The Doctrine of Man's Total Inability by A. W. Pink Introduction The title of the second section of our book, From Cleaning from the Scriptures Man's Total Depravity, may occasion a rising of the eyebrows, That we should designate the spiritual helplessness of fallen man a doctrine is likely to cause surprise, for it is certainly not so regarded in most circles today. Yet this is hardly to be wondered at. Didactic preaching has fallen into such general disuse that more than one important doctrine is no longer heard from the pulpits. If on the one hand there is a deplorable lack of a clear and definite portrayal of the character of God, on the other there is also a woeful absence of any lucid and comprehensive presentation of the teaching of Scripture concerning the nature and condition of man. Such failure at either point leads to the most disastrous consequences. A study of this neglected subject is therefore timely and urgent. It is of the utmost importance that people should clearly understand and be made thoroughly aware of their spiritual impotence, for thus alone is the foundation laid for bringing them to see and feel their imperative need of divine grace for salvation. So long as sinners think that they have it in their own power to deliver themselves from their death and trespasses and sins, it will never come to Christ that they might have life. For the whole have no need of a physician but they that are sick. So long as people imagined they labor under no inseparable inability to comply with a call of the gospel They never will be conscious of their entire dependence on him alone who is able to work in them all the good pleasure of his goodness and a work of faith with power 2nd Thessalonians 1 verse 11 and So long as a creature is puffed up with a sense of his own ability to respond to God's requirements, he will never become a suppliant at the footstool of divine mercy. A careful perusal of what the Word of God has to say on this subject leaves us in no doubt about the awful state of spiritual serfdom in which to fall is brought, man. The depravity, blindness, and deafness of all mankind in things of a spiritual nature are continually inculcated and emphatically insisted on throughout the scriptures. Not only is the total inability of the natural man to obtain salvation by deeds of the moral law frequently asserted, but his utter helplessness in himself to comply with the terms of the gospel is also strongly affirmed, not indirectly and occasionally, but expressly and continually, both in the Old Testament and in the New, in the declarations of the prophets of the Lord Christ and of his apostles, The bondage of the natural man to Satan is often depicted, and his complete impotence to turn to God for deliverance is solemnly and unequivocally set forth. Ignorance or misconception on the matter is therefore inexcusable. Nevertheless, the fact remains that this is a doctrine which is little understood and rarely insisted upon. Notwithstanding the clear and uniform testimony of the scriptures, the actual conditions of men, their alienation from God, their sinful inability to return to Him, are but feebly apprehended and seldom heard even in Orthodox quarters. The fact is that the whole trend of modern thought, is in the very opposite direction. For the past century, and increasingly so during the last few decades, the greatness of man, his dignity, his development, and his achievements has been the predominant theme of pulpit and press. The anti-scriptural theory of evolution is a blank detail of the fall in its dire consequences, even where the hypothesis of Charles Darwin has not been accepted. Its pernicious influences have been more or less experienced. The evil effects from the promulgation of the evolutionary lie are far more widespread than most Christians realize. Such a philosophy If it is entitled to be called that, it has induced multitudes of people to suppose that their state is far different from, and vastly superior to, the fearful diagnosis given in Holy Writ. Even among those who have not accepted, without considerable reservation, the idea that man is slowly but surely progressing, the great majority have been encouraged to believe that their case is far better than it actually is. Consequently, when a servant of God boldly affirms that all the descendants of Adam are so completely enslaved by sin that they are utterly unable to take one step toward Christ for deliverance, he is looked upon as a doleful pessimist or a crazy fanatic. To speak of the spiritual impotence of the natural man is, in our day, to talk in an unknown tongue. Not only does the appalling ignorance of our generation cause a servant of God to labor under a heavy handicap when seeking to present the scriptural account to man's total inability for good, he is also placed as a serious disadvantage by virtue of the marked distastefulness of this truth. The subject of his moral impotence is far from being a pleasing one to the natural man. He wants to be told that all he needs to do is exert himself. That salvation lies within the power of his will. That he is a determiner of his own destiny. Pride, with his strong dislike of being a debtor to the sovereign grace of God, rises up against it. Self-esteem, with his rapid repugnance of anything which lays a creature in the dust. hotly resents what is so humiliating. Consequently, this truth is either openly rejected or, as seemingly received, is turned to a wrong use. Moreover, when it is insisted on that man's bondage to sin is both voluntary and culpable, that the guilt for his inability to turn to God or to do anything pleasing in his sight lies at his own door, that his spiritual impotence consists in nothing but the depravity of his own heart and the inveterate enmity against God. that the hatefulness of this doctrine is speedily demonstrated. While men are allowed to think that their spiritual helplessness is involuntary rather than willful, innocent rather than criminal, something to be pitied rather than to be blamed, they may receive this truth with a measure of toleration. But let them be told that they themselves have forged the shackles which hold them in captivity to sin. that God counts them responsible for the corruption of their hearts, and that their incapability of being holy constitutes the very essence of their guilt, and loud will be their outcries against such a flesh-withering truth. However repellent this truth may be, it must not be withheld from men. The minister of Christ is not sent forth to please or entertain his congregation. but to declare the counsel of God, and not merely those parts of it which may meet with their approval and acceptance, but all the counsel of God. Acts 20 verse 27. If he deliberately omits that which raises their ire, he betrays his trust. Once he starts whittling down his divinely given commission, there will be no end to the process. For one class will murmur against this portion of truth and another against that. The servant of God has nothing to do with the response which is made to his preaching. His business is to deliver the Word of God in its unadulterated purity. and leave the results to the one who has called him. And he may be assured at the outset, and unless many in his congregation are seriously disturbed by his message, he has failed to deliver it in its clarity. A Resented Doctrine No matter how hotly this doctrine of man's spiritual impotence is resented by both the profane and the religious world, it must not be withheld through cowardice. Christ, our supreme exemplar, announces truth emphatically and constantly. To the Pharisees he said, O generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Matthew 12, verse 34. Men's hearts are so vile, it is utterly impossible that anything holy should issue from them. They can no more change their nature by an effort of will than a leper might heal himself by his own volition. Christ further said, How can you believe which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that comes from God only? John 5 verse 44. It is a moral impossibility. Pride and humility are opposites. Those who seek to please self know who sincerely aim at the approbation of God. belonged to two entirely different stocks. On another occasion, the Lord Christ asked, Why do you not understand my speech? To which he himself answered, Even because you cannot hear my word. John 8 verse 43. There is no mistaking his meaning here, and no evading the force of his solemn utterance. The message of Christ is hateful to their worldly and wicked hearts. It can no more be acceptable to them than whole, wholesome food to birds accustomed to feed on carry-on. Man cannot act contrary to his nature. One might as well expect fire to burn downward or water flow upward. You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do," John 8 verse 44 said the Savior to the Jews. And what was their response? Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil? Verse 48, sufficient for the servant to be as his master. Now, if such is the case with a natural man that he can no more break the bonds which hold him in captivity to Satan, then he could restore the dead to life. Ought he not to be faithfully informed of his wretched condition, if he is so helpless and hopeless in himself that he cannot turn from sin to holiness, that he cannot please God, that he cannot take one step toward Christ for salvation? Is it not a kindness to acquaint him with his spiritual impotence, to shatter his dreams of self-sufficiency, to expose the delusion that he is lord of himself? In fact, is it not positively cruel to leave him alone in his complacency and make no effort to bring him face to face with the desperateness of his depravity? Surely anyone with a vestige of charity in his heart will have no difficulty in answering such questions. It is far from a pleasant task for his physician to tell an unsuspecting patient that his or her heart is organically diseased, or to announce to a young person engaging in strenuous activities that his lungs are in such a condition he is totally unfit for violent exertions. Nevertheless, it is the physician's duty to break such news. Now, if this principle holds good in connection with our mortal bodies, how much more so with regard to our never-dying spirits. True, there are some doctors who persuade themselves that there are times when it is expedient for them to withhold such information from their patients. But a true physician of souls is never justified in concealing the more distasteful aspect of the truth from those who are under his care. If he is to be free from their blood, he must unsparingly expose a plague of their hearts. The fact a fallen man's moral inability is indissolubly bound up with the doctrine of his total depravity, and any denial of the one is a repudiation of the other. as any attempt to modify the former is to vitiate the latter. In like manner, the fact of the natural man's impotence to deliver himself from the bondage of sin is inseparably connected with the truth of regeneration. For unless we are without strength in ourselves, what need is there for God to work a miracle of grace in us? It is, then, the reality of the sinner's helplessness which provides the dark background necessary for the gospel. And just in proportion as we are made aware of our helplessness, shall we really value the mercy proffered us in the gospel. On the other hand, While we cherish a delusion that we have power to turn to God at any time, just so long we shall continue procrastinating and thereby despise the gracious overtures of the gospel. William Shedd stated, quote, a sense of danger excites, a sense of security puts to sleep. A company of gamblers in the sixth story are told that the building is on fire. One of them answers, we have the key to the fire escape. and I'll continue the game." Suddenly one exclaims, the key is lost. I'll immediately spring to their feet and endeavor to escape." Just so long as the sinner believes because of his erroneous notion of the freedom of his will. that he has the power to repent and believe at any moment. He will defer faith and repentance. He will not so much as beg God to work these graces in him. The first office of the preacher is to stain the pride of all human glory. to bring down the high looks of man, to make him aware of his sinful perversity, to make him feel that he is unworthy of the least of all God's mercies. His business is to strip him of the rags of his self-righteousness and to shatter his self-sufficiency, to make him conscious of his utter dependence on the mere grace of God. Only he who finds himself absolutely helpless will surrender himself to sovereign grace. Only he who feels himself already sinking under the billows of a justly deserved condemnation will cry out, Lord, save me, I perish. Only he who has been brought to despair will place a crown of glory on the only head entitled to wear it. Though God alone can make a man conscious of his impotence, he is pleased to use the means of the truth, faithfully dispensed, effectually applied by the Spirit, in doing so. the doctrine of man's total inability, its reality. The spiritual impotence of the natural man is no mere product of theological dyspepsia, nor is it a decimal dogma invented during the dark ages. It is a solemn fact, affirmed by holy writ, manifested throughout human history, confirmed in the conscious experience of every genuinely convicted soul. The moral powerlessness of the sinner is not proclaimed in the pulpit today, nor is it believed in by professing Christians generally, when it is insisted that man is so completely the bond-sleeve of sin that he cannot move toward God. The vast majority will regard that statement as utterly unreasonable and reject it with scorn. To tell those who consider themselves to be hale and hearty that they are without strength strikes them as a preposterous assumption unworthy of serious consideration. Objections of Unbelief when a servant of God presses this unwelcome truth on his hearers. The fertile mind of unbelief promptly replies with one objection after another. If we are totally devoid of spiritual ability, then assuredly we must be aware of the fact. But that is far from being the case. The skeptic says we are very much aware of our power to do that which is pleasing in God's sight, even though we do not perform it. We would if we would. He also contends that were we so completely the captives of Satan, as is declared, we should not be free agents at all. Such a concept is that we will not allow for a moment Another point of the skeptic is that if man has no power to do that which God requires, then obviously he is not a responsible creature, for he cannot justly be held accountable to that which is beyond his powers to achieve. We must establish the fact of man's spiritual impotence and show that it is a solemn reality. For until we do this, it is useless to discuss the nature of that impotence, its seat, its extent, or its cause. And it is to the inspired Word of God alone that we shall make our appeal. For if the scriptures of truth plainly teach this doctrine, then we are on sure ground and may not reject his testimony even though no one else on earth believes it. If the divine oracles affirm it, then none of the objections brought against it by the carnal mind can have any weight with us. Though in due course we shall endeavor to show that these objections are as pointless as they are groundless. In approaching more definitely the task now before us, it should be pointed out that, strictly speaking, it is the subject of human depravity which we are going to write on. Yet to have so designated this section would be rather misleading as we are going to confine ourselves to only one aspect of it. The spiritual impotence of the natural man forms a distinct and separate branch of his depravity. The state of evil, into which the fall has plunged us, is far more dreadful, and its dire consequences far more wide-reaching than is commonly supposed. The common idea is that though man has fallen, he is not so badly damaged, but that he may recover himself, providing he properly exercises his remaining strength, or with due attention improves the help proffered him. but his case is vastly more serious than that. A. A. Hodge said, quote, The three main elements involved in the consequences entailed by the sin of Adam upon his posterity are these. First, the guilt, or just penal responsibility of Adam's first sin, or apostatizing act, which is imputed or judicially charged upon his descendants. whereby every child is born into the world in a state of antenatal forfeiture or condemnation. Second, the entire depravity of our nature involving a sinful innate disposition inevitably leading to actual transgression. Third, the entire inability of the soul to change its own nature or to do anything spiritually good in obedience to the divine law." What does God say on this subject? Let us consider some of the solemn declarations of our Lord on the third of these dire consequences of the fall. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, John 3, verse 3. Until a man is born again, he remains in his natural fallen and depraved state. And so long as that is the case, it is utterly impossible for him to discern or perceive divine things. Sin has both darkened his understanding and destroyed his spiritual vision. The way of the wicked is as darkness. They know not at what they stumble. Proverbs 4 verse 19. Though a divine instruction has supplied them, though God has given them his word in which The way to heaven is plainly marked out. Still they are incapable of profiting from it. Moses represented them as groping at noonday. Deuteronomy 28 verse 29. And Job declares they meet with darkness in the daytime and groping at noonday is in the night. Job 5 verse 14. Jeremiah depicts them as walking in slippery ways in the darkness. Jeremiah 23 verse 12. Now this darkness, which envelops a natural man, is a moral one, having its seat in the soul. Our Savior declared, the light of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye be single, your whole body shall be full of light. But if your eye be evil, your whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness. Matthew 6 verses 22 and 23. The heart is the same to the soul as the eye is to the body. As the sound eye lets in natural light, so a good heart lets in spiritual light. And as the blind eye shuts out natural light, so an evil heart shuts out spiritual light. Accordingly, we find the Apostle expressly ascribing the darkness of the understanding to the blindness of the heart. He represents all men as having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them. because of the blindness of their heart. While sinners remain under the entire dominion of a wicked heart, they are altogether blind to the spiritual excellence of the character, the works, and the ways of God. Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding which have eyes, and see not which have ears, and hear not Jeremiah 5 verse 21. The natural man is blind. This awful fact was affirmed again and again by our Lord as He addressed hypocritical scribes. Thus, blind leaders of the blind he blind guides you blind pharisee matthew 15 verses 14 23 24 and 26 paul said to god of this world has blinded the minds of them that which believe not second corinthians 4 4 There is in the unregenerate mind an incompetence, an incapacity, an inability to understand the things of the spirit. And Christ's repeated miracle in restoring sight to the naturally blind was designed to teach us our imperative need of the same divine power recovering spiritual vision to our souls. A question has been raised as to whether this blindness of the natural man is partial or total, whether it is simply a defect of vision or whether he has no vision at all. The nature of his disease may best be defined as spiritual myopia or short-sightedness. He is able to see clearly objects which are nearby, but distant ones lie wholly beyond the range of his vision. In other words, the mind's eye of the sinner is capable of perceiving natural things, but he has no ability to see spiritual things. Holy Writ states that the one who lacks these things, namely, the graces of faith, virtue, knowledge, and so forth, mentioned in 2 Peter 1 verses 5 to 7, is blind and cannot see afar off. Verse 9, the book Therefore urges him to receive I saw from Christ that he may see revelation 3 verse 18 For this very purpose the Son of God came into the world to give deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind Luke 4 verse 18 concerning those who are the subjects of this miracle of grace it is said you were sometimes darkness but now are you light and the lord Ephesians 5 verse 8 this is a fulfillment of our lord's promise I am the light of the world. He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 8 verse 12. God is light. Therefore, those who are alienated from him are in complete spiritual darkness. They do not see the frightful danger to which they are exposed. Though they are led captive by Satan from day to day and year to year, they are totally unaware of his malignant influence over them. They are blind to the nature and tendency of their religious performances, failing to perceive that no matter how earnestly they engage in them, they cannot be acceptable to God while their minds are at enmity against Him. They are blind to the way and means of recovery. The awful thing is that the natural man is quite blind to the blindness of his heart, which is insensibly leading him to the blackness of darkness forever. Jude 13. That is why the vast majority live so securely and peacefully. It has always appeared strange to the godly why the ungodly can be so unconcerned while under the sentence of death and conduct themselves so frivolously and gaily while exposed to the wrath to come. John was surprised to see the wicked spending their days in carnality and feasting. David was grieved at the prosperity of the wicked and could not account for their not being in trouble as other men. Amos was astonished to behold the sinners in Zion living at ease, putting the evil day far from them, lying on beds of ivory. Nothing but their spiritual blindness can explain the conduct of the vast majority of mankind crying peace and safety when exposed to impending destruction. man's opposition to this doctrine. Since all sinners are involved in such spiritual darkness as makes them unaware of their present condition and condemnation, it is not surprising that they are so displeased when their fearful danger is plainly pointed out. Such faithful warning tends to disturb their present peace and comfort, and to destroy their future hopes and prospects of happiness. If they were once made to truly realize the imminent danger of the damnation of hell, their ease, security, and joy would be completely dispelled. They cannot bear, therefore, to hear the plain truth respecting their wretchedness and guilt. Sinners could not bear to hear the plain teachings of the prophets or Christ on this account. This explains their bitter complaints and fierce opposition. They regard as enemies those who try to befriend them. They stop their ears and run from them. That's a natural man. Even the most zealous religionist has no perception of the spiritual blindness. and that he is highly displeased when charged with it is evident. Jesus said, For judgment I am coming to this world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words and said to him, Are we blind also? And Jesus said to them, If You were blind. You should have no sin. But now you say, we see. Therefore your sin remains, John 9, verses 39 to 41. God's Son became incarnate for the purpose of bringing to light the hidden things of darkness. He came to expose things that those made conscious of their blindness might receive sight, but that they who had spiritual sight in their own estimation should be made blind, judicially abandoned to the pride of their evil hearts. Deinfatuated Pharisees had no desire for such an experience, denying their blindness they were left in their sin. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3, verse 3. He cannot see the things of God, because by nature he is enveloped in total spiritual darkness. Even though external lights shine on him, he has no eyes with which to see it. The light shines in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. John 1, verse 5. when the Lord of Life and Light appeared among them. Man had no eyes to see His beauty, but despised and rejected Him, and so it is still. Every verse in Scripture which treats as a spiritual illumination confirms a solemn fact for God. who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. In the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6, this giving of light and knowledge is by divine power, being analogous to that power by which the light at the first creation was provided. As far as spiritual saving knowledge of the truth is concerned, The mind of fallen man is like the chaos before God said, let there be light. Darkness was upon the face of the deep, and in that state it is impossible for man to understand the things of the spirit. Not only is the understanding of the natural man completely under the dominion of darkness, but as well as paralyzed against good. And, if that is so, the sinner is indeed impotent. This fact was made clear by Christ when he affirmed, No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me. Draw him, John 6 verse 44. And why is it that the sinner cannot come to Christ by his own unaided powers? Because he has no inclination to do so, and therefore no volition in that direction. The Greek might be rendered, you will not come to me. There is not the slightest desire in the unregenerate heart to do so. The will of fallen man is depraved. being completely in bondage to sin. There is not merely a negative lack of inclination, but there is a positive disinclination. The unwillingness consists of aversion. The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not. subject to the law of God. Neither, indeed, can be Romans 8 verse 7. And not only is there an aversion against God, there is a hatred of him. Christ said to his disciples, if the world hates you, You know that it hated me before it hated you. John 15 verse 18. This hatred is inveterate obstinacy. The Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people and behold it is a stiff-necked people. Exodus 32 verse 9. All day long have I stretched forth my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people. Romans 10 verse 21. Man is incorrigible, and in himself his case is hopeless. Your people shall be willing in the day of your power. Psalm 110 verse 3. Because they have no power whatever of their own to effect such willingness. Since we have demonstrated from the Scriptures of truth that a natural man is utterly unable to discern spiritual things, much less to choose them, there is little need for us to labor the point that he is quite incompetent to perform any spiritual act. Nor is this only a logical inference drawn by theologians. It is expressly affirmed in the Word. So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8 verse 8. There is no denying the meaning of that terrible indictment, as there is no likelihood of its originating with man himself. Jeremiah said, O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walks to direct his steps. Jeremiah 10 verse 23 All power to direct our steps in the paths of righteousness was lost by us at the fall, and therefore we are entirely dependent on God to work in us, both the will and to do of His good pleasure. Philippians 2 verse 13 Little is this solemn truth a man's moral impotence is known today. And widely, as it is denied by modern thought and teaching, there was a time when it was generally contended for. In the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England, to which all her ministers must still solemnly and formally subscribe, The Tenth reads thus, The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good works to faith and call in upon God. Therefore, we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God. In the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 6, begins thus. Our first parents, being seduced by the subtlety and temptation of Satan, sinned in eating the forbidden fruit. This, their sin, God was pleased, according to His wise and holy counsel, to permit. having purpose 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 faculties and parts of soul and body. They be in the root of all mankind. The guilt of this was imputed, and the same death and 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.