Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

 ¹¹  “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

 ¹²  ‘I fast twice a week;  I pay tithes of all that I get.’

 ¹³  “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’

 ¹⁴  “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other;  for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  Luke 18:9-14.

“TULIP”, the Reformed Doctrine of Salvation a/k/a Five Points of Calvinism starts humbly with the “T” of “Total Depravity”. 

Here is what The Canons of Dordt state in part about “Total Depravity”.

THIRD AND FOURTH HEADS OF DOCTRINE
Of the Corruption of Man, His Conversion to God, and the Manner Thereof.

Article 1.  Man was originally formed after the image of God. His understanding was adorned with a true and saving knowledge of his Creator, and of spiritual things; his heart and will were upright; all his affections pure; and the whole man was holy; but revolting from God by the instigation of the devil, and abusing the freedom of his own will, he forfeited these excellent gifts; and on the contrary entailed on himself blindness of mind, horrible darkness, vanity and perverseness of judgment, became wicked, rebellious, and obdurate in heart and will, and impure in his affections.

Article 2.  Man after the fall begat children in his own likeness. A corrupt stock produced a corrupt offspring. Hence all the posterity of Adam, Christ only excepted, have derived corruption from their original parent, not by imitation, as the Pelagians of old asserted, but by the propagation of a vicious nature.

Article 3.  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.

Here is how Total Depravity is described in Five Points of Calvinism by David N. Steele and Curtis C. Thomas. Louisville: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1989, page 25. 

“When Calvinists speak of man as totally depraved, they mean that man’s nature is corrupt, perverse, and sinful throughout. The adjective “total” does not mean that each sinner is as totally or completely corrupt in his actions and thoughts as it is possible for him to be. Instead, the word “total” is used to indicate that the “whole” of man’s being has been affected by sin. The corruption extends to every part of man, his body and soul; sin has affected all (the totality) of man’s faculties – his mind, his will, etc.”

“As a result of this inborn corruption, the natural man is totally unable to do anything spiritually good; thus Calvinists speak of man’s “total inability.” The inability intended by this terminology is spiritual inability; it means that the sinner is so spiritually bankrupt that he can do nothing pertaining to his salvation. ”

“It is quite evident that many unsaved people, when judged by man’s standards, do possess admirable qualities and do perform virtuous acts. But in the spiritual realm, when judged by God’s standards, the unsaved sinner is incapable of good. The natural man is enslaved to sin; he is a child of Satan, rebellious toward God, blind to the truth, corrupt, and unable to save himself or to prepare himself for salvation. In short, the unsaved man is DEAD IN SIN, and his WILL IS ENSLAVED to his evil nature.” (Emphasis added.)

A few Biblical descriptions of Total Depravity:

Romans 5:12:
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned–”

Ephesians 2:1-3:
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.  Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

Romans 3:10-11:
“as it is written,
“THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,
THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;
THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD,
THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.” (Emphasis added by bold, italic underline)

Bill’s Conclusion:

This “Total Depravity” point is difficult for our pride to swallow.  But, as the Scripture for today states:  “he who humbles himself will be exalted.”   

If we correctly understand this first point of total inability to save oneself or prepare oneself for salvation, then we understand and appreciate all the more the need for God’s unconditional election of us, which is the second point of Calvinism.  There is nothing virtuous or desirable or “calling to God” in our “total depraved” nature that motivates God to elect us.  There is no condition that we can supply that motivates God to elect us.    

We need to understand our hopeless state, repeatedly referred to in Scripture as “dead”, in order to understand our desperate need for a Savior to handle all the points of salvation.