Let's deal with the subject of human Depravity, and in this discussion, its opposite, namely free will. So how can free will be the opposite of depravity? Remember we said above that the corruption of the human race extends to all areas of a person’s life, and one of those areas is the will. Calvinism declares that man’s will has been affected so negatively that it is no longer possible for him to choose God or even good. Left to his own devices, man will always, ultimately, choose his own flesh, his own way.
I will not quote Arminius or Calvin in any of these discussions. The Scriptures can speak for themselves. Where shall we start? Why not Romans? The apostle has much to say about all this.
7:18 is in the middle of a discussion, but it seems a great place to begin: “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing.” That’s pretty plain. Sin has corrupted so badly that I can actually say that there is nothing good in me. This is a far cry from the “I’m OK, you’re OK” philosophy that inundates us today, finding its way into the church via high-sounding ideas like “self esteem” and “self worth”. Paul would have none of that because he had none of that! In his flesh was nothing good. Flesh only means human nature. Man before God enters. There’s nothing good there, folks! It’s a tainted view of God, in whose image we were made. Yes there are glimpses of the original, but Paul says corruption has set in.
Has this affected the will? Paul goes on: “To will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.” So the “want-to” part of our will says yes, but the “do-it” part says no. In my dreams and wishes I am a good man. But in my efforts, I fall flat. I’m corrupt. And so are you. All of you.
The Arminians hold that the free will is not restricted and enslaved by the sinful nature. Paul says it is. I simply cannot be good. They say I can freely choose God any time I want. But the question is, why would I want, unless God has chosen me first, and come to me to advise me of the choice? Why would I want God if I am so full of self?
For me, the Spirit of God worked many ways. As I tell you about them, you will surely recall your own line of communications that brought you to Christ. Here the two camps come together. Here the grace of God is given its place in our testimony. We all start with, God did this and God did that. And this is the point. We, at first, were not seeking Him. He was seeking us. I will produce some accompanying Scriptures later.
First it was the woman across the street, mother of my childhood playmate. She saw the discouraged look I always had, and simply mentioned that I should “try God.” I followed her advice, tried God in an area of my life that was needy at the time, and God came through for me. I was not “officially” saved in those days, but in the mind of God this thing had been settled for aeons.
Then came invitations to church. A local church placed a bag of groceries on our step. I was taken in by that local church for many years, and learned the basics of the faith. Still not aware of the forgiveness of my sins in any dynamic way. Then fired from the ministry of that church for believing more than they had taught me. This led me into a wilderness of searching. But as in Jesus’ time in the wilderness, it was the Spirit of God who led me there. When the find came, I could never credit my search, but only the movement of the Spirit that caused the search. Then that wonderful night listening to the preacher, expecting nothing in particular. Suddenly a sorrow for sin arose from deep inside me. Many tears. Later, a joy, an assurance that God had heard and forgiven. More tears, of joy. Incredible joy.
You see how it works. Though we want to say it was that woman or that search or that preacher, we have our eyes opened to the great fisher of men who has caught another one of His chosen. I had nothing to do with it. I was caught, and loved it. This is the way of salvation. He initiates, He calls, He provides all along the way.
Arminians and Calvinists alike can enjoy this experience. I was an Arminian then and most of my life. It did not change my experience. Knowing the rest of the story now also does not change it, but causes me to enjoy it so much more.
To the testimony of Scripture again:
John 3:6. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” (period) “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Two separate births, both of which we have nothing to do with. John 6:63. It is the Spirit that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. My flesh is corrupt and cannot un-corrupt itself. Cannot give life to itself. Cannot give birth to itself.
Ephesians 2:1-5. “You has he brought to life, who were dead…” How can you “choose God” as a dead man. He chooses you first, gives you life, and you wake up and start crying, like the new-born you are. “When we were dead… [He] made us alive…”
Romans 1-3. Paul traces the history of sin in the world, how it went from bad to worse to utter corruption, both Jew and Gentile. He concludes that only an inward work can save us, for (3:23) “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
But the very next verse states that His grace freely justifies us. What Jesus did saves us from this awful disease. Therefore (v. 28) ”we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.”
Ephesians 2:8 shows the same progression of things: “For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” Putting Romans and Ephesians together we see the whole picture. Man is dead in sin. God’s grace is revealed in Christ and communicated to the believer, whose faith saves him. But is it the believer’s innate faith? Does that faith originate from within carnal man?
Let’s take a closer look at Ephesians 2:8. Saved by grace. Grace working through faith. “That” not of yourselves. What not of yourselves? Grace? Salvation? Faith? Commentators are all over the map on this one. And there is no way to solve it by the normal appeal to the Greek. “That” is neuter. But “grace” and “faith” and even “salvation” are all feminine. No easy connection. What is the “gift of God” of which Paul speaks.
My take is this. Paul is not saying that grace is the gift of God, I believe. Why? Grace means “gift”. He would not repeat himself, in my opinion. It sounds to me like he is revealing an unusual truth here, but one that is consistent with other passages we will see. Grace works through your faith, but even your faith is not from you, but is God’s gift. Hence, salvation is God, from start to finish! That would fit in with the idea of birth we explained above. There are things over which we have no control. Conception and birth are two of them!
Romans 8:8. “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” So how can this fleshly person make a “decision” while he is still in the flesh that will bring him to Heaven? The teaching seems to be that while we were in our sins, He died for us. And while we were in our sins, He gave us life, and the ability to reach out to Him. It looked like we were making a decision for Christ, but in fact He had already done the choosing.
Romans 8:26. We do not even know how to pray as we ought! The Spirit even intercedes through us
John 6:37. “All that the Father has given to Me will come to Me. And him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out.” And John 6:44. “No man can [is able to] come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me, draws him.” These are slam dunk verses. Useless trying to explain them away. You are incapable of coming to Christ on your own! If you have truly come to Christ it was because the Father found a way to draw you to Himself!
Still not convinced? Even David knew this principle: (Psalm 51:5) “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” As he confesses his present sin, he is brought back to the origin of it all. From his very birth he had been a sinner. He had inherited what was passed down to him from Adam and Eve.
Genesis 3 records the awful story of sin’s entrance. Though man was created “good” as was all else His hand made, man soon corrupted his way by yielding to the enemy. Soon after this we see animal sacrifice introduced, by Abel, to picture the great sacrifice that would have to be made for sin later. All after Genesis 3 were sinners. By Genesis 6 things have gotten so bad that destruction is promised. How bad is it now? Sin is everywhere around us. The world is corrupt. God’s judgment is again imminent. And in some places has already begun.
Adam and Eve, it could be said, had their free will. We see where it led them. Man, left alone to his own nature, freely chooses evil. Yet God has a people who will serve Him, and He has known them from the foundation of the world.
Noah “found grace” in the eyes of the Lord. That grace upon him caused him to come out from his world and follow Jehovah. The same with Abraham and the other patriarchs. Imperfect men indeed, but chosen of God, led of God.
We have taken many trails to look at this one question of depravity vs free will. Where have they led us? What can we say about it all? Does the Arminian or the Calvinistic system line up with the facts of Scripture? Is man, though fallen, still able to, on his own, seek for and find God? If this were theoretically true, does the Scripture show us a man like this, a man who on his own was able to be made right with God? Did “righteous” Job have it? Or did God have to show even him that it is only God Who can justify and be justified? Did any of the prophets, even holy Daniel, initiate prophecies from their own nature, or was it God’s message that first came to them? Did Jesus ever say that we could do anything, anything, without Him? Or did He say the opposite, “Without Me you can do nothing!” Was the famed Paul a man who was seeking after the salvation in Jesus, or did Jesus have to come to Him, and reveal Himself to the persecutor?
I think the Bible pattern is clear. I was born in sin. I continued in sin. My carnal nature even after Christ, wants to sin. Who shall save me from this body of death? Only Jesus. He has come to me and made me His own, because He wanted to. Not by the will of man, not by the will of the flesh, but born of God, with no help from me. I couldn’t do it. He knew it. So He did it. Enough said.
