- Should we?
Is that what Total Depravity says of one who is first believed to be Totally Depraved. Totally incapable of understanding the Gospel until God puts that person into his grace through the act of Irresistible Grace?
There are Canon's that apply in Calvinism and that give it its "shape" as a Doctrinal construct.
12.Assurance of their eternal and unchangeable election to salvation is given to the chosen in due time, though by various stages and in differing measure. Such assurance comes not by inquisitive searching into the hidden and deep things of God, but by noticing within themselves, with spiritual joy and holy delight, the unmistakable fruits of election pointed out in God’s Word—such as a true faith in Christ, a childlike fear of God, a godly sorrow for their sins, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and so on.
13. In their awareness and assurance of this election, God’s children daily find greater cause to humble themselves before God, to adore the fathomless depth of God’s mercies, to cleanse themselves, and to give fervent love in return to the One who first so greatly loved them. This is far from saying that this teaching concerning election, and reflection upon it, make God’s children lax in observing his commandments or carnally self-assured. By God’s just judgment this does usually happen to those who casually take for granted the grace of election or engage in idle and brazen talk about it but are unwilling to walk in the ways of the chosen.
A reminder of what Total Depravity means in TULIP:
Total Depravity =
All men have inherited the sin of Adam through their parents and are morally unable to choose to follow God and be saved because of their own depraved, sinful nature which extends to every part of their personality.
Bible Responses
Ezekiel 18:19-23—“Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and done them, he shall surely live.
The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself…. ‘Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?’ says the Lord GOD, ‘and not that he should turn from his ways and live?’”
Ezekiel 28:15—“You were perfect in your ways
from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.”
Psalm 106:37-38—“They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and shed
innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters.”
Zechariah 12:1—“Thus says the LORD, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and
forms the spirit of man within him.”
Matthew 18:2-3—“Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and
become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.’”
Matthew 19:14—“But Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for
of such is the kingdom of heaven.’”
Romans 7:9—“I was
once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came,
sin became alive and I died.”
Jumping ahead a bit to answer your question and to the "I" of TULIP.
Irresistible Grace =
God’s saving grace is applied to those whom He has determined to save (the elect), overcoming their resistance to the call of the Gospel, bringing them to a saving faith. This means that when God sovereignly purposes to save someone, that individual certainly will be saved (even against his will if necessary). This purposeful influence of God’s Holy Spirit, Who creates faith within the individual, cannot be resisted.
Bible Responses
Deuteronomy 30:19—“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore
choose life.”
Joshua 24:15—“
Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house,
we will serve the LORD.”
Luke 7:30—“But the Pharisees and lawyers
rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.”
John 12:42-43—“Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees
they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”
Acts 7:51—“You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always
resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.”
Acts 13:46—“Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, ‘It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but
since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.’”
Which is why you don't see Calvinists Proselytizing. But you do see them and those who ascribe to TULIP, openly telling non-Calvinists, and non-Reformed who embrace TULIP's formula, that we are not the elect. Particularly obvious in that message is that which calls the meaning behind free will, free choice, garbage.
If you read the Canon of Dort link you'll see that not even Calvinists or TULIP faithful are able to "know" they are the elect. "Assurance of their eternal and unchangeable election to salvation is given to the chosen in due time, though by various stages and in differing measure."
That is excerpted again from Article 12 of the Canon of Dort.
The rest of Article 12 is omitted so as to point out that a Calvinist does not immediately know they are of the Elect. But the contradiction in Calvinism's Article 12 to that point is this. When you read that first part of Article 12 and then the rest of the article, you may realize that the Article is actually making what is an arbitrary factor something that Dort proclaimed to be a reasoned proof sustaining the Calvinist Doctrine itself.
Calvinism claims a person is Totally Depraved, unable to comprehend the Gospel unless or until God intercedes, through Irresistible Grace due to that person
