Was Adam Depraved?
Question (Edited):
If Humanity is Totally Depraved how do we explain Adam? As I understand it Total Depravity would mean that we have a free will to do good or evil acts but cannot choose to follow God without Regeneration. If this is the case, what state was Adam in? He couldn't have been Totally Depraved. If he was not, he must have had a free will in the most simply understood sense. Please Explain:
Response:
To answer this, Let me first quote the Chapter VI of the Westminster Confession:
I. Our first parents, being seduced by the subtilty and temptations of Satan, sinned, in eating the forbidden fruit.[1] This their sin, God was pleased, according to His wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to His own glory.[2]
II. By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion, with God,[3] and so became dead in sin,[4] and wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of soul and body.[5]
III. They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed;[6] and the same death in sin, and corrupted nature, conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation.[7]
IV. From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good,[8] and wholly inclined to all evil,[9] do proceed all actual transgressions.[10]
V. This corruption of nature, during this life, does remain in those that are regenerated;[11] and although it be, through Christ, pardoned, and mortified; yet both itself, and all the motions thereof, are truly and properly sin.[12]
VI. Every sin, both original and actual, being a transgression of the righteous law of God, and contrary thereunto,[13] does in its own nature, bring guilt upon the sinner,[14] whereby he is bound over to the wrath of God,[15] and curse of the law,[16] and so made subject to death,[17] with all miseries spiritual,[18] temporal,[19] and eternal.[20]
In short, I think your intuition is correct. Prior to the Fall, Adam was not Totally Depraved, but in a state of obedience, since he had not eaten of the Forbidden Fruit. Consequently, while he was in this state of obedience, he was in a state of "original righteousness." After the Fall, Adam and all Humanity fall into a state of Total Depravity. As for God's intentions, I commend James 1:12-15. God tempts no one with Evil. Tempting/Testing Humanity was not the purpose of introducing Satan into the Garden! Rather, God intended to have Adam and Eve judge Satan, but the failed. Where Adam and Eve failed, Christ and His Church will succeed.
In Christ, Marty
I appreciate your response Marty. The problem I have though, is that it seems that you are implying that we live in a "Calvinist" world and Adam lived in an "Arminian" world. Since Adam's sin was not due to Total Depravity then it must have been the result of a free will that contemporary man does not share according to the Westminster Confession. If Adam did not have a will that is basically consistent with Arminianism, then God must have caused him to sin... something certain Calvinists would propose, though you are not!
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Alot of people find this a little shocking, but Calvinists and Arminians agree in the doctrine of Total Depravity. Arminius states:
In this [fallen] state, the free will of man towards the true good is not only wounded, infirm, bent, and weakened; but it is also imprisoned, destroyed, and lost. And its powers are not only debilitated and useless unless they be assisted by grace, but it has no powers whatever except such as are excited by Divine grace."
Consequently, neither Calvinists, Arminians, nor Reformed theologians have an issue with the idea that post-Fall, Humanity is Totally Depraved.
What I think you are struggling with is the issue of free will. In essence, there really is no such thing. We are either slaves to sin [Rom 6:20] or slaves to righteousness [Rom 6:18]. Within the Reformed and other Confessing Churches, we have the concept of Christian Freedom, which is the idea that only in Christ, do people have true freedom. What masquerades as "free will" is really Fallen Will. In essence, people believe that they can choose the right over the wrong (or vice versa). The power of sin always assures we will do the wrong thing or the right thing for the wrong reasons. This is basically the doctrine of Total Depravity.
As for Adam, he had amazing freedom, as ruler of the earth and all its inhabitants. Adam's righteousness and dominion were given to him through grace, specifically having been made in the Image of God Himself. The commandment not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was the key to his continued service to either God, or Sin, but it couldn't be both. Adam sinned and since then all Humanity has been a slave to sin.
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Thank you for your explanation. You need not answer my questions further, but I suppose if you have a blog you like to discuss these things! I am not sure the exact difference between Calvinist and Reform theology. I assume Calvinism is a bit more "extreme", if you will.
Is your belief that we lack free will rooted in the fall of man and his resulting depravity, rather than God's absolute sovereignty? I know that many Calvinists push that concept of sovereignty to the point that God must be responsible for sin and evil for the theology to work. An "extreme" view of sovereignty would mean that God caused Adam to sin, which you are of course not saying.
I think the concept of "total depravity" is a case of turning certain scriptures into a theology and then running with it. You don't have to cite the verses that back this up, because I know they are there. However, many others seem to say we have free will. If we don't, much of the Bible seems a joke almost. While man is dead in sin, it certainly seems that God's call to obey Him implies that we can follow Him, if not perfectly. (The Bible calls many people "righteous". Yet these very people are "dead in sin" and their works are like "filthy rags.") The Bible is making different points at different times and we cannot push one concept too far. Scripture certainly indicates that He reaches out to those who reject Him. (Certainly the Jews did this often) If I was totally depraved prior to being saved, would I not be "totally Holy" now? If I am an absolute slave to Christ I must be completely Holy and Righteous. I am not. I may be perfect in the terms of God's Judgment through Christ. Sin will not be imputed to me if I am saved, but I am still a sinner. Are not my good deeds still motivated by selfishness often? Am I partially depraved now?
As an analogy to this issue: Tim Keller has recently preached how the Bible says that we must obey, and do good works; while at the same time the Bible says that we cannot and must rely on grace. This is the main "problem" of the Bible. The Bible is filled with apparent works based teachings as well as Grace, even on the same page as Tim said. He likes to say that the answer to this problem is "both/neither" We must obey, but cannot... we rely on grace, and then must obey... etc. He almost, kind of, sort of, taught a similar thing regarding election. We must choose but God chose us and we can't really comprehend the apparent contradiction. Both views have problems and we don't have all the information to understand. But Tim still sides with the Reformed view because to him if Grace is not irresistible it relies on works. (I think this is a huge but understandable mistake) Yes, Romans 9 certainly indicates a Calvinist view. But, as I said there are plenty of scriptures that could support a works based theology that is heretical. There are too many scriptures that show God reaching out to a disobedient people. If His Grace is "irresistible" how can this be?
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Chris,
I apologize for taking so long to respond. Thanks for the continued dialogue. Anyway, I think that there are 3-4 core issues that you are working through. So, let me respond with some hopefully meaningful comments.
1. All human beings are servants. There is no such thing as free will. If you *think* you have free will, then you are slave to sin... Human beings are slaves to sin or are slaves to righteousness. Paul expounds this point in considerable detail in Romans 6, but the gist is this "Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness." [Rom 6:16-18]
2. Total Depravity is total in Extent but not Effect. Calvinists (and others) would say that human beings are Totally Depraved, meaning the effect of sin is total in Extent. All aspects of our lives are tainted by sin. However, sin is not total in Effect. What this means is that human beings still have remnants of "the Image of God" and thus may act Effectively Godly from time to time. Anyway, such so-called acts of righteousness (not sinful in Effect) are tainted and not totally pure (b/c they are sinful in Extent).
3. In the life of the believer, the Holy Spirit is the author of all good works. Choices we make within "good conscience" should not be confused with "free will." I have argued elsewhere that the human conscience is the Image of Holy Spirit. However, the conscience is not the Holy Spirit and is aways perverted in some way. On the other hand, choices made through the power of the Holy Spirit are through God and God alone so we can claim no sort of righteousness or credit for good works. Hence there is no such things as a works righteousness.
4. The Kingdom of God has arrived, but its not here yet. Even though we are saved through faith and the Holy Spirit is operating in our lives, we still continue to act sinfully. The reason for this is the inherent weakness of Humanity and our general lack of faith. We sin through our old nature, which is wicked and faithless, but is under judgment. Sometime in the future, God will judge that which causes us to sin and we will sin no more, but this will not happen until the Final Judgment. In the current era, we have judged our old selves by crucifying our old selves with Christ on the Cross.
How do I explain it? I consider Christ's death on the cross and the believer's union with Christ on the cross. When we accept Christ, we "die" however methinks the reality is that we are suffering with Christ on the cross as our old selves slowly die over the course of our natural lives. Crucifixion is not an instantaneous death sentence; it is long and takes some time. While our old selves are dying with Christ on the Cross, our new selves with the Righteousness of Christ are emerging. At some point our physical bodies die and then our new selves are released and renewed in the coming resurrection.
I hope this helps, in Christ, Marty
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