Every one may have observed that in paroxysms of passion, or ill-humor, the judgment is absolutely disabled; we are incapable of reasoning keenly in the wrong, and very positive. It is not uncommon for persons to be thus blind in cold blood, and some all their lives. Reason never discerns itself, or any thing else truly, till it sees its own impotence. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)
“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
The doctrine of total depravity is easier to believe in the intellect than it is to have it seated deeply into the soul. While the vast, vast majority of people deny total depravity as a doctrine, even among those who claim to believe it there is the appearance that even there it is mostly an intellectual or a creedal belief only. Calvinists are known for being thinkers and of those who hold to rationality concerning doctrine. While that is a great thing in many ways, the rational holding of a doctrine is not the same thing as holding this doctrine consistently in both doctrine and life. We can see the powerful teaching of this doctrine in the 1689 London Baptist Confession below.
Chapter 6: Of the Fall of Man, Of Sin, And of the Punishment Thereof
2._____ Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and we in them whereby death came upon all: all becoming dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body.
3._____ They being the root, and by God’s appointment, standing in the room and stead of all mankind, the guilt of the sin was imputed, and corrupted nature conveyed, to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation, being now conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death, and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus set them free.
4._____ 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.
In the 1689 London Baptist Confession we see the same teaching as that of the Westminster Confession on depravity. “Man is wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body.” Then, “Man is utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil.” The mind and reason of man is as fallen as the rest of man. Man cannot even see the depths of his own sinfulness unless God is pleased to open the eyes of man to see himself. While man is in spiritual darkness man does not have the light to see any spiritual truth in a spiritual way, but man in his pride thinks of his mind as being able to discern the truths of Scripture by his own reason.
While it is the case that the great doctrines of the Bible can be set out in a rational order and given a rational sense, it is not the case that any fallen human being can understand them in a spiritual manner. As long as man continues to think that he can rationally understand Scripture and spiritual things by his own reason, man will be blind to spiritual things. 1 Corinthians 2:14 sets this out quite clearly: “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” The natural man sees spiritual things as foolishness and cannot understand them. Regardless of how smart the natural man may be and regardless of how much religious information he may be able to learn and put in his mind, he cannot understand spiritual things.
On the other hand, 1 Corinthians 2:12 sets out how a human being may know truth: “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.” It is the Spirit alone who can show man the truth. Apart from the Spirit no one can know the things of God. As long as reason trusts in reason to discern spiritual things, it will be blind. “Reason never discerns itself, or any thing else truly, till it sees its own impotence.” The doctrine of the depravity of man stands firmly against the proud mind of man in all things, but especially in the realm of spiritual understanding. Until man sees just how impotent he is in the spiritual arena, he will never see anything truly because he trusts in self and not the Spirit.
God Loves... Himself 
September 11, 2013 at 6:35 am |
I think Adam is a great analogy to offer a intellectual Calvinist. He died…and the effects of what God revealed to us in Rom 1:18 were immediately making Adam worse when he suppressed the truth and expressed to God it was THE Woman GOD gave him! Now imagine a modern day American evangelist coming w his false folly. Adam…you can have a personal relationship w God if you will accept him and repent! Pick your favorite calvinist preacher and read their Gospel summary on their website. Most mirror this in general with varying alteration of key terms. Adam was given over to a debased mind as is evidenced by the fig leave and the criticism of God (with whom he had a very personal relationship with). Adam was told he would die! He did die, take God at his word! He did die and the same for his seed for all of time! He could not change his dead nature by an intellectual appreciation of revelation and refined efforts at morality. Hardly! He was dead as dead can be and going from bad to worse under the wrath of God. Repentance is a just and due response for all creation that God is worthy of. However! The efforts at it apart from rebirth bring forth pride which cause God’s resistance, NOT his approval or affection. Adam was dead…he needed spiritual rebirth by the mercy of God alone apart from any effort at meriting anything whatsoever! Like David is Psalm 51!