The following letter is taken from the second edition of Predestined to Believe (to be released summer 2009).

Dear Wesley,

Your latest objection has reminded me of the condemnation of the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. Perhaps you remember the story from your studies in Christian history. Galileo was convinced of the truth of Copernicus’s heliocentric theory—the theory that proposed that the Earth and other planets revolved around the sun—and publicly embraced this revolutionary concept. Galileo’s open support for the theory eventually culminated in his being summoned to Rome in 1633 to face the Inquisition. There, Galileo was found guilt of heresy and recanted under threat of torture. He was forced to live the remainder of his life under house arrest as a consequence for believing what we know today to be true. It took nearly four centuries until the church officially vindicated Galileo and admitted his scientific observations were correct.

Now I mention this incident—not to condemn Christians in ages past—but to demonstrate that there has always been a segment of society that fears the potential theological ramifications from what they think will naturally follow. Just as the church once believed the heliocentric theory would cast doubt on the veracity of Holy Scripture, your latest objection seems to be a tacit implication that the truth of total depravity would shatter the foundation of your beliefs. This is the only conclusion that I can think of which has any plausibility. I can think of no other compelling reason why you still maintain the belief that the Bible is silent on man’s spiritual condition since the fall.

After the passages I presented in my previous letter I must honestly ask how you can still maintain the position that the Bible does not speak of the radical condition of all human beings apart from the grace of God to prevent or to transform man. We can disagree as to the extent of the fall, but I think we must both be honest in saying the Bible makes some radical statements about the nature of man after he fell from grace. Let’s first note a few things about the doctrine and then turn our attention to the biblical support.

I am not arguing that man is as bad as he could be towards his fellow man. Many incorrectly assume that total depravity implies all men everywhere are as bad as they could be. Objectors like to point to the charitable works of Muslims, Buddhists, and Atheists—to name just a few—as proof that people perform good works apart from the belief in the God of Christianity. But this, of course, is simply a false attack against what is actually meant by the term. The Westminster Confession of Faith states it plainly, "Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto."¹ Put another way, man’s depravity is total in that there is no aspect of man—be it body, mind, or will—that was unaffected by the fall. But unfortunately it gets worse. It is total in the case of our rebellion against God and in our rebellion against righteousness.

There is a popular myth circulating in evangelical churches today that goes something like this: Man is earnestly searching after God. The reality, though, is something far different. As I wrote to you before, "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" (Rom 3:10–12). This passage alone should prove sufficient that there is no delight in the holiness of God apart from His grace. This is not to say that totally depraved men cannot be religious. In fact, they can be very much so—some even more than professing Christians. I personally know quite a few people who live upright lives, but they deny their Maker. The difference is that they are not seeking after the one true God. The reality is that they have suppressed the sensus divinitus and are searching to please the god of their imaginations because they are under the power of sin (Rom 3:9). People might "seek" God as a way to protect them from death or suffering or to enhance their temporal blessings. But these good acts are performed for selfish reasons. We are told that "whatever is not from faith is sin" (Rom 14:23). Many are eager to credit unbelievers with good works, but God is the one who judges and He has already declared "all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment" (Isa 64:6). Just because someone appears to be seeking does not mean he has the innate ability or desire—apart from grace—to do so.

The apostle Paul gives as his starting point that fact that all of mankind have sinned in Adam (Rom 5:12). This is federal representation. That is, the Lord views this first man as the representative of the entire human race. Unfortunately for us, Adam plunged us into a condition where we are now dead in our trespasses and sin (Eph 2:1). All men are consequently without excuse before God (Rom 2:1), because we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). Paul elsewhere confirms this idea when he wrote to the Ephesians "remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world" (Eph 2:12). We are all without hope apart from the goodness and mercy of God.

Since the fall, men are by nature children of wrath (Eph 2:3) and are utterly indisposed and disabled to all that which is good and only evil inclinations originate from them. Paul tells us that "the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so" (Rom 8:7). Compare these words with those of Jesus who taught, "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil" (John 3:19).

A study of biblical anthropology reveals that man has a bias against God and will always choose freely and willingly that which is evil. Think for a moment what this means. With respect to matters of righteousness, man will not—because he cannot—do what God commands. Listen to the words of Jesus, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day."

Now I have often heard many try to explain this passage away by interpreting the verse to mean that Jesus "woos" sinners to Him. I would submit to you, however, that such an interpretation does violence to the text. The Greek verb translated here as "draw" is used also in the book of Acts. "But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities" (Acts 16:19). Paul and Silas were not wooed into the market but they were dragged. That is, they were compelled to appear before the authorities. John uses the same Greek term when he describes God’s action in the calling of sinners. God does not woo sinners but drags them willingly to Himself. I find this to be absolutely amazing and a true testimony of love because the "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" (1 Cor 2:14). God must give us the desire and then compel us to come otherwise we would never do so apart from the Holy Spirit.

Just as the Ethiopian cannot change his skin, nor can the leopard his spots, (Jer 13:23) the sinner cannot change his ways through his own efforts. Genuine and everlasting change transcends the ability of man and his only hope is a change brought by the sovereign power and regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. The next time you have the inclination to think more highly of yourself than you ought, just remember the biblical concept of man is one who does not possess the power of self-regeneration, and until an inward change happens, he remains an enemy with God. Remember that it was God who promised, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezek 36:26). So the reason you are a changed individual and love the Lord is because of God’s promise to deliver His people from their sins (Matt 1:21) and not because you exercised your own ability to choose God.

In summary, total depravity refers to our absolute rebellion towards our Maker in that everything we do is in opposition to God. This can ultimately lead to only one destiny—eternally separated from God. I cannot begin to express to you the importance of this doctrine, and I do not believe I am overstating the importance of this reality. If we do not see ourselves for what we truly are then it is hard to grasp the goodness, grace, and mercy of God in the redemptive plan of salvation through His Son. Once we humble ourselves to this biblical truth of our total depravity, then we will better understand what it means to declare that salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9).