The dominion of sin not only extends to all humanity but also dominates every individual soul. Because of the utter pervasiveness of sin, do people have any freedom of the will? If there is any freedom for people, how far does its power extend? To find the answer, we need to consider the dangers that are present on either side of the issue. On the one hand, there is the danger of laziness and apathy. Some people may reason that since they have no ability to pursue righteousness, why even try? On the other hand, there is the danger of pride and self-reliance. If people could accomplish even the smallest righteous act themselves, they are essentially stealing honor from God. They might become so puffed up with pride that they set themselves up for an even greater fall.

To stay free of these two errors, I want to show that people have no good in themselves. They are in complete spiritual poverty. Yet people must aspire to the goodness and freedom, which they don’t have. Realizing one’s spiritual poverty is a better motivation to pursue goodness than if you already possessed it. Everyone agrees with this latter point. Yet many people doubt the first point more than they ought to. People should not be denied justice—receiving what is rightly their own. Yet, if people truly lack something (like inherent goodness and righteousness), then to claim to have it is false boasting! If people couldn’t even boast in themselves before sin, when they were endowed by their Creator with great goodness, how much more humility should they have because they don’t have any inherent goodness but instead are filled with sin?

God made humanity in his own image, the highest honor that Scripture attributes to people (Genesis 1:26-27). Yet even these blessings of happiness were not derived from within humanity itself but bestowed upon us by God. Therefore, the only thing that people should now do is be grateful to God. If people cannot glorify God by acknowledging his blessings, they should at least glorify him by confessing their spiritual poverty. It is just as important for us to give up any claim to wisdom as it is try to glorify God. Those who make people out to be more than we are add false worship to our ruin. When we are taught to strive in our own strength, we can told to rely on a faulty foundation. We are lifted up, only to come crashing down. In fact, trying to rely on our own strength is more futile than leaning on a skinny twig.

Everything foolish people teach on this subject is unsubstantial, like smoke blown away by the wind. Augustine regularly repeated the well-known saying that free will is more often destroyed, rather than established, by its defenders. Yet, I need to set the stage for the discussion of total depravity and free will because some people react negatively when they hear things like human virtue is “totally overthrown.” The point of teaching total depravity is not about denigrating human beings but magnifying God’s people.

“Blogging the Institutes” is my on-going attempt to paraphrase John Calvin’s work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion. You can find out more about the series in the Introduction. For all the posts in this series, check out the Master List.