Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Arminianism: Depravity

This is the first in a 5 part series I will be writing as a Lutheran response to the 5 points of Calvinism as well as the 5 points of the Remonstrants put forth at Dordt to challenge Reformed doctrine by those influenced by Reformed pastor Jacob Arminius. Other Pelagian views that deny original sin and reject the depravity of man are unbiblical and outside of the Christian faith, so I will not deal with them here.

If you are looking for a quick, short, and spot-on Lutheran evaluation of the 5 points of Calvinism, my friend Pr. Jordan Cooper has done an excellent short work on this topic over at his blog. The work can be found here:

Lutheran Evaluation of the 5 Points of Calvinism - Pr. Cooper

From the outset, it is important to note that many Calvinists and Arminians see everything in non-Roman Catholic theology (sometimes Calvinists classify Roman Catholicism as 'Arminian' too) as falling into one of these two categories. So, in essence, when we say we are Lutherans, a Calvinist might first ask: "Are Lutherans Calvinists or Arminians?" The answer is neither, of course, as we shall see as the 5 points are looked at.

The first major point that the Remonstrants challenged was the Reformed doctrine of the depravity of man. I will start with the Arminian doctrine, although the Arminian doctrine is fuzzy depending on who you ask. For that reason, I will try to represent what is called "Classical" Arminianism. That is to say, the original teaching of Arminius and his direct followers.

Arminius, contrary to many of the Semi-Pelagian and Pelagian beliefs of today, did uphold total depravity for the most part. He states:

“In this state, the free will of man is not only wounded, maimed, infirmed, bent and weakened; but it is also imprisoned, destroyed and lost. And its powers are not only debilitated and useless unless they are assisted by grace but it has no powers whatever except such as are excited by divine grace… Exactly correspondent to this darkness of the mind and perverseness of the heart, is the utter weakness of all the powers to perform that which is truly good, and to omit the perpetration of that which is evil, in a due mode and from a due end and cause.” ~~~ (John D. Wagner, Arminius Speaks: Essential Writings on Predestination, Free Will and the Nature of God (2011), p.3).

John Wesley, the famous founder of Methodism and perhaps the most well-known Arminian pastor, states:

“But was there good intermingled with the evil? Was there not light intermixed with darkness? No; not at all: “God saw that the heart of man was only evil.”… For God, who “saw the whole imagination of his heart to be only evil,” saw likewise, that it was only the same, that is, it “was only evil continually;” every year, every day, every hour, every moment. He never deviated into good… From all these we learn concerning man in his natural state, unassisted by the grace of God, that “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is” still “evil, only evil” and that “continually.”” (Wesley, J., The Works of John Wesley, Third Edition: Complete and Unabridged, (2007), 14vols., 6:57.)

Savvy Calvinists such as R.C. Sproul have noted this. He said:

"He insists that is was “imprisoned, destroyed, and lost.” The language of Augustine, Martin Luther, or John Calvin is scarcely stronger than that of Arminius" (Sproul, R. C., Willing to Believe: The Controversy over Free Will (1997), p.126"

So then, Classic Arminian theology affirms the absolute necessity of the grace of God before regeneration. The difference in Arminius' doctrine of total depravity actually lies more in his doctrine of resistible grace than it does in depravity. Nevertheless, Arminius' doctrine here of the depravity of man is that man needs grace in order to be able to make a choice for or against God. Man can only reject God apart from grace.

The doctrine of total depravity in Calvinism is summed up well here:

"Because of the fall, man is unable of himself to savingly believe the gospel. The sinner is dead, blind, and deaf to the things of God; his heart is deceitful and desperately corrupt. His will is not free, it is in bondage to his evil nature; therefore, he will not--indeed he cannot--choose good over evil in the spiritual realm. Consequently, it takes much more than the Spirit's assistance to bring a sinner to Christ--it takes regeneration by which the Spirit makes the sinner alive and gives him a new nature. Faith is not something man contributes to salvation but is itself a part of God's gift of salvation--it is God's gift to the sinner, not the sinner’s gift to God. (Genesis 2:15-17, Romans 5:12, Psalm 51:5, 1 Corinthians 2:14, Romans 3:10-18, Jeremiah 17:9, John 6:44, Ephesians 2:1-10) Steele and Thomas(1)" http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/Reformed-Theology/The-Five-Points-of-Calvinism/

Presbyterian pastor and theologian R.C. Sproul offers up a brief article on total depravity found here: http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/sproul/depravity.html

And popular Reformed Baptist preacher John Piper writes this: http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/piper/depravity.html

Thus, in Reformed thought, man is depraved to the point of needing grace not only to put him in a position to make a decision, but to regenerate him. Man can do nothing apart from this. There is no synergism involved whatsoever. This is very similar to Arminian doctrine in one way: Both theologies stress that man is totally dead in sin and the will can do nothing of itself apart from divine grace that precedes regeneration. But the difference between the two is also quite large. The Arminian view puts man in a position by grace alone to respond of his own will to the offer given. In Calvinism, the grace actually regenerates and gives faith itself.

How do Lutherans respond to all of this? We certainly affirm the depravity of man, of course. Lutherans are also monergists like the Reformed; as opposed to synergists like the Arminians. Thus, the Lutheran doctrine of the depravity of man is nearly identical to the Calvinist doctrine of the depravity of man, and affirms, along with both Calvinism and Classic Arminianism, that the will can do nothing apart from grace and grace must precede. We do however agree with the Reformed that grace itself gives faith in the recipient. For Lutherans, regeneration is faith, regeneration gives faith, and regeneration results in faith. Yet we also affirm that this grace can be rejected, but that another topic for another day when we get to irresistible/resistible grace.

The Book of Concord states:

Epitome, I, 8-10: But, on the other hand, we believe, teach, and confess that original sin is not a slight, but so deep a corruption of human nature that nothing healthy or uncorrupt has remained in man's body or soul, in his inner or outward powers, but, as the Church sings: Through Adam's fall is all corrupt, Nature and essence human. This damage is unspeakable, and cannot be discerned by reason, but only from God's Word. And [we affirm] that no one but God alone can separate from one another the nature and this corruption of the nature, which will fully come to pass through death, in the [blessed] resurrection, where our nature which we now bear will rise and live eternally without original sin and separated and sundered from it, as it is written Job 19:26: I shall be compassed again with this my skin, and in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold.

Epitome, II, 3-6: Likewise we believe, teach, and confess that the unregenerate will of man is not only turned away from God, but also has become an enemy of God, so that it only has an inclination and desire for that which is evil and contrary to God, as it is written Gen. 8:21: The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Also Rom. 8:7: The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither, indeed, can be. Yea, as little as a dead body can quicken itself to bodily, earthly life, so little can man, who by sin is spiritually dead, raise himself to spiritual life, as it is written Eph. 2:5: Even when we were dead in sins, He hath quickened us together with Christ; 2 Cor. 3:5: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything good as of ourselves, but that we are sufficient is of God.

God the Holy Ghost, however, does not effect conversion without means, but uses for this purpose the preaching and hearing of God's Word, as it is written Rom. 1:16: The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. Also Rom. 10:17: Faith cometh by hearing of the Word of God. And it is God's will that His Word should be heard, and that man's ears should not be closed. Ps. 95:8. With this Word the Holy Ghost is present, and opens hearts, so that they, as Lydia in Acts 16:14, are attentive to it, and are thus converted alone through the grace and power of the Holy Ghost, whose work alone the conversion of man is. For without His grace, and if He do not grant the increase, our willing and running, our planting, sowing, and watering, all are nothing, as Christ says John 15:5: Without Me ye can do nothing. With these brief words He denies to the free will its powers, and ascribes everything to God's grace, in order that no one may boast before God. 1 Cor. 1:29; 2 Cor. 12:5; Jer. 9:23.

Solid Declaration, II, 11: Now, just as a man who is physically dead cannot of his own powers prepare or adapt himself to obtain temporal life again, so the man who is spiritually dead in sins cannot of his own strength adapt or apply himself to the acquisition of spiritual and heavenly righteousness and life, unless he is delivered and quickened by the Son of God from the death of sin.

Solid Declaration, II, 85: Accordingly, the man who is not regenerate resists God altogether, and is entirely a servant of sin, John 8:34; Rom. 6:16. The regenerate person, however, delights in the Law of God after the inward man, but nevertheless sees in his members the law of sin, which wars against the law of the mind; on this account he serves the Law of God with his mind, but with the flesh the law of sin, Rom. 7:25. In this way the correct opinion can and should be thoroughly, clearly, and discreetly explained and taught.

On the doctrine of total depravity (the T in the TULIP), although we Lutherans sometimes use different terminology (such as Bondage of the Will) we will shake hands with the Reformed on this one. Man is dead, completely and utterly, and it is God's grace alone that revives him - not just to be able to choose, but actually revives him and grants the gift of faith (cf. Eph 2:8-9).