Thoughts on Total Depravity

Until yesterday, I never fully understood the interaction between God's grace and human free will. It is obvious that from our perspective, we choose to do one thing or choose to do another: we do whatever we will to do. Yet scripture makes clear that in our fallen human condition we do not and are in fact incapable of seeking God or performing any truly good act. How do these reconcile?

Through a two-hour conversation with a friend on the subject last night, I've finally come closer to understanding this. Here's what I came up with (not trying to give all credit to myself, she just already understood better than I did!):

1. Let there be a set of actions irrespective of reasons, SHOULD, which contains all the actions scripture instructs us to do.
2. Let there be a set of actions with reasons, GOOD, which contains all the actions in SHOULD but with the additional constraint of being performed only through conforming one's will to God's.
3. Let there be a set of actions with reasons, BAD, which contains every action not in GOOD. This includes actions in SHOULD performed for the wrong reasons, such as self-glorification or any other than a desire to do so simply by having your will conformed to God's.

To further clarify the sets given above I will give examples:

1. Helping an old lady across a street is a SHOULD.
2. Helping an old lady across a street because of a God-given desire to is a GOOD.
3. Helping an old lady across a street so that people will like you is a BAD.

Notice that the same action in SHOULD can be either GOOD or BAD when it is actually performed.

Is, however, having our will conformed to God's the only way to truly be good? St. Paul tells us in Philippians 2:12-13,

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

We, as Christians, perform good works by God working in us to change our wills.

Now, we are all born sinful and apart from God, as Psalm 14 (cited in Romans 3) indicates:

The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.

They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.

Thus, before accepting Christ all we can do is BAD, "there is none who does good." After accepting Christ, however, one may perform GOOD and BAD deeds. Recall the definition of a GOOD deed: one can only perform a GOOD deed after having his will conformed to God's. This conforming, however, is GOOD in and of itself as shown by Paul's instruction in the above-referenced passage from Philippians. This complication leads to the following contradiction:

1. One may only perform a GOOD deed after having his will conformed to God's. (premise)
   
2. Having one's will conformed to God's is GOOD. (premise)
   
3. One conforms his own will to God. (premise)
4. Following from the above three premises, one can only conform his own will to God's after conforming his own will to God's. This is an infinite regression and therefore incorrect.

There must be something wrong with one of the premises. As I have already shown #1 and #2 as scripturally sound, #3 must be incorrect. It is absolutely impossible for one to conform his own will to God's. We need an external force: the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, we as humans are incapable of performing any good except by God's own conforming of our wills, which is totally outside of our power. We cannot even ask Him to do so in our depraved state as that would be a GOOD action and therefore outside of our power.

However, this knowledge should not in any way discourage us that have received God's salvation from putting our best efforts into serving Him. Not only are we still (justly) morally accountable for our actions (a point I will cover in a later post), but scripture exhorts us to do so, "I therefore [...] urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called" (Ephesians 4:1). I still do not understand how our free will and God's grace interact, but this above instruction from Paul clarifies that we are to put our own human efforts into walking in these good works even though God has predetermined them.

αὐτω ἡ δόξα.