“CAN TOTAL DEPRAVITY BE REFORMED?”
“CAN TOTAL
DEPRAVITY BE REFORMED?”
In
order to impress upon their congregations the horrific consequences of
sin and
the reality of a literal burning in hell, preachers may not let
language get in
the way of making a point.
Would
John Calvin have been any different?
Just
as flinty foreheaded prophets confronted a putrifying and rebellious
Israel
(Ezekiel 3:8-9; Isaiah 1:5-6),
would it not seem that Calvin similarly
approached
his Geneva commission?
Hoping
to awaken his tired and listless Geneva as to their nonchalance to sin,
is he
to be condemned by ‘supercharging’ the Bible’s term of “dead in
trespasses and sins” (Ephesians
2:1) to call it total
depravity
… by the way … not a phrase found in any version.
But
how much sin is needed to be a totally depraved man?
The
Bible says just one sin will do the job …
“For
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point,
he is
guilty of all.” (James 2:10)…
indeed …
“…
Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things
which are
written in the book of the law to do them.” (Galatians 3:10)
Now
the apostle Paul in his third chapter of Romans, succinctly concludes
that all
have sinned coming short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), having
described in
his first chapter the twenty three characteristics of ‘bad’
sinners, along with homosexuality; and in chapter two
condemning the uncircumcised
of heart, the self-righteous ‘good’ sinners with hardness and
impenitent
hearts (Romans 2:5,29).
As
a preacher once said “In comparing ourselves to the purity and
sinlessness of
God, we are all as black as the ace of spades down a coal mine at
midnight …
with dark glasses on!”
And
would you agree Dear Reader, that this is what earnest John Calvin was
hoping
to instil into his hearers?
Indeed
God tells us that none that ‘seekETH’, ‘understandETH’ or
‘doETH’
after God
(Romans 3:11-12).
But
are these verbs the same as seek, understand and do?
To
those who understand Bible language, let me put it this way … when
describing
rainfall we can say it was ‘continual’ … that is … it stopped
for a
while then started again before stopping and so on … rainfall with
gaps in
between.
Where
as with ‘continuous’ rainfall, there is no let up.
And
so the ending of ‘-eth’ on a verb represents the present,
the on-going and continuous tense of that verb.
So
Paul is right in saying, that there are none who will with continuous
effort seeketh the Lord … that is … full on all the time … no let ups.
However,
from time to time they just might seek the Lord occasionally … as shown
below …
seek
after God
You
know from time to time unsaved people do have the following
questions …
Is
there a God? How can I find out? Is God the creator or
is it evolution? And so
on.
These
are natural questions of those who are dead in trespasses and sins …
and as
pointed out … the good sinners and the bad.
Question:
So
where did this ‘spark’ come from … such that a man … dead in trespass
and sins,
or as Calvin would say, the totally depraved man … for him to seek
after God?
Could
the answer lie in the first chapter of John where we find that Jesus
Christ is
the Light that lighteth (present, continuous, on-going)
all
men that cometh into the world (John 1:9)?
Dear
Reader, does this mean that all men have a conscience about what is good
or not?
The
Bible says “Yes” in that all men have their own standard of
morals as
follows …
“Therefore
to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
(James
4:17)
Now
the Calvinist would use the terms ‘regenerated’, ‘born again’,
‘enlightened’ or
‘quickened’ to describe the Light that ligtheth every man … the key
needed to
start the spiritual starter motor in man … for his free will to
kick
into gear.
Dear
Reader, as unsaved men, before we were saved, we all knew that we had
to turn
over a new leaf … particularly around New year … you know … start again
and
drop off the old bad habits of the flesh.
As
the Bible says, we were not slaves to sin (although it
felt like
it) … we were servants of sin (Romans
6:17) … and could of our own free
will
leave the employ of Satan … at any time … not wondering whether God
would
select us or not.
Hopefully
Dear Reader, the above explanation would suffice for the term total
depravity to be renamed as the Bible would put it … simply dead
in trespasses and sins … and its rightful meaning.
Harley
Hitchcock
August 2025
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