The Doctrines of Grace: TULIP Revisited
by Carol Berubee
http://www.tonyabetz.org/MSM/Product/doctrinesofgrace2.htm
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Total Depravity, Part II
Our Sinful Actions The unregenerate simply act in accordance with their nature, which is sinful, and
are bound by sin.
Titus 1:15 The doctrine of total
depravity says that all parts of man are affected by sin. The mind and conscience of the
unregenerate are defiled.
Ephesians 4:17-19 Here, we see that the mind is corrupt,
the understanding is darkened, and the heart is blind to the truth. This is not to say that sinful
man can never be pleasant or generous or intelligent or kind. Man can love with an earthly love. Man
can accomplish many things that may benefit society. However, in this world that is passing away,
none of those things are lasting. None of those things are even pleasing to God. Works of
righteousness are as filthy rags if they are done outside of faith. Whatever is not of faith is
sin (Romans 14:23). Even the Christian who does "good" works may come to realize that his works were
not good after all. They may have been good by man's standards, but if they were not set forth by
God for us to do, then they will be burned up (1 Corinthians 3). They count not as righteousness
in God's eyes even though they look good in man's eyes. How much more worthless, then, is man's
attempt to please God when that man is not a believer. The unregenerate man cannot please God in
his works because without faith, no one can please God (Romans 8:8; Hebrews 11:6). The question is,
then, where does that faith come from? Can the unregenerate man have faith toward God?
As we have seen, man is born in sin, his heart is wicked, his ways are evil, and he is blind to
the things of God. Therefore, saving faith, which is pure goodness, cannot come from man; it must
come from God. Man can have faith in himself, and he can have faith in his fellow man, but neither
of those conditions constitutes faith toward, and in, God. It is clear in the Scriptures that
simply believing that God exists is not enough; indeed, even believing that Christ died on the
cross for sinners is not enough. A man must put his trust in God and His work on the cross; he
must exercise faith in Christ, such that he is no longer his own, but is owned by Christ. Where
does this faith come from?
Man has long tried to find his way to a god, but he does not seek after the one true God unless,
and until, God awakens, or regenerates, him. Then, and only then, can the man dead in sins seek
after God. It must be a work of God to regenerate a dead man, just as Lazarus could not regenerate
himself but could only come forth by the power of God. But does man join his faith with the grace
of God to produce saving faith? Did Lazarus join his will power with God's power to regenerate
himself? Of course, not. Just as Lazarus was physically dead and, therefore, could not regenerate
himself, man is spiritually dead and, therefore, cannot regenerate his spirit.
Man is responsible to exercise faith and follow God, but where does that faith come from? It is
the gift of God, that no man may boast (Ephesians 2). The saved man cannot boast that he "made a
decision" for Christ. The saved man cannot look around him, see all the lost souls, and reason that
they should just "wake up and make a decision" as he did. When could the saved man choose God? Only
after God regenerated him could he then rightly see the things of God, for the natural man cannot
see the Kingdom of God, or understand the things of God. The regenerated man can look back and
realize that it was God who gave him the faith to see and the ability to follow Him.
God is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). God must be the one who gives us
faith to believe. The depraved man, bound in sin, cannot and will not, seek the one true
God (Romans 3). It is only when God regenerates a man that he can then understand the things of
God and respond to God in faith, the faith that God provided.
Common Questions
When God commands all men to repent or to choose life, we must realize that God's will often entails
commands that man cannot keep. For example, God commanded the Jews to keep His Commandments, but we
all know that no one can keep the Commandments. We know that God gave the Commandments to serve as a
mirror into our dark souls. The Commandments show us how sinful we are. Likewise, when God tells the
Jews to choose life, does that mean that man can choose life of his own free will? No. God, again, is
showing man how depraved he really is. Apart from Christ, men cannot keep the Commandments; yet, in
Christ, the Christian is free from the Law. In Christ, the Christian is not under the Law (Romans 6:14,
7:6, 10:4; Galatians 2:19-21, 3:12: Ephesians 2:15). Likewise, in Christ, the Christian has life.
Indeed, Christ is our life (Philippians 1:21; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3). The Christian could
not have chosen life prior to being regenerated. After he is born again, the Christian can choose
life, life that is Christ Himself. The unregenerate is not able to have faith, or please God, or
choose life, or repent. So, now you ask: How is it fair that God holds man responsible for
something that man had no control over? It's not my fault that Adam sinned, so why I am responsible?
The answer is that Adam is our "federal head." In him, we all sinned. If we argue against that, then
we must also argue against Christ's position over the Christian as our new "federal head." When
Christ died to save His people, He became their new Head. The Christian is under His Headship. Just
as the unregenerate under Adam is "in Adam" and separate from God, the Christian is "in Christ" and
in union with God. The Christian is justified by God, and Christ's righteousness is imputed to the
Christian, even though the Christian did nothing to deserve it. The Christian has no righteousness
of his own, yet he gladly receives it from his Lord. You may think it is not fair that all men are
responsible for inherited sin, but according to that reasoning, you must agree that it is also "not
fair" that those in Christ are given a new nature and Christ's righteousness that they did nothing
to inherit. Paul tells us in Romans 5 that in Adam, all die, but in Christ, all live. Let us receive
God's word that all men are depraved and are responsible, just as we receive His word that all who
are in Christ are righteous and forgiven.
Ephesians 2:3
"...among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as
the others."
"To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving
nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled."
"This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no
longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their
understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in
them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over
to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness."
You may be asking how we can say that a sinner cannot choose God when the Bible very clearly
commands men everywhere to "choose life" and to repent. Let us not confuse responsibility with
ability. Let us remember that no one deserves to live. If God were to exercise only His justice,
then no one would be saved. The whole world is condemned already (John 3:18); everyone everywhere
deserves nothing but Hell. In Adam, all die (1 Corinthians 15:22). Without God's love and grace and
mercy, no one would be spared an eternity in Hell. The Bible is also clear that all men everywhere
do have a conscience and they do have a knowledge of God as revealed in His creation. But all men
everywhere have turned aside from that knowledge, further evidence of the pervasiveness of sin and
the depravity of man (Romans 1).