Total Depravity
Many of our readers are acquainted with the “Five Points of Calvinism”—sometimes also called “the doctrines of grace.” These five truths, taken together, teach the sovereignty of God in salvation, i.e., that salvation is all of God and does not depend on our will or works.
The first of these “five points” is total depravity. It shows why salvation must be all of God and all of grace.
The word “depravity” refers to our sinfulness and wickedness. We use the word to emphasize the fact that we are very wicked in God’s sight and in great need of His salvation.
The word “total” teaches three things about this depravity:
- That all men, except Jesus, are depraved.
- That they are depraved in every part. Not only their deeds are wicked in God’s sight, but also their thoughts (Gen. 6:5), their wills (their choosing and desiring—Eph. 2:3, 4:22), their emotions and even their hearts (Jer. 17:9). That the will is depraved is especially important because it means that without grace no one chooses to be saved. Salvation must depend on God’s will, not man’s.
- That they are depraved in every part completely. The will, the heart and the rest of our faculties are not each only partly depraved; they are all totally depraved in that there is no good at all in them. This is often denied.
We would not deny, of course, that much of what man does is judged good by other people. But God judges by a higher standard than we do and He requires that everything be done in faith and for His glory. If it is not, it is not good (cf. Rom. 14:23; I Cor. 10:31).
God’s judgment of the human race is recorded in Psalm 14 (cf. also Ps. 53). Psalm 14 clearly shows what is God’s judgment: “The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God” (2). And what is His judgment? “They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (3).
Ephesians 2:1 sums up the doctrine of total depravity by saying that we are “dead in trespasses and sins.” Our condition could not be worse than that. We are totally depraved.
When, by grace, we begin to understand this, then, too, we begin to see our great need for the cross of Jesus Christ, for nothing else could save totally depraved sinners. Rev. Hanko
Loving Our Enemies (5)
“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:43-48).
We have spent considerable time speaking of various objections which must be raised against the view that Matthew 5:43–48 proves common grace. Our readers can consult past issues of the News to learn what these objections were.
It is now time to look at the text itself. A good place to start in our analysis of the text is with the last part of verse 45: “… for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
What does this mean?
We have no quarrel with those who interpret the words “the evil” and “the good,” “the just” and “the unjust” as referring to all men, wicked and righteous alike.
Calvin himself agrees with this, although he seems to find the first reference, at least, to God’s people. He writes: “He [Jesus] quotes two instances of divine kindness towards us, which are not only known to us, but common to all …” You will note how Calvin speaks first of all of “us,” i.e., God’s people, of whom we are a part, and then adds that this kindness is also towards all.
Nor do we have any problem with making rain and sunshine good gifts. How could anyone possibly deny that? And they are but two examples of God’s good gifts which He bestows on men.
So, certainly, the text teaches that God bestows good gifts on men in general. I really do not know anyone in the history of the Reformed churches who has ever denied that. Nor ought the defenders of common grace accuse us of denying that God gives good gifts to men. How could He do anything else? Does God give bad gifts? “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).
But that is not the point in the controversy, and men do unjustly when they attempt to make that the point. The point is: do good gifts to the ungodly indicate that God loves them and is favourably disposed toward them? That these gifts are good no one denies; that they indicate God’s love toward the wicked is simply impossible.
I do not know why this is so hard to understand. Parents do the same thing with their children. They may, e.g., be so busy in their jobs, in their pleasure-seeking, in their pursuit of wealth, that they have no time for their children. They then decide to make up for this lack by heaping all kinds of expensive toys on their children. Are those expensive toys (good gifts in themselves) indicative of love? Of course not. A child may very well complain to his father: “I would rather have your love!”
The simple fact is that good things are not in themselves blessings, not even when they come from the hand of God; and no one ought to say that they are.
Why does God give good gifts to men? We may look at this from two points of view.
If we look at it from man’s point of view, the answer is that God gives good gifts so that it may become evident that man is thoroughly wicked in all he does. The more good gifts man receives, the more he fails to recognize God as the giver, and the more he reveals his wicked and ungrateful heart.
If we look at the matter from God’s point of view, He gives good gifts so that, when He punishes the wicked for their sins, it is evident that He does so in perfect justice. God has given man nothing but good, yet man uses those very gifts in the service of sin.
His judgment is just and righteous.
Indeed, from the viewpoint of God’s eternal purpose, God sends these gifts to accomplish His own sovereign decree in the everlasting punishment of the wicked in the way of their sin.
It would be well if you would read Psalm 73 tonight for your devotions. God, in sending prosperity to the wicked, puts them on slippery places, where they coast rapidly into hell (18).
This Asaph understood when he went into the house of the Lord (16-17). Prof. Hanko
Is It Possible to Seek and Not Find?
The question for this week’s issue of the News is: “What if a person wants to be a Christian but God has not elected him?”
Our answer to this question, very simply, is that this is impossible. Not only is it true that all those who are elect also want (i.e., will) to be saved as a result of grace (Phil. 2:13), but the opposite also is true. All those who truly want to be saved want it because they are elect. Their desire for salvation is a first evidence of grace and election in them.
We take issue, therefore, with those who believe that it is possible to be a “seeker” without ever coming to salvation. We emphatically disagree with the writer who claims that it is possible for someone “to do much against sin … desire grace … tremble at the word … delight in the word … have great hopes of heaven … be much in prayer … go far in obeying the commands of God … be in some sense sanctified,” and yet be only an “almost” Christian.
The justification for such teaching is usually “common grace”—that there is a grace of God (more than mere gifts of providence) which makes such efforts and seeking possible, but falls short of eternal life. As our readers know, we find no basis in Scripture for belief in such a “common grace” of God. Among other things it is too much like Rome’s view of “preparatory grace” and is a grace that is resistible and not sovereign.
In any case, the teaching that one can seek without finding, or want (will) salvation without being saved is flat contradiction of the word of God. Jesus Himself expressly says in Luke 11:10, “Everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” This promise is the incentive Jesus gives to ask, to seek and to knock. “Seek,” He says, “and ye shall find.”
Also, as is clear to anyone who thinks about it, seeking is the first step in coming to Christ, and one who seeks has the promise of John 6:37, therefore: “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
Insofar as this seeking expresses itself in a real desire (will) for salvation, the word of God also has something to say. Philippians 2:13 assures those who have salvation that “It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” What is more, added to it is the wonderful promise of Revelation 22:17: “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” He must, he can, he may drink of that water of life exactly because it is God who works in us both the willing and the doing.
All this is simply another way of saying that apart from grace man is totally depraved and can do no good, especially the great good of seeking after and desiring the living God and the salvation He has revealed in His Son Jesus Christ. Rev. Hanko
