Sound The Word

The Problem: “Perseverance” places the emphasis and weight on the human believer’s ability to stick it out and keep their faith active by their own strength. Sproul’s Reasoning: Left to our own devices, Christians would stumble and fall away immediately. Believers survive spiritually not because they hold tightly to God, but because God holds tightly to them. Sproul argued that we persevere only because God preserves us by His grace and continuous intercession.

Sproul emphasized that the baseline security of a believer rests entirely on God’s continuous sealing, protection, and intercession. Philippians 1:6: “…and I am sure of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” John 10:28–29: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand… and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” Romans 8:38–39: “For I am sure that neither death nor life… nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The Problem: “Irresistible” implies coercion, as if God drags people kicking and screaming into heaven against their will. Sproul’s Reasoning: Humans resist God’s grace every day. However, when the Holy Spirit performs regeneration (the new birth), He changes the disposition of the sinner’s heart. The sinner is not forced; rather, their eyes are opened to how beautiful the Gospel is, and they choose Christ willingly. The grace is effectual because it successfully accomplishes the inner transformation it intends.

Sproul used scriptures that describe salvation as a sovereign resurrection or a divine heart transplant, proving that God’s grace successfully accomplishes its goal without violating human free agency. Ezekiel 36:26–27: “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Sproul noted that a heart of stone cannot resist the surgical transformation of God. John 3:3, 8: “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God… The wind blows where it wishes… So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Regeneration is a monergistic (God-alone) act that changes the will.

The Problem: “Limited” implies a deficiency in the power or value of Jesus’ sacrifice, making it sound narrow or stingy. Sproul’s Reasoning: The atonement is unlimited in its value and sufficiency—it is valuable enough to save the whole world. However, it is definite (or particular) in its intent. Christ did not die merely to make salvation possible for everyone; He died to actually accomplish and secure the salvation of His specific people.

Sproul fought the idea of a “limited” cross by showing that Christ’s death had a specific target and a guaranteed outcome—it actually purchased and saved an intended people. John 10:11, 15: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep… and I lay down my life for the sheep.” Sproul emphasized that Christ did not die for abstract possibilities, but specifically for His flock. John 17:9: “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.” Sproul argued that Christ’s high priestly work of intercession and atonement are co-extensive; He dies for those He prays for. Isaiah 53:11: “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.”

The Problem: The term “unconditional” can make it sound like God’s choices are random, arbitrary, or completely detached from any purpose or logic. Sproul’s Reasoning: Salvation does have a condition—perfect righteousness, which is met by Jesus Christ. From the perspective of humans, it is unconditional because God does not choose us based on any foreseen merit or choices we make. Sproul preferred Sovereign Election because it properly shifts the focus to God’s supreme authority, purpose, and deliberate choice in eternity past.

To emphasize God’s ultimate authority, purpose, and deliberate choice, Sproul pointed to texts showing that election is grounded entirely in God’s sovereign will, not human decisions. Ephesians 1:4–5, 11: “…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world… he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will… having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his will.” Romans 9:11–16: “…though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls… So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”

The Problem: People hear “total depravity” and assume it means everyone is as completely evil as they could possibly be (sheer, utter maliciousness). Sproul’s Reasoning: No human is as bad as they could potentially be; we still bear the image of God. However, sin has infected the entirety of our being—our minds, hearts, wills, and bodies. Sproul chose “radical” from the Latin root radix, meaning “root.” Sin is a corruption that goes to the very root of human nature, causing a moral inability to choose God without spiritual rebirth.

Sproul used passages that demonstrate sin is a structural, internal problem affecting the “root” (heart and mind) of human nature, creating a total moral inability to seek God on our own. Ephesians 2:1–3: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked… and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Sproul argued that a spiritually “dead” person cannot make a spiritual move toward God without being made alive first. Romans 3:10–12: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.” Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” John 6:44: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” Sproul noted the Greek word for “draws” (elkuo) implies a powerful, necessary enablement because man is otherwise morally unable.

If humanity is fallen, what happened to the human will? This often raises two confusing questions: Can human beings make choices? Can fallen human beings, by their own moral ability, choose God and embrace Christ? Fallen humanity certainly makes choices, but the Fall has destroyed humanity’s original moral ability to incline itself toward God. The issue is therefore not the existence of human choice, but the moral condition of the chooser.

1. THE TWO QUESTIONS ABOUT FREE WILL The debate over free will has more than one dimension. The first question concerns God’s sovereignty and human freedom: How can God be sovereign while human beings make genuine choices? But the second question is the one that is particularly important for total depravity: What effect did the Fall have upon human freedom? The Reformed position does not say that humanity lost the ability to make choices. Rather, humanity lost a particular kind of freedom: the moral ability to choose spiritual good and turn to God apart from divine grace. Human beings remain free to choose according to their desires. But: their desires have been corrupted by sin. That distinction becomes the foundation of Sproul’s argument.
2. THE FALL DID MORE THAN MAKE US IMPERFECT The Fall did not merely make human beings less than perfect. The question is much more serious: What happened to the human person when Adam fell? The Reformed answer is that the Fall produced a profound corruption of human nature. Note these three contrasting historical positions. Pelagius - Pelagius argued that Adam’s sin fundamentally affected Adam himself, rather than transmitting a corrupt nature to his descendants. Semi-Pelagianism - The semi-Pelagian position acknowledged that humanity was affected by Adam’s sin but maintained that there remained within fallen humanity a capacity to cooperate with God’s grace. In this view, there is still some remnant of moral ability by which a person can respond positively to God’s offer. Augustine - Augustine’s understanding was much more radical. The Fall so deeply affected human nature that God Himself must change the disposition of the sinner’s soul. This becomes the central issue of our discussion: Does fallen humanity possess the moral ability to move toward God, or must God first act within the sinner?
3. MORAL INABILITY This is perhaps the most important phrase in this subject. Moral inability is not physical inability. A person physically can: attend church, read the Bible, hear a sermon, discuss Christianity, repeat Christian words, make religious resolutions. The question is whether the fallen person possesses the moral ability to love God, submit to God, and embrace Christ from the resources of his or her fallen nature. The sinner is morally unable to do this. The problem is therefore not that God has placed a physical barrier between the sinner and Christ. The problem is that the sinner’s own fallen desires are opposed to God.
4. THE BONDAGE OF THE WILL This is a crucial distinction. Human beings are not bothersome make decisions. They exercise preferences. They act voluntarily. But voluntary choice does not equal moral freedom. A person chooses according to what he or she wants. The problem is: What does the fallen person want? If the heart is corrupted, the choices that flow from that heart will also be affected. In summary: We choose according to our desires, but sin has corrupted those desires. Therefore the sinner is genuinely choosing, yet remains in bondage to sin. Jesus says: “Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”— John 8:34. Paul similarly describes fallen humanity as being enslaved to sin. The important point is that slavery does not eliminate the will; it describes the condition governing the will.
5. JESUS’ WORDS IN JOHN 6 Jesus’ teaching in John 6. says: “No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” — John 6:65. Let’s examine the statement phrase by phrase. “No one.” This is universal. Jesus is not identifying a small category of unusually sinful people. He is speaking about humanity generally. “Can”-emphasizes that this concerns ability or capacity. The issue is not simply whether people will come. It is whether they can come. “Come to me.” Coming to Christ means embracing Christ in faith. “Unless”- This introduces a necessary condition. Something must happen before the person can come. “It is granted him by my Father.” The necessary condition is divine initiative. The conclusion is therefore: Fallen humanity does not possess the natural moral ability to come to Christ. God must grant that ability. This becomes one of the central biblical foundations of this discussion.
6. THE DIVINE INITIATIVE If fallen humanity cannot produce saving faith from its own corrupted nature, then salvation must begin with God. God’s initiative must be understood in these strong terms: unilateral , monergistic, independent, sovereign, The basic argument is: The sinner is spiritually dead. The spiritually dead cannot resurrect themselves. Therefore God must give spiritual life. Having been given life, the sinner is able to respond to Christ. This is why total depravity connects directly with regeneration.
7. REGENERATION MUST COME FROM GOD The argument is not that God saves people against their will. Rather, God changes the will. The sinner who previously did not desire Christ is given a new disposition. This is God changing: “the disposition of his soul.” The person then comes to Christ willingly. This is important. God’s grace does not merely drag an unwilling person into salvation. According to the Reformed understanding, grace changes the person so that the person willingly embraces Christ. Thus: Regeneration → new spiritual life → ability to believe → willing faith in Christ.
8. MONERGISM: GOD ALONE ACTS IN REGENERATION The theological term monergism emphasizes that regeneration is fundamentally the work of God alone. The sinner does not: earn regeneration, merit regeneration, produce regeneration, cooperate with God to cause regeneration. Rather, regeneration is an act of divine grace. This must be stressed: “Regeneration is a work of God alone.” The sinner’s response to Christ is real and necessary, but the ability to make that saving response is itself the result of God’s prior gracious work.
9. SPIRITUAL DEATH AND THE NEED FOR RESURRECTION Paul’s language in Ephesians 2 becomes particularly important: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins.” — Eph. 2:1. This concept explains why regeneration is necessary. A dead person does not contribute to his own resurrection. The initiative belongs to the one who gives life. Similarly, according to the Reformed framework, the spiritually dead sinner cannot independently generate the spiritual life necessary to believe. God must act first. And when God acts, the sinner becomes spiritually alive and responds to Christ.
10. THE GRACE OF GOD DOES NOT DESTROY HUMAN FREEDOM This point deserves careful attention. A common objection is: “If God must change the sinner before the sinner can believe, then isn’t the person’s freedom destroyed?” The answer is essentially no. Because genuine freedom is not the ability to choose contrary to one’s deepest desires. Rather, people normally choose what they want. The problem with fallen humanity is that sin has corrupted what we want. When God regenerates the sinner, He does not turn the person into a machine. He changes the person’s heart. The person then desires Christ and comes to Christ willingly. So the sequence is: God changes the heart → the desires change → the will chooses Christ. The person’s choice remains genuine because it proceeds from the person’s renewed desires.
11. THE BIG QUESTION: WHO MAKES THE FIRST MOVE? This is ultimately the issue we need to confront. Is salvation initiated by: God responding to man’s decision? Or God enabling man to make the saving decision? The Reformed answer is the second. Human beings do not first create saving faith and then receive regeneration. Rather: God acts first in regeneration, and that gracious act makes saving faith possible. This is why we describe salvation as resting upon grace alone.
12. WHY THIS DOCTRINE MATTERS The doctrine changes how we understand salvation. If human beings possess the natural ability to choose God without God’s prior regenerative work, then salvation can appear partly dependent upon a person’s independent moral ability. But if fallen humanity is morally unable to come to God, then salvation must be entirely dependent upon divine grace. That produces a very different posture. The believer cannot finally say: “I was wise enough to choose God.” Instead: “God was gracious enough to give me life and faith.”

The doctrine of total depravity does not mean that every human being is as wicked as it is possible to be. Rather, it means that the corruption introduced by sin extends to the whole person. Sin affects the mind, will, emotions, desires, affections, and actions. The issue, therefore, is not merely the amount of sin a person commits, but the extent to which sin has affected human nature. Fallen humanity still possesses a capacity for certain forms of goodness, morality, kindness, and social virtue. The doctrine does not deny these things. Instead, it asks whether fallen humanity, apart from God’s grace, is spiritually capable of turning to God, loving God, and choosing God. 1. The Fall affected the whole person Human beings were created good, but the Fall radically altered humanity’s relationship with God. Sin is not simply a collection of individual wrong actions; it is a condition of human nature. Thus, depravity reaches into every dimension of human existence. Scripture describes humanity as: “There is none righteous, no, not one.” And further: “There is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.” — Rom. 3:10–11. The point is not that human beings never seek anything religious or spiritual. The claim is that, in their fallen condition, they do not naturally seek God Himself in the way righteousness requires. 2. Total depravity means pervasive corruption, not maximum wickedness This distinction is essential. A person can be loving toward his family, honest in business, charitable toward the poor, and respected within his community. Total depravity does not mean that every person is constantly committing the worst possible sins. Rather, sin has penetrated every part of human nature. The mind is affected, the emotions are affected, also the will, even the desires and the conscience are affected. Consequently, even the morally respectable person remains dependent upon divine grace. 3. The problem is deeper than behavior The doctrine moves beneath outward behavior to the heart. Jeremiah describes the human heart as: “Deceitful above all things, and desperately sick.” The biblical diagnosis is therefore not simply, “People occasionally do bad things.” It is that something has gone fundamentally wrong within humanity. Jesus Himself taught that evil actions proceed from within: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts…” The external act is therefore the manifestation of an internal condition. 4. The mind has been affected by sin Depravity is intellectual as well as moral. Paul writes: “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” This does not mean that an unbeliever cannot understand Christian vocabulary, theology, history, or religious arguments intellectually. The issue is spiritual perception. A person may understand what Christianity teaches while remaining unwilling to embrace its truth and submit to God.Thus, the problem is not simply lack of information. It is a corruption of the human person that affects how truth is perceived, valued, and received. 5. The will has been affected This is one of the most important implications of total depravity. Human beings possess a will and make genuine choices. The doctrine does not teach that people are robots. The question is whether the fallen human will is spiritually neutral. According to the Reformed understanding, it is not. Human beings choose according to their desires, but those desires themselves have been corrupted by sin. Therefore, apart from God’s grace, fallen humanity does not naturally desire God in a saving way. The problem is not that sinners are physically unable to walk into a church or intellectually unable to repeat a prayer. The deeper problem is that the fallen heart does not naturally desire reconciliation with God on God’s terms. 6. Spiritual death Paul describes fallen humanity as: “dead in trespasses and sins.” This image communicates the seriousness of humanity’s condition. A spiritually dead person does not need merely better instruction, greater motivation, or improved moral discipline. He needs life. This is why salvation, in the Reformed understanding, must begin with God’s gracious initiative. The sinner does not manufacture spiritual life from within himself. God must act. 7. Why grace is necessary If sin affects the entire person, salvation cannot ultimately depend upon humanity’s natural ability to rescue itself. Grace is therefore not merely God’s assistance to people who have already begun moving toward Him. Grace is God’s initiative toward people who cannot save themselves. This is why the doctrine of total depravity is closely connected to the rest of the Reformed understanding of salvation. The logic is: Humanity is fallen → humanity cannot save itself → God must initiate salvation → salvation is therefore an act of divine grace. 8. “Total” does not mean “utter” This distinction should be made very clearly when teaching the doctrine. Total depravity does not mean: every person is equally sinful; every person commits every possible sin; human beings are incapable of kindness; unbelievers cannot perform socially beneficial actions; humanity has ceased to bear the image of God. Rather, it means that there is no part of human nature untouched by the effects of sin. The corruption is comprehensive rather than necessarily maximal. 9. The biblical diagnosis Several passages provide the framework for the doctrine: Rom. 3:10–12 — universal unrighteousness and the absence of natural God-seeking. Ephesians 2:1–3 — humanity described as spiritually dead in sin. Jeremiah 17:9 — the corruption and deceptiveness of the heart. 1 Corinthians 2:14 — the natural person does not receive spiritual things. Genesis 6:5 — the pervasive corruption of human thought and intention. Together these passages present sin as something considerably deeper than isolated moral failure. 10. The purpose of the doctrine The doctrine of total depravity ultimately magnifies grace. If human beings were merely morally weak, salvation could be understood primarily as humanity receiving enough help to finish the work. But if humanity is spiritually unable to save itself, then salvation must be God’s work from beginning to end. The doctrine therefore brings the Christian back to the necessity of divine mercy. The fundamental Christian confession becomes not: “I found my way to God.” but: “God came to me in grace.”

“Original sin, therefore, seems to be a hereditary depravity and corruption of our nature, diffused into all parts of the soul, which first makes us liable to God’s wrath, then also brings forth in us those works which Scripture calls ‘works of the flesh.’” — Institutes, 2.1.8

“For our nature is not merely unvirtuous and empty of all good, but it is so fertile and productive of every kind of evil that it cannot be idle. Those who have defined original sin as the lack of original righteousness… have not expressed its power and energy. For our nature is not only destitute of all good, but is so fertile and fruitful of every evil that it cannot be inactive.” — Institutes, 2.1.8

“The human mind has so completely strayed from God’s righteousness that it conceives, desires, and undertakes only that which is impious, perverted, foul, impure, and infamous. The heart is so steeped in the poison of sin that it can breathe out nothing but a corrupt stench.” — Institutes, 2.5.19

“We are not clothed with a body of flesh, but our soul is entirely infected with sin. Therefore, the will of man is so bound by the slavery of sin that it cannot move, much less apply itself, to anything good.” — Institutes, 2.3.5 “Man is said to have free will, not because he has a free choice between good and evil, but because he acts voluntarily, and not by compulsion. This is perfectly true: but why should so small a matter be dignified with so proud a title? An admirable freedom indeed!—where man is not forced to serve sin, but is a voluntary slave, his will being bound by the fetters of sin.” — Institutes, 2.2.7

“Whatever is in man, from the understanding to the will, from the soul even to the flesh, has been defiled and crammed with this concupiscence; or, to put it more briefly, the whole man is in himself nothing but concupiscence.” — Institutes, 2.1.8

Election is, therefore, that decree of God which He eternally makes, by which, with sovereign freedom, He chooses to Himself a people, upon whom He determines to set His love, whom He rescues from sin and death through Jesus Christ, unto Himself in everlasting glory (Hanko, et. al, The Five Points of Calvinism, 33).

Election refers to God’s choosing whom to save. It is unconditional in that there is no condition man must meet before God chooses to save him. Man is dead in trespasses and sins. So there is no condition he can meet before God chooses to save him from his deadness (Piper, 5 Points, 53).

We mean, therefore, by this doctrine, that God, in eternity, chose or picked out of mankind whom He would save (by means of Christ’s death and the work of the Holy Spirit), for no other reason than His own wise, just, and gracious purpose (Beck, The Five Points of Calvinism, 12).

Divine election may be defined as that loving and merciful decision by God the Father to bestow eternal life upon some, but not all, hell-deserving sinners. This decision was made before the foundation of the world and was based not upon any act of will or works of men and women, but solely upon God’s sovereign good pleasure. One does not enter the ranks of the elect by meeting a condition, be it faith or repentance. One enters the ranks of the elect by virtue of God’s free and altogether gracious choice, as a result of which he enables us to repent and believe. Thus, election is both sovereign and unconditional (Storms, Chosen for Life, 45).

Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby, before the foundation of the world, he hath out of mere grace, according to the sovereign good pleasure of his own will, chosen, from the whole human race, which had fallen through their own fault, from their primitive state of rectitude, into sin and destruction, a certain number of persons to redemption in Christ, whom he from eternity appointed the Mediator and Head of the elect, and the foundation of Salvation (Canons of Dort, I:7).

Often the term election is used as a synonym for predestination. Technically this is incorrect. The term election refers specifically to one aspect of divine predestination: God’s choosing of certain individuals to be saved. The term election has a positive connotation, referring to a benevolent predestination that results in the salvation of those who are elect. Election also has a negative side, called “reprobation,” which involves the predestination of those who are not elect (Sproul, Grace Unknown, 141).

Foreordination means God’s sovereign plan, whereby He decides all that is to happen in the entire universe. Nothing in this world happens by chance. God is in back of everything. He decides and causes all things to happen that do happen. … Predestination is part of foreordination. While foreordination refers to God’s plan for everything that ever happens, predestination is that part of foreordination that refers to man’s eternal destiny: heaven or hell. Predestination is composed of two parts: election and reprobation. Election concerns those who go to heaven, and reprobation concerns those who go to hell. … Divine election means that God chooses some to go to heaven. Others are passed by and they will go to hell (Palmer, Five Points of Calvinism, 24-25).

The doctrine of election declares that God, before the foundation of the world, chose certain individuals from among the fallen members of Adam’s race to be the objects of His undeserved favor. These, and these only, He purposed to save. God could have chosen to save all men (for He had the power and authority to do so) or He could have chosen to save none (for He was under no obligation to show mercy to any)—but He did neither. Instead, He chose to save some and to exclude others. His eternal choice of particular sinners for salvation was not based upon any forseen act or response on the part of those selected, but was based solely on His own good pleasure and sovereign will. Thus, election was not determined by, or conditioned upon, anything that men would do, but resulted entirely from God’s self-determined purpose (Steele & Thomas, Five Points of Calvinism, 27).