Is Man Totally Unable to Believe? — Total Depravity in the Balance

The Boy Who Waited for Faith to Be Switched On in Him Like an Electric Current

He came to his mother one night at the age of fifteen, with eyes carrying a worry she had never seen in them before. He said to her: "They taught me that man is spiritually dead, totally unable to believe by himself, and that God is the one who gives faith to whom He wills. So if I pray and ask for salvation, but God has not yet decided to give me faith, is my prayer just words lost in the air? Am I waiting for a switch to be flipped on inside me — like electricity connected to nothing?" She had no answer. And after a few months the boy stopped attending church entirely, and told her: "If faith is God's decision and not mine, what is the point of trying? If God wants to save me He will save me, and if not there is nothing I can do." That resignation was the natural bitter fruit of a teaching that turned faith into something injected into a person by force — not a genuine response to a genuine call.

This teaching — which Calvinists call "Total Depravity" in the sense of "Total Inability" — raises a fundamental question: does the corruption and spiritual death of man in the Bible mean that he is utterly unable to respond to the call of God? Or does Scripture say something different — that man is sick and needs grace, not that he is a broken machine that requires a complete rebuild before any request can be directed at him?

What Total Depravity Truly Means — Man Is Sinful to His Core

We do not deny Total Depravity in its true biblical sense. For the Holy Bible plainly declares that man's nature is corrupt at its core: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). And the apostle declares that before salvation we were "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). Spiritual death is real and deep — man is separated from God the source of life, and he cannot save himself by his works, his righteousness, or his wisdom. There is nothing in man by himself that qualifies him for eternal life, and he has no natural sincere inclination toward the holy God. This is what Total Depravity means in its true biblical sense.

But Calvinism leaped from this truth to a conclusion Scripture does not support: that depravity means absolute inability to respond to the gospel or believe in Christ unless a person is born again first by an overpowering force. It claimed that faith is simply impossible for the natural man — like asking a physically dead man to breathe. But the difference is fundamental: the death in Scripture is death in sins — separation from God, not a physical state that cancels the ability to choose and respond.

Dead in Sins — Separation from Life, Not Paralysis of the Will

When Scripture describes the sinner as dead, it does not describe him as inert matter that hears and answers nothing. Rather it calls him — while he is "dead" — to repent, to believe, and to answer the call. God says to the one dead in sins: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." (Isaiah 1:18). This is an invitation to reasoning, to dialogue, to reflection — not a switch being thrown on a machine. And He says: "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near." (Isaiah 55:6). Seeking and calling are directed to man, and nearness is promised to whoever truly seeks.

Death in sins means man is morally corrupt, unable to produce righteousness and life from himself, standing in the darkness of sin. But he is still a being who hears and thinks and chooses and wills — otherwise how is he held to account for his choices? Moral death is the absence of desire for God, not the absence of capacity to respond when His Spirit speaks and persuades.

"Ye Will Not" — Not "Ye Cannot" — the Words of Christ Himself

The clearest proof that man's problem is the will, not capacity, came from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He said to His opponents: "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." (John 5:40). He did not say "ye cannot." He said "ye will not." The problem is in the will, not in the capacity. They are able to come, but they refuse. And this wilful refusal is the core of their guilt.

And in the same context the Lord said of the city that rejected Him: "how often would I have gathered thy children together... and ye would not!" (Matthew 23:37). He desired them and sought them, but they themselves were unwilling. The human will stood in the way — not a prior divine decree that shut the door against them. If the problem were absolute incapacity and not a refusing will, Christ would have said "ye cannot" — not "ye will not." The choice of word is deliberate, and it settles the matter.

Condemnation Is Evidence of Responsibility — Responsibility Implies Capacity

Scripture declares that man is condemned for his rejection of the Light: "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." (John 3:19). Notice: the condemnation is for "loving" — they loved darkness instead of light. Love is a free act of the will, not a metaphysical force. They are condemned because they loved evil and chose to flee from the light — not because God denied them the capacity.

And this is a fixed principle: justice does not condemn for what a person has no power over. If man were absolutely unable to believe, his condemnation for unbelief would be a glaring injustice. But God is just — and His justice requires that man be genuinely responsible. And if he is genuinely responsible, he is able to respond if he will. Depravity removed his desire, not his responsibility. Justice does not condemn anyone for an inability imposed upon him — it condemns whoever was given the light and loved darkness more than it, and whoever heard the gospel and turned his heart from it by his own choice.

"I Will Draw All Men" — the Drawing Is Universal, Not Exclusive

Calvinists lean heavily on John 6:44: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." They interpret it to mean the drawing is overpowering and exclusive to the elect. But this verse is not to be understood in isolation — it must be read alongside what the Lord Jesus Himself said later in the same Gospel: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." (John 12:32). "All men" — not a secret chosen few. The drawing is connected to the cross — and every person who hears the message of the cross has received his share of that drawing.

So John 6:44 does not say "no man can come even with the drawing"; it says "no man can come without the drawing." And the drawing is available to all through the gospel and the convicting work of the Holy Ghost. Whoever resists that drawing and closes his heart bears the responsibility. And whoever opens his heart and believes understands that his faith was not from himself, but from that call he chose not to resist. This is the delicate biblical balance: "no man can come" establishes the necessity of divine grace; "I will draw all men" establishes the universality of that grace.

Open Commands — Seek, Come, Whosoever Will

God commands all men in every place to repent: "but now commandeth all men every where to repent." (Acts 17:30). A universal command — no exceptions. And Scripture invites the sinner by name to come: "And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Revelation 22:17). "Whosoever will" — whoever wills, with no prior condition of an imposed overpowering desire.

And when Scripture calls to personal faith it addresses the individual in the most direct second-person terms: "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Romans 10:9). "If thou shalt confess... and shalt believe" — a conditional form that means the person is the active agent in confessing and believing, and if he does, he is saved. If faith were impossible for him under all circumstances, he would not have been told "if thou shalt believe."

Romans 10 — Faith Comes by Hearing, Not by Overpowering Force

Scripture answers the question "how can faith arise from a depraved man?" with complete clarity: faith comes from an external source, not from man's nature by itself — but that external source is the preached Word of God, not an overpowering force secretly injected into the hearts of the elect. Scripture says plainly: "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17). Faith comes from hearing the gospel — and the gospel is preached to all. And this means that God has not locked the door against anyone and opened it for others in secret — rather He sent His Word to all and gave all the opportunity to hear and respond.

And this explains why the apostle Paul preached to all men in every place without exception, and why he directed the call to believe to each person individually: "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Romans 10:9). If faith were impossible for the natural man under every circumstance, this condition would not be given to all. The Word ignites faith in every heart that receives it — and the responsibility falls on whoever extinguishes it by refusal.

John 6:44 in the Light of John 12:32 — Divine Drawing Does Not Cancel Human Response

The Calvinist uses John 6:44 as a pillar for total inability. But the same gospel of John that contains John 6:44 also contains John 12:32 — and Christ Himself placed them together for us. "No man can come without the Father's drawing" — and "I will draw all men." The Father draws through the lifted-up crucified Son, and this drawing reaches everyone who hears the gospel.

The word "cannot" in John 6:44 means "is not able in his natural unsupported state" — not "is unable even when the Spirit convicts and the gospel calls." Wherever the gospel is preached, there the drawing of the Father is also present. The person who responds by faith is drawn; the person who resists has chosen to resist a grace that was truly offered. And in both cases the human will has acted — in one case in response to grace, and in the other in resistance to it.

Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility — Scripture Holds Both Together

The Holy Bible teaches with complete clarity that God is absolutely sovereign in His salvation — but at the same time it declares man's responsibility for his belief and his rejection. These two truths do not contradict each other in Scripture; they run side by side on every page. God chooses — and man responds. God calls — and man wills or refuses. The Spirit convicts — and the mind and heart respond or resist. This is not a paradox that needs a Calvinist solution that eliminates one side. It is a complete biblical picture that holds both.

The Lord Jesus placed both sides in a single statement: "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). Two parts: "all that the Father giveth me" — sovereignty and divine gift. "Him that cometh to me" — the genuine, voluntary coming of the man. And the glorious result: "I will in no wise cast out" — absolute security for whoever came. Scripture does not cancel the sovereignty of God by affirming human responsibility, nor does it cancel human responsibility by affirming the sovereignty of God. Both are real, and both are necessary.

Faith — Neither Human Merit Nor Divine Compulsion, but Grace Received

Scripture declares that salvation is from God, not from man: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9). "Not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" — salvation is a gift, not an achievement. And faith is not a work by which salvation is earned as a merit, but the empty hand stretched out to receive the gift.

But faith is also not an eternal compulsion forced upon a heart as on a machine with no power of its own. Rather faith is a genuine response from a genuine man to a genuine gospel. The believer believed — and he knows that he believed of his own will. But he also knows that he would not have believed without the Spirit of God who knocked at his door and the Word of God he heard that worked in his heart. So he has no ground to boast — and he has no reason to doubt the reality of his faith because he was not "given an overpowering force." And whoever received that grace and did not resist it will find that the saving was entirely of God from beginning to end.

Summary — Total Depravity in the Light of Scripture, Not in the Light of Calvin

Man is totally depraved — this is true. His heart is deceitful and corrupt (Jeremiah 17:9), his nature is bent toward sin, and he cannot save himself or be born again by his own will. He needs the grace of God to be saved — this is true also. And the Holy Ghost works in hearts to convict and call them — this is a third truth.

But man — despite his depravity — remains responsible for his response to that grace, genuinely offered to him. He still hears the Word, thinks, feels the knocking of the Spirit. And Scripture still says to him "seek," and "come," and "whosoever will," and "believe." If he refuses, he refuses of his own will — and if he believes, he does so by the grace of God which he did not resist. And whoever believed has no ground to boast — and whoever refused has no excuse of helplessness. And no one who truly willed was ever turned away unsaved, and no one refused except by a will that was his own.

And a final word to everyone who has lived for years under the weight of Calvinist teaching and found their heart growing cold rather than burning: that coldness is not evidence that you are not among the "elect." It is the natural fruit of a teaching that makes faith a result of prior selection rather than the very path to Christ. Scripture teaches you the reverse order: come first, believe first — and you will find that the promise holds: "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). The door is open. The call is genuine. The promise is firm. And eternal life waits for everyone who comes to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith.

The True God of the Bible Calls You — Now

If you have sat like that young man waiting for faith to be switched on inside you like a machine, hear the clear Word of Scripture: God is speaking to you right now through His Word, calling you by name, pleading with you to come. "Whosoever will, let him take" — and you are one who may thirst and will. Do not wait for an external force to sweep you irresistibly — open your heart and believe, and you will find that grace was waiting for you, not the other way around. Say to Christ now: "I believe that You died for my sins and rose from the dead" — and you will be saved immediately and never turned away.

And we encourage you to begin reading the Gospel of John for yourself, and to continue in the Word of God in the King James Version — the truest and purest Word of God in the world — and in the Van Dyck in Arabic, both found on this website (alinjil.com). You will find in them a God who does not shut the door before you, but stands at it and knocks and says: "Come." May God bless you as you come to Him as you are.

← Back to FAQs