Sword and Trowel

Briefly, the Doctrine of Total Depravity defines the condition in which man finds himself in. From conception, the effects of sin are totally pervasive over man’s entire being. The whole person of man has been affected by the fall.

This does not mean that every person is as evil as they possibly could be, or that no person is able to recognize the will of God or do any good towards their fellow man. It simply means that there is no part of man that is not tainted by sin. The totality of our being, and every faculty along with it, is inherently sinful.

This is what it means to have a sin nature: because we are sinful in our totality, every part of us naturally sins. Because of Total Depravity, the very first presupposition we should hold before making application is that we must expect man to sin. The second presupposition we should hold is that we must expect man to sin in every area of life. Therefore, the most fundamental application of the Doctrine of Total depravity is that man’s totally pervasive sin nature is something that must be guarded against, in every area of life.

The specifics of how sin nature must be guarded against will very depending on the specific area of life.  One thing, however, will remain constant—God knows what is right, and he has revealed what is right in his Word. The Word of God is both the final authority and the sufficient standard for every area of life, and is therefore the chief instrument by which we are to apply the doctrine of total depravity.

The doctrine being sufficiently stated, here are three short applications of the doctrine of total depravity.

Civics

Government’s chief purpose is to restrain violence and disorder, and to facilitate righteous living. But the government itself cannot be trusted with inordinate power and so it itself must be carefully restrained.

God has not granted civil government unlimited authority to pursue its purpose without restraint. Government itself is under the rule of God’s law.

Until Christ’s coming, man will always be wicked. Therefore, the purpose of government is NOT to achieve utopian ideal, nor is it to perfect mankind through human institutions. Not only is it not the place of government to do so, but it is futile to even attempt. The doctrine of total depravity therefore rejects the idol of human perfection and instead sees God alone on the throne.

Because government is instituted to restrain human wickedness, and because all humans are wicked, including those in government, the government must be organized in such a way as to restrain the wickedness of those ruling. No man is exempt from the rule of law.

Child raising

The principle application of total depravity that we should make regarding child raising is to reject the Pelagian notion that a person is born with the same purity and moral abilities as Adam before the fall. We are by nature sinners from birth (Eph. 2:3; Psalm 51:5). Thus we must realize that, unless corrected, a child’s natural desire will be to live in sin and rebellion.

The primary means of correction in a child’s life is his parents. God commands parents to “but bring them [their children] up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). The two primary instruments by which parents must train and admonition their children are first, the rod of correction, and second, instruction in righteousness through the Word.

Again, the doctrine of total depravity teaches us that, unless corrected, a child will naturally live in sin and rebellion, which leads to death (both physically and spiritually). Proverbs 23:13 states “Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.” Proverbs 24:11 states “Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.” Hebrews 12:6 states that “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” Therefore, the rod of correction is an instrument of discipline instituted by God in order to soften a rebellious heart and hold back a child from the slaughter. We discipline because we love.

As the rod is used for correction, so to the Word of God is used for instruction. 1 Corinthians 3 tells us that “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness.’ And again, ‘The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.’” Matthew 15 teaches that “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” Therefore, the doctrine of total depravity teaches us that, unless instructed in righteousness, the natural thoughts of the mind will be futile and the natural inclination of the heart will be wickedness. The means of instruction that God has given us is his word: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 teaches us that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” As such, any instructional institution that is antithetical to God’s word, such as state sponsored education, ought to be rejected by the Christian.

Philosophy

The doctrine of total depravity teaches that sin has negatively impacted every part of our being, including the mind. Because of sin, we cannot think properly about things: we are hampered both in our ability to think well, that is, in our natural ability to use reason, and in our ability to think correctly, that is, in our ability to apprehend truth. As such, fallen man rejects the wisdom and truth of God.

The first and most obvious application of the doctrine of total depravity to philosophy is that we should be naturally suspicious of our ability to reason well apart from God’s help. We should not trust in ourselves. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and Proverbs 28 teaches us that “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.”

This is not to say that sinful man has no ability to apprehend any truth. Romans 2 states that “For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts.”

However, Scripture teaches us that any truth, when separated from God and his direct revelation, will ultimately only lead to futility and darkness. Romans 1 teaches that God gives the reprobate up to a depraved mind “because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator. . . .” We will never be able to fully apprehend God’s truth if we worship creation, be it the physical laws of the universe, the laws of logic, or our own minds, rather than the Creator.

Scripture teaches that it is only by the Holy Spirit’s work that we may have a renewed heart and mind. It is by the Holy Spirit that we are given the mind of Christ and are given spiritual discernment, thereby able to think rightly and properly apprehend truth (Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 2:6-16). Because of our totally depraved nature, without this spiritual discernment and apart from God, all worldly wisdom leads to futility (Ecclesiastes 1).

I will end here for now. Many more applications could be made – I hope you are beginning to see the pervasiveness, the totality, of the doctrine of total depravity!

The Inspiration of Scripture is the doctrine that, through the Holy Spirit, God directed the very words of the Bible; every part of Scripture is “breathed out” by the Spirit of God. God worked in history, through man, to reveal Himself to us in writing. Through God’s self-revelation in Scripture we have knowledge of Him, His will, and of our salvation. Scripture is very literally God’s word, terminating not with the human writers, but with the actual written product itself. Geisler and Nix, in the General Introduction to the Bible, define Inspiration as “that mysterious process by which the divine causality worked through the human prophets without destroying their individual personalities and styles to produce divinely authoritative and inerrant writings.” Thus, we see that Scripture has a dual authorship. It is written by man and breathed out by God.

A careful study of the Scriptures will reveal three major truths, or elements, of divine inspiration. First, God is the primary mover. He is the originator of Scripture and authorized its writing, while at the same time keeping Scripture’s human element. This is Divine Causality. Second, the prophets and apostles were the spokesmen of God. They were His appointed vessels that He used to reveal his nature and His will to the world. This is Prophetic Agency. Third, God’s word is God’s word in all times and in all places. It is His revelation and holds authority over all aspects of life. This is Scriptural Authority.

When we have a right understanding of the inspiration of Scripture, we understand that Scripture must be allowed to witness to itself. The authors of A Theology of the Church write that “All knowledge of God comes by way or revelation…By God alone can God be known. The knowledge of God is revealed by his self-disclosure” (103). Scripture does not just “contain” the words of God. It is the very Word of God Himself. Thus, Scripture is its own final authority. So, what does the Bible say about itself?

We will first examine 2 Peter 1:19-21. The Apostle writes: “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” In this passage we see the three major elements of divine inspiration mentioned earlier. First, Peter’s focus is on Scripture’s divine origin. The prophets have not misrepresented God’s word because all Scripture has originated from God. The emphasis is on the means or source of Scripture: the Holy Spirit. Secondly, Peter speaks in no uncertain terms of prophetic agency, using the terms “prophecy of Scripture” and “holy men of God… moved by the Holy Spirit.” Lastly, we see scriptural authority highlighted. No Scripture is of private interpretation, because no Scripture has come by the will of man. It is God’s Word, then, now, and always. It is authoritative, inerrant, and infallible. To quote Geisler and Nix again: “Here is an implicit affirmation of the authority (certainty) of the ‘prophetic word’… so inspiration is the process by which Spirit-moved writers recorded God-breathed writings.”

Next we will examine 2 Timothy 3:14-17. Paul writes: “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” In this passage we plainly see the divine origin of Scripture (“all Scripture is given by inspiration of God”), its prophetic agency (“given”), and its Scriptural authority (“able to make you wise for salvation… that the man of God may be complete”). There are several other important implications of this passage. First, because Scripture is God’s word and revelation, it bears God’s characteristics. Secondly, we are called to emulate these characteristics. There is a strong connection between doctrine and application. How you understand Scripture will affect how you live your life.

Jesus Himself testifies to the divine authorship of Scripture in John 10:34-36, when He says “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” Geisler and Nix state that this passage is important because “in it Jesus uses the ‘Scriptures, ‘Torah’ (Law), ‘it is written,’ ‘word of God,’ and ‘cannot be broken’ interchangeably.” Jesus here is demonstrating that God gave His Law-Word to men, and that His Word is infallible and unbreakable. There are many other passages in Scripture that affirm the same, and these include Rom. 15:4, 2Pet. 3:15-16, Matt. 4:4, and Heb. 1:1.

What has the Church said about the Inspiration of Scripture? A historical survey will serve us well here. The authors of A Theology for the Church write that “much early and widespread evidence indicates that the early church accepted the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures” (115). They believed that the writers of Scripture where moved by divine word (116), and that the Scriptures were perfect and trustworthy. In his Letters, Augustine writes: “For if you once admit into such a high sanctuary of authority one false statement…there will not be left a single sentence which… may not by the same fatal rule be explained away” (28.3). Thomas Aquinas, a church father during the Medieval Period, held that the writings of the early patriarchs where not on the same level as Scripture: Scripture alone is authoritative because, as divine revelation, it is an “infallible truth” (Suma Theologica 1.1.8).

During the Reformation period, Martin Luther held to the divine authorship of the Bible. He writes that the Scriptures are the “perfectly clear, certain, sure words of God, which can never deceive us or allow us to err” (Luther’s Works, 37:308). John Calvin also held to divine inspiration. In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, he writes that “The authority of Scripture [is] derived not from men, but from the Spirit of God” (1.7), and again, “our faith in doctrine is not established until we have a perfect conviction that God is its author. Hence, the highest proof of Scripture is uniformly taken from the character of him whose Word it is” (1.7.4).

There are a few modern theologians who erred from the Orthodox view of scripture. FDE Schleiermacher would hold that Scripture is just a fallible record of other people’s religious experiences. Bushnell denies divine inspiration, and David Strauss held that the miracles recorded in the gospels where mere myths. I would reply to these men that they had allowed the humanist thought of the age to cloud their judgment and suppress the witness of the Holy Spirit. The Church has historically believed, the Scriptures rightly attest, and the Holy Spirit divinely testifies that all Scripture is in fact the true, complete, infallible and inspired Word of God. “Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 1:22-25).

Systematizing what we have learned so far, we are lead to the following truths. First; inspiration is not a general influence on the minds of men, but extends to the very words chosen by each writer of Scripture (2Pet. 1:20-21, Heb. 1:1). Second; as God Himself is the source and origin of Scripture, it is true and inerrant in all that it speaks on, and it speaks on everything (2Tim. 3:15-17, 2Th. 2:2). Because God’s Word is true and inerrant, Scripture can testify for itself (Jn. 10:34-36, Eph. 2:20). Thus, we may formulate the doctrine of Verbal, Plenary Inspiration. Verbal, as God’s inspiration applies to the words themselves; Plenary, as every part is fully and unconditionally God-breathed; and Inspired, as it is God revealing Himself to us through the Holy Spirit.

We have covered definitions, scriptural analysis, historical survey, and systematic formulation. We have shown that when Scripture speaks, God speaks. How then are we to make application of these truths? Let us turn again to 2 Timothy. If we believe that all Scripture is indeed “God breathed,” then we can take Paul, and the Holy Spirit, at their word when they tell us that Scripture is able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. We have the assurance of God’s salvation in our lives. And because of that salvation, we are commanded to live accordingly. But God has not left us to fend for ourselves in this regard. Inspiration includes everything the Bible touches on and teaches, and the Bible gives sufficient instruction for all of life. Scripture speaks on all culture throughout all of history, and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. In teaching, it is the positive source for all our doctrine, so we may know how to live rightly before God. In reproof, it exposes our failures and errors that lead us away from right living. In correction, it restores us to right practice or right doctrine. In instruction in righteousness, it teaches us how to live morally, and how to live as God intends.

God’s commands in Scripture are irrevocable, inerrant, all sufficient and all authoritative. We trust in God’s infallible Word, and it makes us bold. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). Emboldened by the surety of God’s Word in our hearts, protected by the shield of our faith, and armed with the sword of His sure and perfect Scripture, we are made complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. We are commanded to gird up our loins, prepare ourselves for battle, and march out into the world, trusting in our King and Savior for the victory.