User:Flex/Total depravity

Total depravity (or total inability) is a theological doctrine that derives from the Augustinian doctrine of original sin and is advocated in many Protestant confessions of faith and catechisms, including those of Lutheranism¹, Calvinism², and Anglicanism and Methodism³. The doctrine interprets the Bible as teaching that, as a consequence of the Fall of man, every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of sin and is utterly unable to choose to follow God or be saved.

Summary of the doctrine

The doctrine of total inability teaches that people are not by nature inclined to love God with whole heart, mind, or strength, as he requires, but rather all are inclined to serve their own interests over those of their neighbor and to reject the rule of God. Even religion and philanthropy are destructive to the extent that these originate from a person's own imagination, passions, and will.

Total depravity does not mean, however, that people are as bad as possible. Rather, it means that even the good which a person may intend is faulty in its premise, false in its motive, and weak in its implementation; and there is no mere refinement of natural capacities that can correct this condition. Although total depravity is easily confused with philosophical cynicism, the doctrine teaches optimism concerning God's love for what he has made and God's ability to accomplish the ultimate good that he intends for his creation. In particular, in the process of salvation, it is argued that God overcomes this inability with his divine grace and enables men and women to choose to follow him.

Differences in the doctrines

Although many Protestant denominations agree that man is unable to follow God because of original sin, the way in which God overcomes the problem of man's inability is a point of debate within their various systems.

Objections to the doctrine

There are many Christian groups that disagree with this interpretation of the Bible and of Augustine.

Augustine, who first developed the doctrine, wrote againt the monk Pelagius, who argued that man's nature was unaffected by the Fall and that he was free to follow after God apart from divine intervention. Pelagius' teaching was condemned as a heretical at the Council of Orange⁴ in 529 AD, which greatly influenced the Protestant doctrine, but some modern day Christians align more with him (for instance, the followers of Charles Finney). Augustine's understanding of human depravity and especially the idea of "original" (or inherited) guilt was not shared by his contemporaries in the Greek-speaking part of the church and is still not shared in Eastern Orthodoxy.

Catholicism also registers a complaint against the Protestant interpretation of Augustine. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "By our first parents' sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over man, even though man remains free"⁵ (emphasis added). At the Council of Trent they condemn "any one [who] saith, that, since Adam's sin, the free will of man is lost and extinguished; or, that it is a thing with only a name"⁶. Additionally, they claim that they alone have been faithful to the principles taught by Augustine against the Pelagians and Semipelagians, though they freely admit to some "gradual mitigation."⁷

The doctrine of total depravity is also one of the five points of disagreement raised by the Arminian Remonstrants in the Quinquarticular Controversy against the Reformed churches. The Arminian doctrine was condemned at the Synod of Dort. John Wesley, often identified as an Arminian, actually departs from the Remonstrants on this one point and advocates a strong doctrine of inability.⁸

See also

• Free will
• Original sin
• Prevenient grace

Footnotes

1. The Book of Concord, "The Thorough Declaration of the Formula of Concord," chapter II, sections 11 and 12; The Augsburg Confession, Article 2; Heidelberg Catechism, question 8
2. Canons of Dort, "The Third and Fourth Main Points of Doctrine"; Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 6; Westminster Larger Catechism, Question 25; Heidelberg Catechism, question 8
3. See the Anglican Thirty-nine Articles, Articles 9 and 10, and the Methodist Articles of Religion, Article 7.
4. "Teaching of St. Augustine of Hippo" from the Catholic Encyclopedia.
5. Judgements of the Council of Orange
6. Council of Trent, Session 6, canon 5.
7. "Teaching of St. Augustine of Hippo" from the Catholic Encyclopedia.
8. Sermon 44, "Original Sin."

External links

• The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther
• On the Freedom of the Will, a book treating the extent of man's corruption by Jonathan Edwards
• "Original Sin", a sermon by John Wesley
• "Original Sin", a section from Charles Hodge's Systematic Theology (2.8.13) discussing the corrupting effects of the Fall
• "Human Inability" by Charles Spurgeon
• The Total Depravity of Man by A. W. Pink
• "Total Inability" from Loraine Boettner's The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination
• "Total Depravity" by John Piper
• "Human Depravity" from R. C. Sproul's Essential Truths Of The Christian Faith
• "What do the Protestant Reformers Mean by 'Total Depravity'?" by Victor Shepherd
• Many articles from a variety of authors supporting total depravity