This document discusses the concepts of free will, moral inability, and total depravity from a Calvinistic perspective. It summarizes: 1) Our choices are determined by our desires, which can be impacted internally by our fallen nature and externally by God. We freely choose what we most desire. 2) According to the Bible, due to the fall, unregenerate humans are morally unable to choose God or spiritual good on their own as they are hostile to God and their minds are depraved. 3) Original sin has resulted in all humans being totally depraved and unable to do good or desire God without divine intervention, as evidenced by universal sinfulness and biblical passages on human corruption and

1. Sovereignty
Free Will &
Salvation

2. Moral Inability
Part 1

3. How do we make choices in life?
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4. Our choices are determined by what
we desire

5. The will is “the mind
choosing”
– Jonathan Edwards

6. Can something effect what we
desire; what we „will‟ to choose?

7. What we Desire is impacted in Two Ways
External Internal
In the end, we still freely choose…

8. Is our will completely free in regard to the
choices we make?
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9. Our Desire Limits our “Free Will”
Limits exist in all areas of life. For example, I have a freedom
to jump, but I cannot jump ten feet into the air.
Likewise, we are limited in regard to the choices we make
with our will. Our desire limits the choices we makes – it
determines the choices we make.

10. • There is a cause to our decisions. We
don‟t make decisions for no reason –
that would be indeterminism.
• Every choice we make has an
antecedent cause – our choices don‟t
arise out of nothing.
• That antecedent cause is our desire
• We MUST choose what we desire;
in this respect our choices are
determined
• We must choose what we desire to be
able to choose at all
• This means every choice is both
determined and free. We are both
determined and free in the choices we
make

11. We make choices For a Reason via the Will
1. Every choice we make is for a reason.
2. We always choose according to our strongest inclination at the
moment of choice.
3. To say that we always choose according to our strongest inclination
at the moment is to say that we always choose what we want at that
moment – what we desire.
4. The will is the choosing faculty and supplies freedom.
5. Freedom allows for self-determinism, but our desire limits our choices
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12. What does the Bible teach about what
an unbeliever desires and how they are
limited in the choices they make?

13. The Biblical View of the Fallen Mind
“You were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds”
(Colossians 1:21)
“If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words,
those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is
conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial
questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive
language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and
deprived of the truth” (1 Timothy 6:3–5)
“To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving,
nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. ” (Titus 1:15)
“These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. ”
(Jude 19)

14. Martin Luther‟s “Bondage of the Will” and Jonathan Edwards
“Freedom of the Will” actually argue the exact same thing: that the
fallen mind is in bondage to sin and incapable of choosing God on its
own.

15. The Biblical View of the Fallen Mind
“And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them
over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper”
(Romans 1:28)
“Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth,
men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. ” (2 Timothy 3:8)
“But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old
covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. ”
(2 Corinthians 3:14)
“in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that
they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of
God. ” (2 Corinthians 4:4)
“So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the
Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, ” (Ephesians 4:17)

16. OK, humankind is sinful and hostile
toward God, but we can still „get‟ spiritual
truth and seek for God, right?

17. Jesus on Moral Inability
“And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one
can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” ”
(John 6:65)
“No one”: Universal negative.
“Unless”: the necessary condition.

18. Jesus on Moral Inability
“Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of
heaven, but to them it has not been granted. ” (Matthew 13:11)
“But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. ” (John 10:26)
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or
know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. ”
(John 14:16–17)
“For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, “He has blinded their eyes and
He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their
heart, and be converted and I heal them.” (John 12:39–40)
“And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not
reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17)
“Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.”
(John 8:43)

19. Paul on Moral Inability
“as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who
understands, There is none who seeks for God . All have turned aside, together
they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”
(Romans 3:10–12)
“For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and
peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not
subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so”
(Romans 8:6–7)
“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who
are being saved it is the power of God. ” (1 Corinthians 1:18)
“But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually
appraised.”
(1 Corinthians 2:14)

20. Natural vs. Moral Capabilities
Free will can be broken up into:
1. Natural ability - This has to do with
the powers we receive as natural
human beings – think, walk, make
choices, etc. This capability was not
lost in the Fall. All people have the
capacity to choose.
2. Moral ability – This is the ability to
make righteous choices, and was
affected by the Fall. Augustine says
people have free will but lacks liberty.
Fallen people have not lost the ability
to make choices; the choices are just
bad. They lack the royal liberty of
those set free unto righteousness.

21. Natural vs. Moral Ability in Desires
• The problem is not that we cannot
make choices. The problem is that,
in our fallen condition, we desire
sin.
• Before a person can choose
„good‟ as God defines it, we must
desire good
• Before a person can make a choice
pleasing to God, they must desire
to please God
• Before a person can find God,
they must desire to seek Him
• Before a person can choose
Christ, they must desire Christ

22. What Scripture says is that humanity is limited to their free will in that
a depraved mind will not choose God. People are „free‟ to make
choices, but they lack the moral ability (lost in the Fall) to respond to
God on their own. They simply do not desire God.

23. Does this inability where God is
concerned exist in everyone?

24. The Biblical View of Original Sin
“When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the
father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named
him Seth. ” (Genesis 5:3)
"Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the
earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually.” (Genesis 6:5)
“The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt,
they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does
good. The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men
To see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God. They
have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no
one who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 14:1-3)

25. “As the salt flavors every
drop in the Atlantic, so
does sin affect every atom
of our nature. It is so sadly
there, so abundantly there,
that if you cannot detect it,
you are deceived.”
- Charles Spurgeon
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26. The Biblical View of Original Sin
"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother
conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5)
“The wicked are estranged from the womb; These who speak lies go
astray from birth. ” (Psalm 58:3)
"Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does
good and who never sins.” (Ecclesiastes 7:20)
“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it? ” (Jeremiah 17:9)
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23)

27. “If each one of us is born without a
sinful nature, how do we account
for the universality of sin? If four
billion people were born with no
inclination to sin, with no
corruption to their nature, we
would reasonably expect that at
least some of them would refrain
from falling. . . . But if everybody
does it, without exception, then we
begin to wonder why.”
- R. C. Sproul

28. The Biblical View of Original Sin
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and
death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned”
(Romans 5:12)
“Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh,
indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, even as the rest” (Ephesians 2:3)
“For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived,
enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and
envy, hateful, hating one another” (Titus 3:3)
"If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth
is not in us.” (1 John 1:8)

29. “The doctrine of
original sin is the only
empirically verifiable
doctrine of the
Christian faith.”
- Reinhold Niebuhr

30. Westminster Confession of Faith
“Our first parents, being seduced by the subtlety and temptations of Satan, sinned, in eating
the forbidden fruit. This their sin, God was pleased, according to His wise and holy counsel,
to permit, having purposed to order it to His own glory. By this sin they fell from their original
righteousness and communion, with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all
the parts and faculties of soul and body. They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this
sin was imputed; and the same death in sin, and corrupted nature, conveyed to all their
posterity descending from them by ordinary generation. From this original corruption,
whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly
inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.”

31. “It was by the evil
use of his free-will
that man destroyed
both it and himself.”
- Augustine
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32. The Biblical Doctrine of Reconciliation
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things
passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are
from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us
the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against
them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation”
(2 Corinthians 5:17–19)
“Reconciliation” assumes two parties who are enemies of one another
and are at odds with one another.

33. Are you saying no person ever does any
good…?

34. Jesus on Original Sin
“What man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will
give him a stone? “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake,
will he? “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is
good to those who ask Him! ”
(Matthew 7:9–11)

35. Jesus on Who is „Good‟
“And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me
good? No one is good except God alone. ”
(Luke 18:19)

36. What Total Depravity Means
• Total/Radical depravity does not mean
humans are as bad as they can be; rather
it teaches they are as bad off as they can
be.
• It goes to the core – the root – of every
person. A better terms might be Radical
Depravity.
• The heart of sin and evil is a failure to
glorify God as God. It is putting self
ahead of God and not acknowledging
Him
• “For even though they knew God, they
did not honor Him as God or give
thanks, but they became futile in their
speculations, and their foolish heart was
darkened.” (Romans 1:21)

37. “According to the apostle and the
simple sense of him who is in Christ
Jesus, it is not merely the lack of a
quality in the will or indeed merely the
lack of light in the intellect, of strength
in the memory. Rather it is a complete
deprivation of all rectitude and of the
ability of all the powers of the body as
well as the soul and of the entire inner
and outer man. In addition to this, it is
an inclination to evil, a disgust at the
good, a disinclination toward light and
wisdom, it is love of error and
darkness, a fleeing from good works
and a loathing of them, a running to
what is evil. . . .”
- Martin Luther

38. What Total Depravity Means
• Original sin does not destroy
our humanity or our ability to
make choices.
• What was lost is the good
inclination or righteous desire
for obedience.
• The unbeliever could choose
the things of God (because
they has the right „equipment‟ to
do so – the faculties of choice)
if they wanted them, but they do
not want them.

39. “Slavery to sin does not
mean that people always
engage in reprehensible
behavior. It means that the
unregenerate never desire
to bring glory to God, but
are passionately committed
to upholding their own glory
and honor.”
- Thomas Schreiner
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40. God‟s Restraining Power On Evil
“Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this,
and I also kept [lit. „restrained‟] you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. ”
(Genesis 20:6)
“Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, since the Lord has restrained you from
shedding blood, and from avenging yourself by your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who
seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal” (1 Samuel 25:26)
“And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of
lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. ” (2
Thessalonians 2:6–7)
“Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before
God, one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the
great river Euphrates.” And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and
year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind. ” (Revelation 9:13–15)

41. Review
• How do we make choices in life?
• Via a self-determined will that freely chooses what it desires
• Is our will completely free in regard to the choices we make?
• We are limited in that we are determined to choose what we
desire
• Does this mean we can‟t make choices?
• We can use our natural functions to make choices but are
limited to the moral choices we make where God is concerned

42. “We are all by nature
Pelagians.”
- Roger Nicole
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43. Review
• Are we born with this moral limitation?
• Yes, the Bible says we are born with an effaced conscience.
• Is the mind capable of making right choices for God?
• No, the mind is hostile toward God and in rebellion towards
Him.
• So we never do good?
• Humanity can perform „good‟ acts but still doesn‟t seek or
desire God

44. Questions To Tackle Next Time…
Can we cooperate with If humanity runs from God,
God where salvation is how does salvation begin
concerned? for someone?
If a person is born a sinner, then how
can God hold that person
accountable for sinning?

45. Moral Inability
Part 1