Does David Guzik Believe In Total Depravity?
Q: Do you believe in total depravity—that humans cannot choose God unless He first enables them?
John 6:44 – No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
A: I don’t believe that any human being can choose God without God doing a prior work in them. Jesus was clear that nobody comes to the Father unless the Spirit draws them (see John 6:44). God must do a prior work in somebody before they can respond to Him and be saved. The main point where people differ is concerning the nature of that prior work. Our Calvinist and Reformed brothers and sisters would insist that the prior work is regeneration, which includes being born again. They believe that God saves a person apart from any volition on their part. Calvinists believe that a person is born again because God makes them born again, and that the person being saved shows no volition or participation or involvement at all, not even a reception by faith. They would argue anything like that would only come afterwards. Their position is that a person is born again and only afterward believes.
I would absolutely agree that God must work in an individual before they can believe on Jesus Christ. However, I deny that the prior work is regeneration, the actualization of being born again.
What then is the prior work of God? Of course, we can’t name everything, but generally speaking, there is usually a conviction by the Spirit concerning sin, a need and desire to believe, and a drawing unto God Himself. It’s a drawing work which involves some kind of response on the part of the person.
I absolutely deny the idea that individuals can save themselves, or that they are the critical contributors to their salvation. But I would disagree with our Reformed brothers and sisters who say that a person saved first and believes afterwards. I think a lot of this tends to be unfruitful controversy. I am grateful for the way that many of our Calvinistic or Reformed brethren oftentimes act in a better way than their theology prescribes. They appeal to people to believe.
Reformed theologians generally treat faith as if it were a work in their theological system. However, the Bible plainly says that faith is not a work. It puts faith and works in opposition to each other. Let’s admit that a lot of this is controversy about words. Those of us in the non-Calvinist camp are testifying to the sovereignty and primacy of God’s work from beginning to end. A lot of times, these controversies are greater in appearance than they are in fact. That’s why I can get along famously with a lot of Reformed brothers and sisters. We know a lot of those people. Praise the Lord for them.They’re good people.