Radical Depravity and Evangelism

This will be my first post in an ongoing series examining the doctrines of grace and how each one particularly effects evangelism. Perhaps attempting to achieve what the second disc of Amazing Grace didn't, I want to look exegetically at how the Reformed view of God and man ultimately impacts our sotieriology and thus our evangelism. I want to begin by looking at what may be called the Bible's anthropology. But before I do that, a word about interpretation.

The Reformed hermeneutic (and thus the Protestant hermeneutic) is one that takes all the necessary rules of exegesis into consideration: grammar, syntax, lexicography, historical context and literary context. Thus, my aim will not be so much to ponder philosophically the validity of each doctrine or how it relates to evangelism (though philosophy will play a role) but rather to exposit the Word of God and let it speak for itself. Hence a major presupposition of Reformed theology being that the Spirit only operates and speaks when wedded contextually with the Word. And my aim will not be to try and "prooftext", as so many Arminian ninnies like to accuse, the case for each doctrine. But rather I will be seeking to interpret Scripture in light of Scripture and in its entirety, which is another acknowledged Reformed presupposition: tota scriptura. Always I will make it my every endeavor to honor the Word of God and, at all costs, to avoid the deadly error of eisegesis. With that said, let us plunge into the Bible. The case that man is presented as dead in sin, unable to respond to the offer of the gospel, and an enemy of God is the theme undergirding much of the Lord Jesus' ministry. Perhaps the most famous illustration of this is found in the oft-cited sixth chapter of John, when our Lord is in Capernaum. It is here that Jesus makes the perfunctory statement: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him (v.44a)." Let us look at the surrounding context however:

24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

Since this text is often cited again and again in Calvinist-Arminian debates, most people are well familiar with verses 35-44. Because of this, however, discussions usually begin with those verses and the majority of readers leap over the preceding context. When one careful student of the Bible does look at the context however, the discovery is just startling. What occurs prior to Jesus' eventual statements regarding the total inability of man makes Jesus' words all the more shocking. I think what most of us forget when looking at this text is that Jesus does not make these statements about the Pharisees (though he makes plenty like these elsewhere, see John 7:40-44). It is not the cruel Romans who nailed him to the cross that our Lord makes his most harrowing denunciation concerning. No, the ones that the Lord Jesus decries are "followers"! "Seekers" as verse 24 would put it. We forget that the very ones to whom Jesus said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father" are the same who hailed our Lord in verse 14 saying, "This is indeed the Prophet who is come into the world!" This is significant to note because often people's first objection to the doctrine of total depravity is from an experiential point of view. How often has one said, "I know a lost person who is genuinely interested in the things of God" or "Everyone seeks God." And the Reformed teaching of man does not deny that everyone seeks God. However, it is here we must draw a distinction: some seek him truly and some seek him falsely. Then we must ask the question: who are they that seek him truly? And the answer that most attributes all praise to God is clearly that the ones who seek him truly are they that have been drawn effectually by God's grace (v.44). Therefore, it may properly be said as Paul says in Romans 3:10 that no one seeks God. For apart from God's grace, no one seeks him. Sure, they may seek him falsely as the crowds did here in verse 24. But they only seek the god of their vain imaginations, in this case, the crowds' god was the bread, which Jesus identified in verse 26.

These same people then who approach Jesus in verse 25 are told in verse 26 to be seeking Jesus not because they saw the signs (and hence believed in him) but because they ate their "fill of the loaves." Jesus commands them to labor not for the food that perishes but for the food that endures to eternal life. This is a statement that the crowds misinterpret which further illustrates the total depravity of man because Christ speaks one language and the crowds cannot begin to fathom it. They say to themselves "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness" (v. 31) when they do not realize that Jesus speaks of the true heavenly bread. The crowds only understand the material, the physical, the earthly language while the whole time Jesus is speaking the language of eternal life. Even when Jesus gives the true exposition to his own metaphorical language (v. 33), the crowds still demonstrate their ignorance by demanding, "Sir give us this bread always (v.34)."

In response, Jesus declares His life-giving authority (v.35). This is not only clear evidence for the full deity of Jesus Christ but also the groundwork on which Jesus will begin to unravel how it is men come to know God through the fountainhead of salvation. I want the close readers of Scripture to notice this: verse 36 signifies a key shift in the subject of the Lord's speech. He says, "But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe (v.36)." Jesus will then go on to unpack why it is some believe and others do not. This is very important, especially in light of how many people will try to take the following statements and interpret them with regards to an eisegetical understanding of John 12:32, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself." In essence, they want to do their "exegesis" backwards. However, if we want to truly understand the meaning behind the Lord Jesus' words, we will interpret them in the given context. What is the basis then for why some believe and others do not? The Lord gives the answer in verse 37: "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." "All that the Father gives me" is the reason assigned to those who come to the Lord Jesus Christ. "All that the Father gives me" are those Jews and Gentiles whom the Father chose unconditionally before the foundation of the world (see Eph. 1:4-11, 2 Thess. 2:13). Therefore, Jesus' own words confirm that the basis for coming to the Son depends upon an act of the Father in eternity past and not on human ability. But the skeptic will retort, "Whosoever is willing may come!" To which I must reply, "Yes, whosoever is willing may come but the problem is no one is willing." This is what Jesus notices by the crowds' seeking from verse 24. They were seeking bread but not the Lord Jesus because they did not will or wish to seek Christ. No Reformed Christian says that any who genuinely seek Christ will be turned away. The Lord Jesus refutes such a notion here by saying, "whoever comes to me I will never cast out (v.37b)." Whoever comes to the Lord Jesus (i.e. by faith) will be accepted. However, no one can come to the Lord Jesus authentically unless elected by the Father in eternity past and handed over to the Son. Therefore, the foundation for man's coming to Christ rests outside of man and rests entirely on God's sovereign choice. That this foundation is the basis for the preservation of the saints is seen in verses 38-40 when Jesus explains His purpose in redemption: "to lose nothing of all that he has given me (v.39)."

With such a careful depiction of redemption, one would think the crowds would finally be illumined to the Lord Jesus' teachings. But while they showed their inability to understand in their first response, here they show their unwillingness to believe Christ came down from heaven (v.42). Instead, "They said, 'Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?' (v.42)." The crowds again are unable to perceive spiritual reality. How does our Lord Jesus respond to these objections? Does he respond by saying, "Oh, if only you would exercise your innate ability to come to me then you would understand!" No, but rather he confirms their impotency by declaring, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him (v.44a)." Here is where lexicography and grammar play a crucial role. Let us first play the role of a grammarian and note that "can" is a word of ability. Every schoolchild knows this because it is instilled in him from an early age when the teacher reminds him to ask "May I go to the bathroom" as opposed to "Can I." The first request has to do with permission. Christ permits all to come to him, in fact, He commands it. But "can" denotes ability and Christ clearly and unequivocably declares that "No one can come" meaning that no one has the ability to come. Coming to Christ, believing on Jesus, trusting in him is impossible (as are the rest of commands in Scripture) unless God grants the ability to perform such an act of the will. It is just as Augustine prayed, "Lord, grant what thou commandst and command what thou will." Thus, the only natural understanding of Jesus' words here are that no one has the ability to come to him unless some prior condition has been met. The prior condition is that they are drawn by the Father (v.44a). Often, those who wish to avoid the obvious monergistic emphasis of this passage have tried to explain the term "draw" as a kind of wooing. This of course would reduce the passage to meaning that no one can come to Christ unless they have received a persuasive calling upon which they would still have the free will to follow or turn away. However, this is problematic because it still leaves man as the final determiner in his own salvation and it is not a fitting response to the crowd and why they cannot understand spiritual truth. Furthermore, the Greek term used here for "draw", ελκυσω, is the same term used in James 2:6: Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?" I seriously doubt if anyone believes James' meaning here is that the rich are persuasively pleading or wooing with the poor to come to court. In much the same way, how is a serious student of the Bible to believe that Jesus' meaning is anything less than that the Father must first sovereignly and effectually draw the sinner? By proclaiming "no one can come to me" the Lord Jesus is nullifying any attempts to see any ability within man to come to the Son apart from the enabling work of the Father. This is what we mean when we say man is radically depraved.

There is more to be seen in this wonderfully rich passage concerning the depravity of man but room would not allow for a full-blown exegesis or of passages like it: (Genesis 6:5, Jeremiah 13:23, Romans 3:10-18, 8:7-8, 1 Corinthians 2:14-16, Ephesians 2:1-3, Colossians 2:13). Let us turn our attention now to three ways (this is in no way meant to be exhaustive) this vital doctrine impacts our presentation of the gospel.

1. More emphasis given to what man is apart from Christ rather than what he has done.

The average gospel persentation often begins with a statement like this, "You've sinned and you need Jesus." And, unfortunately, most evangelicals' understanding of "sin" is simply "mistake" or error" which the natural man has little trouble admitting ("Hey, no one is perfect, right?"). However, when we understand man's condition in light of the Biblical truth that he is radically depraved we will emphasize more of what he IS rather than what he has DONE. Less attention will be given to actual sin and more attention will be given to original sin. Yes man does commit many actual sins but that is only because he is first dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1), by nature a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3), darkened in understanding and alienated from the life of God (Eph. 4:18), a hater of God (Romans 1:30), a child of the Devil (1 John 3:10) and an enemy of God (James 4:4, Romans 8:7). Actions proceed and flow forth from nature. We make choices according to nature so to only look at behavior is not to probe deep enough. We must get to the root of man's sinning which is his rebellious nature, his self-deifying disposition. Depravity is a good word for it, while the Bible at times simply uses the word sin to encompass the entire Adamic disposition (see Romans 7:8 where Paul says "sin...produced in me all kinds of covetousness"). We must convey the sense that man's nature is totally corrupt and morally bankrupt so that the sinner recognizes that any remedy must lie entirely outside himself. The presentation of man as evil in his essential nature is the groundwork for the propagation of a monergistic gospel.

2. Rely solely on the preaching of the unadulterated gospel.

It never ceases to amaze me the kind of buffoonery that America's church is willing to try in the name of leading someone to Christ. In almost every evangelical church today (with the exception of a select few, those who actually believe in the primacy of preaching), there is an endless menu of gimmicks, shenanigans, and performances to try to persuade people to "say a prayer (which ends up being a meaningless formula in and of itself)." This tactic to try to manipulate people into the kingdom, though tragic in itself, is reflective of a mindset that is rampant in the modern, evangelical church. Techniques such as these rely on the assumption that man is seeking God. The philosophy goes like this: if man is seeking God, then he just needs a little persuasion and he can make the right decision. Therefore, they try to mix the things of the world with the things of God to try to appeal to natural man's "tastebuds" while still getting enough Christ in there to be safe. In essence, this is a form of syncretism. While not as obvious as the pagan African tribes who mix their Shamanism with Christian elements once converted, its subtlty is precisely what makes it most dangerous. Fusing Biblical truth with worldly wisdom, whether it be pagan mysticism or pragmatism, is disgraceful to the gospel of Christ for we know that "the wisdom of the world is folly with God" (1 Cor. 3:19). The church must repent of her foolish attempts to rely on man's persuasive abilities, as if faith could be manufactured when instead it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9). No one can truly believe on Christ unless first drawn by the Father (John 6:44) and any "faith" that can be mustered up apart from the enabling work of the Father is futile (John 6:63). Instead, of preaching to lost sinners the pure, undefiled Word of God we deliver psychological pep talks devoid of any real content and material that amounts to nothing more than moralism. We want to make them pretty sinners. We get them involved in a host of church programs that can cater to every man-centered need. However, this does nothing to remedy the cancer that is spreading through their bones. Sure, these new converts may look like decent people on the outside but they are whitewashed tombs. We may brag about them even, how they are our upstanding members, our recreational leaders, Sunday School teachers, organists, "Christian" yoga instructors, our deacons. However, we have done nothing more than "make them twice a child of Hell" (Matthew 23:15). We have not evangelized them. Evangel in the most historical sense means someone who brings the gospel. To which the objector may reply, "That is what we are doing! We are all about the gospel." In the wake of such postmodern babble, it seems that, sadly, this kind of thinking is given far too much credence. In our modern "churchianity", the gospel has lost all specificity. In reply to the objector we must say, "Sure you say you are all about the gospel. But wherein is the gospel contained?" I will tell you it is not in the menu of programs these megachurches have. There is no substitute for the preaching of the Word of God to enliven dead sinners! Let us recognize that there is one God-ordained means by which faith comes. "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17)." To think that anything other than the gospel of Christ has the capacity to bring man out of his utterly powerless and dreadful condition is foolish. As the Prince of Preachers C.H. Spurgeon said most eloquently:

To try to win a soul for Christ by keeping that soul in ignorance of any truth,is contrary to the mind of the Spirit; and to endeavor to save men by mereclaptrap, or excitement, or oratorical display, is as foolish as to hope to holdan angel with bird-lime, or lure a star with music. The best attraction is thegospel in its purity. The weapon with which the Lord conquers men is the truthas it is in Jesus. The gospel will be found equal to every emergency; an arrowwhich can pierce the hardest heart, a balm which will heal the deadliest wound. Preach it and preach nothing else. Rely implicitly upon the old, old gospel. You need no other nets when you fish for men; those your Master has given youare strong enough for the great fishes, and have meshes fine enough to hold thelittle ones. Spread these nets and no others, and you need not fear thefulfillment of His Word, 'I will make you fishers of men' (The Soul-Winner,p.4).


3. Preach the gospel indiscriminately

One error that we, as Calvinists, wish to avoid is the teaching that we only preach to those who show some level of interest in our message. In actuality, this is a Hyper-Calvinistic idea and is based on the false assumption that we know who the elect are. This clearly contradicts Scripture that exhorts us to preach the gospel to everyone (Matthew 22:9-14, Acts 17:30). It is a misconception to believe that the doctrine of total depravity causes one to preach the gospel discriminately. It does not. The doctrine of total depravity places all of mankind under the same diagnosis: we are all, apart from Christ, dead in sin (Eph. 2:1). Therefore, because the condition is true of all of Adam's posterity, we preach this message to every man trusting God will save his sheep. It is precisely because man has no ability that we preach the gospel indiscriminately because we know that no natural man is more likely or more "capable" of responding than another. How ironic then is it that those who give lip service to the doctrine of radical depravity would say this doctrine causes them to prequalify their hearers! We preach the gospel and we preach it to every man and know that Christ has other sheep which he must and will bring (John 10:16).

In light of this humbling, pride-crushing, self-abasing doctrine of radical depravity, let us preach the gospel then and nothing less. Let us not avoid preaching the truth of man's condition even when offensive. And let us preach to all people with the conviction that the Lord has people he will call out of every tribe, tongue, and nation (Rev. 5:9). To God be the glory!