TOTAL DEPRAVITY
Total depravity is not the belief that everything is as bad it could be, but that nothing is as good as it should be.
Total depravity does not insist that there is no good in anything, but that there is a bit of bad in everything.
Isaiah 64:6
We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Christianity is not unique among world religions in insisting that sin exists, it is unique in insisting that even our very best is still sinful. Our righteousness is ridiculous. Our cleanest living is corrupted.
We should not be surprised to discover that our best efforts are merely filthy rags, but that our rags contain any good in them at all. The shock should not be in realizing that God sees our best as offensive, but in realizing that He looks for good even in our offenses.
Philippians 3:7-9
What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.
All that to say, we should not be shocked to discover how much shit God puts up with, but how much good He is willing to find in so much shit.
“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good... We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it." ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Only those who love and pursue the standard can see how far short of it they fall.
“A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is alright. This is common sense really. You understand sleep when you are awake, not well you are sleeping.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Christianity is a waking up to the fact of sin in general and a realizing of the need of salvation regardless of the individual resume.
UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION
The Pelagian assumption is dependent upon a zero sum game that begins with a tabula rasa (blank slate); but the Bible puts forward the idea of us being conceived as debtors and daily adding new debts to the ledger as we grow. In other words, Pelagianism is grounded on a neutral that does not exist. Nothing is neutral. Claiming neutrality is, in fact, a common military formation of one of the two sides party to the conflict. Neutrality, then, is a weapon; and only one side deploys it.
Doug Wilson recently pointed out that the Pelagian impulse is to cry, "inability limits obligation." In other words, if you can't do something, you can't be obligated to do it. It is akin to proposing that if you had no choice in the matter, you can't be held accountable for your choices. You can only be held accountable for things over which you had free choice, or so the story goes. You can't sentence someone or judge someone guilty for impulses over which he had no say is the high watermark of modern logic. The same high watermark those exhibited in the days of Noah.
Genesis 6:5
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
The argument proceeds as follows,
"I want to do sinful things, but I didn't choose to want to do sinful things. I never remember making a conscious decision to be a sinner, I just wanted to sin and saw sin as attractive. It was always the case. I have no responsibility, therefore, for the way I feel. And if I cannot be held responsible for how I feel, then why should I be prohibited from acting upon my feelings? If the feelings can't be counted as wrong, then how can the actions that flow from those feelings be any less wrong?"
This sounds right in way... right? But only in a way and only because we're indoctrinated in worldly catechisms in which we have all been trained and led astray. We collectively, impulsively identify the unfairness in it and relate to the plea-bargainer's reply, of "How can I be fined for breaking regulations I had no ability to obey? How can I rightly be held accountable for feelings I didn't ask to feel?"
But this is where the divergence between Augustinian Christianity and Pelagian Christiahhhh....ehhhhh.....errrrrr....nity is most obvious.
Scripture reveals that we are all born in Adam. We have a genetic marker that compels us to follow his example and sin. We are sinful because we are sinners, not the other way around. We are not counted sinful because of our sins, we can count our sins so easily because we are sinners and so good at what we do that you can count on it.
We are commanded by God to die to ourselves. We are commanded to go against our impulses. We are not given vague impulses as excuses for disobeying clear commands. We know what we are to do and how we are commanded to feel about our feelings. You can appeal to thine own self staying true, but it will not hold up in God's court. He has gone on record as to what He requires and what He condemns. If you find yourself, by nature, feeling attracted to things He has declared abominations or feeling repulsed by things He has declared attractive, the problem lies in you and your obligation in response to that is to forsake your feelings and follow Christ.
Because we are all born into Adam, each one of us must die to ourselves on some points and go against our natural inclinations if we are to follow Jesus. No one follows Jesus and feels warm fuzzies about His commands without being regenerated from our old nature into a new nature provided by God.
God does not choose anyone because of something they did or for anything He foresaw that they would do. The conditions of our election are nowhere to be found in us. The condition is located in His loving kindness. His initiative is our confidence. Our initiative towards Him is merely our response to His initiative in us. We live, move, and have our being because He lives, moves, and is.
Romans 9:9-13
For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, "The elder shall serve the younger." As it is written, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
Paul goes out of his way to point out that the unborn sons had not yet done anything good or bad to deserve favor or discipline. It was at this point that God promised the blessing to the younger. This was not merely a statement of God's preference, but an example of His purposes in election.
A woman once reportedly said to Charles Spurgeon, “I cannot understand why God should say that He hated Esau.” Spurgeon replied, “That is not my difficulty, madam. My trouble is to understand how God could love Jacob.”
The sticking point is often Esau, right? But that math should not be too hard to wrap your head around. The real head scratcher is God's mercy to Jacob. There is no math for something like that. It is unconditional and cannot be summarized. It is a product of the grace of God in making life not fair.
LIMITED ATONEMENT
"I would rather believe a limited atonement that is efficacious for all men for whom it was intended, than a universal atonement that is not efficacious for anybody, except the will of men be added to it." -- Charles Spurgeon
If someone has a sticking point when it comes to the so-called, "5 Points of Calvinism," it's almost always just the one particular point on which they are stuck... limited atonement.
Unless you have a universalist approach that assumes everyone is going to heaven when they die, you limit atonement somehow. The question is not IF you limit it, but HOW.
You must either limit its efficacy or its ubiquity. That is to say, you must either limit its power or its promiscuity. Which does it lack: surety or scope? Because it must lack one of these. It cannot be all powerful for everyone without being universal. So, is it all powerful for some or potentially powerful for all?
What Spurgeon is quoted as saying above assumes that the atonement is limited in quantity, not quality. That is, it saves to the utmost everyone that it saves. It does not kind of save everyone or definitively save everyone. It only works for those whom it goes to work. But by this definition of the atonement, it's scope is limited or reduced from everyone in the entire world, to those elected out of the world. Rest assured, all kinds of people will be elected: red and yellow, black and white, rich and poor, men and women, old and young, sick and healthy, etc... But not each and every one from each and every kind will be elected. In other words, no kind of person is exempt, but some of each kind will be.
Many find this discrimination distasteful and opt for a more broad-minded approach saying, "the atonement made it possible for each and every individual regardless of race, nation, tongue, gender, etc... to be saved." In this arrangement, the scope is broadened to include everyone ubiquitously, however, the efficacy has now been limited. In this understanding, everyone CAN make it to heaven, but no one assuredly WILL. In this case, at least in theory, everyone could reject salvation and the atonement and heaven could end up vacant. God would still be good, but Christ would have died for no one in particular. Granted, the benefit, in this formation, would be that everyone could do it, but the fact would remain that no one assuredly would and those who have previously done it should fret that perhaps they didn't do it quite enough or must do it again later just to be safe.
Limiting atonement's scope is the only measure of providing any security to anyone's salvation. While it does mean that some will most assuredly not be saved, it also promises that some most assuredly will.
John Owen put it this way...
The Father imposed His wrath due unto, and the Son underwent punishment for, either:
1. All the sins of all men.
2. All the sins of some men.
3. Some of the sins of some men.
In which case it may be said:
That if the last be true, all men have some sins to answer for, and so none are saved.
That if the second be true, then Christ, in their stead suffered for all the sins of all the elect in the whole world, and this is the truth.
But if the first be the case, why are not all men free from the punishment due unto their sins?
You answer, Because of unbelief. I ask, Is this unbelief a sin, or is it not? If it be, then Christ suffered the punishment due unto it, or He did not. If He did, why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which He died? If He did not, He did not die for all their sins!
In other words, we are left with 4 options, Christ died for:
All of the sins of all men
All of the sins of some men
Some of the sins of all men
Some of the sins of some men
If Jesus died for all of the sins of all men, everyone is going to be saved, but Jesus Himself said some will go to hell (goats, bad fish, weeds, etc...) So, universalism is heresy.
If Jesus died for some of the sins of all men, all men still have some sins for which they must themselves atone and all would be damned.
If Jesus died for some of the sins of some men, all men still have some sins for which they must atone and some still have all their sins left to atone for in which case, all are damned.
But if Jesus died for all of the sins of some men, then some men will actually be saved — not because of works, lest any of them should boast, but by grace through faith, which is itself a gift flowing from the finished work of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
IRRESISTIBLE GRACE
Matthew 22:14
For many are called, but few are chosen.
All who are called come and all who stay are chosen. Some come and go. Some come incorrectly. Some come for something else. Those who are called, come correctly according to the summons. They come by grace through faith in Christ alone and live by faith according to His rule and reign.
No one who is drawn up by God hopes for holes in the bucket. None come to Him eyeballing the exits. No one is dragged to Heaven against his will. He is converted against his will precisely because his will is the thing that needs converting. Once converted and regenerated, his will does not long for its former life, it longs for the next one. This does not mean that it cannot be tempted by old longings, but that it cannot ignore the new ones. It cannot shake the desire for sanctity, nor does it want to. The will's wants have all been reorganized while some sinful ones may have been abandoned entirely and the ones that remain have been defrocked from their previous priestly positions. They no longer direct the worship service of the soul. As affections, they have either been vanquished or court marshaled. Inordinate affections have all been rounded up and reordered according to the commands of Christ. He keeps our cares corralled according to their kind and to their proper proportion.
God does not fail. He does not have unfulfilled desires with respect to His will of decree. In that regard, what He says goes and what He calls comes. His will of desire is communicated to us through the Law and the Gospel. This can be resisted or ignored. We can resist or grieve the Spirit in this respect, but not with respect to our spirits. We are not sovereign over our souls. We do not possess the ability to lock God out. There is not a PIN He does not know or a lock for which He doesn't possess the key. He cannot be kept at a distance by a restraining order. He provides both the inspiration to ask and the answer. There is not a move toward Him which did not originate in His moving the mover to move.
The kindness of God is His Kingness. He is good and in charge and good at being in charge. He demands what is divine and inspires in His elect that which delivers them from death. He is no one's Plan B. He cannot be had as an afterthought. He does not accept seconds. He is not forced to receive any He does not want and there is no one who wants Him who won't be received. He provides the "want to" and the "will do" because the "all done" has been accomplished in Christ.
John 19:30
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished:" and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (emphasis mine)
PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
"When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent' (Mt 4:17), He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance." -- Martin Luther, 95 Theses, #1
The saints persevere primarily in repentance. They never cease turning to Christ. They are not sinless, but they do sin less. But in their sinning, the sin of unrepentance is absent. A saint is not one who never sins again, but one who repents again and again. It's not that they never fail, but that they never fail to ask for forgiveness. That is the handiwork of Christ in keeping His saints. They endure difficulty for the sake of Christ and endure humility in constantly confessing their ongoing need for His intervention and intercession.
The word commonly translated, "persevere," in the New Testament is hypomonḗ which is a compound word made up from hypó, "under" and ménō, "remain, endure." In other words, persevering is a matter of "remaining under." This can apply to remaining under difficulties for as long as they might last, in which case we say the man persevered, or to remaining under submission to God regardless of the circumstances. Whatever stands around you are your circumstances (circum "around" and stances "standing"). Perseverance is standing with God regardless of whoever stands against you or whatever stands around you. Whatever stands up, you don't stand down. You possess steadfastness and endurance because in Christ, by the power of His Holy Spirit to will and work in you, you are like Him who endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him.
Hebrews 12:2-3
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Jesus remained under (hypomone) the cross. He remained under the mockery of sinners. He did get out from under His cross. He did not abandon His post to get back at sinners. He endured. He persevered and by His grace and through His Spirit, we, like Him, remain under whatever stands around us so that we might stand confident in Christ before His Father.
Ephesians 6:13
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
We stand in Christ against sin. We stay put where He has placed us. We endure the conditions He requires and in the manner and by the means He has commanded.
Hebrews 4:16
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
We come at all because He called us. We come humbly because of who we were when He called. We come boldly because of Who it is that called us. We come joyfully because of Who we go to. We come with confidence because of Whose we are. We come and we stay because of Christ sat down.
John 18:9
Of them which thou gavest Me have I lost none.
We cannot be lost because God cannot lose in any sense of that word.
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