in Christ, we are perfectly righteous. How is it that we can say this?
It appears that not only you have trouble answering this question; there seems to be an unwillingness to say that in our works, God actively works by the Spirit of Christ in us. The answer to your question is found in Canons 3/4 Art 1: "...by the efficacy of the same regenerating Spirit pervades the inmost recesses of man....He renders it good, obedient, and pliable...that it may bring forth the fruits of good actions." Also Art 12 "Whereupon the will thus renewed, is not only actuated and influenced by God, but in consequence of this influence, becomes itself active." Also Belgic Confession Art 24 "...and the operation of the Holy Ghost...worketh by love, which excites man to the practice of those works..." and in the same article, "we are beholden to God for the good works we do, and not he to us, since it is he that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure". Also, "The manner of this operation cannot be fully comprehended by believers in this life" (Art 13). Not understanding how our works can also be the work of the Holy Spirit in us is not a reason to deny that they are the works of the Holy Spirit in us.
As I see it, the only way to understand Psalm 18 and I John 3:9 is that in principle, our heart is perfect by the operation of the Spirit of Christ. Neither our PERSON nor our NATURE are made perfect - that will not happen until heaven - but our WILL is changed and we see ourselves as we are in Christ. Therefore, by faith, we see and speak of ourselves as we are in Christ, and joyfully say not merely "I am not totally depraved", but "I cannot sin". However by virtue of the old man of sin in us, which is our sinful nature which remains until we die, we still say "I am evil born in sin". These two are PRINCIPLES within us, not PERSONS. It is the same person that says "I", however he has two opposing principles within him - read Herman Hoeksema in the SB Vol 29 Issues 2 and 3.
In Christ,
Mike
It seems that you did not actually read my reply, but only answered what you thought my reply might be. I specifically denied that "it can only be spoken by Christ's person." Instead, I said it first of all must be referred to David (and if David, then by implication, all believers, as I concluded that we encourage and admonish one another by singing these words, and certainly we cannot unless they are also our own experience). And David is talking about his *walk*--not merely some secret and perfect inner life in his regenerated heart. So I have to repeat myself: David's words here are not a description of perfect righteousness, and cannot be. We have Christ's perfect righteousness imputed to us, by which alone we are justified, but our *walk* is not yet perfectly righteous, it will be in glory. David is describing an upright and godly walk in the way of repentance, but not a perfectly righteous walk.
For the rest of your reply, I'm not really sure what you are trying to prove, or what truth you think I am somehow denying, so I leave it you. I concur unreservedly with the Reformed confessions, and everything I have said above demonstrates that.
As for the relationship between God's work in us, and our work, I believe I have been very clear about that. The Spirit does not repent, for example, nor does He repent in us or in our works. He does not do our works. The Spirit powerfully works in us, so that we repent and we do good works (a point which the Canons is especially emphatic and insistent upon, and wisely so, to counteract the accusations of the Arminians). As I said, our obedience is an entirely gracious gift from God to which we contribute nothing of ourselves. He causes us to walk in obedience (so that we can confess as David did) and God crowns His gifts of obedience to us with gracious rewards.
Thank you for your blog post, Sam. It's a good one.
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