The Doctrine of Total Inability. A.W. Pink. Contemplating the Natural Condition of Adam's Children. We obtain a one-sided and misleading view if we confine our attention to their spiritual helplessness. That they are morally impotent. That they are totally depraved. That they are thoroughly under the bondage of sin has been amply demonstrated. But that does not supply us with a complete diagnosis of their present state before God. The fallen man is a rat and ruined creature. Nevertheless, he is still accountable to his maker and ruler. The sinners darken his understanding and blinded his judgment. He is still a rational being. Though his very nature is corrupt at its root, this does not exempt him from loving God with all of his heart. though he is without strength, yet he is not without excuse. And why not? Because side by side with fallen man's inability is his moral responsibility. The moral responsibility of man. It is at this very point that the people of God and especially its ministers need to be much on their guard. Appropriate one of the essential parts of the doctrine of scripture, but fail to lay hold of the equally essential supplementary part, then they will necessarily obtain a distorted view of the doctrine. The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, Hebrews 4 verse 12. The word emphasized in the above quotation is of paramount importance, though its significance seems to be discerned by few today. Truth is twofold. Every aspect of truth presented in the word is balanced by a counterpart aspect. Every element of doctrine has its corresponding obligations. These two sides of the truth do not cross each other, but run parallel. They are not contradictory, but complementary. The one aspect is just as essential as the other, and both must be retained if we are to be preserved from dangerous error. It is only as we hold firmly to all the counsel of God that we are delivered from the fatal pitfalls of false theology. God himself has illustrated this duality of truth by communicating the same concept to us in the form of the two testaments, the old and the new. The contents of which, broadly speaking, exemplify those two summaries of his nature and character. God is light. God is love. This same fundamental feature is seen again in the two principal communications which God has made, namely his law. and his gospel, that which characterizes the divine revelation in its broad outlines, also holds equally good in connection with its details. Promises are balanced by precepts, the gifts of grace with the requirements of righteousness, the bestowments of abounding mercy with the exactions of inflexible justice, Correspondingly, the duties placed upon us answer to this twofold revelation of the divine character and will. It's light and the giver of the law. God requires the sinner to repent and the saint to fear him. It's love and the giver of the gospel. the one is called upon to believe, the other to rejoice, and so accountability and responsibility to God is set forth so plainly, so fully, and so constantly throughout the Scriptures, that he who runs may read it, and only those who deliberately close their eyes to it can fail to perceive its viridian force. The entire volume of God's Word testifies to the fact that He requires from man's right affections and right actions, and that He judges and treats him according to these. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God, Romans 4.12, that the right to God may be enforced upon moral agents. In the day of the revelation of His righteous judgment, God will render to every man according to his deeds, Romans 2, 5-6. Fulfill that word of Christ's. He that rejects me and receives not my words has one that judges him. The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day, John 12, 48. Men are responsible to employing God's service, the faculties He has given them. They are responsible to improve the opportunities God has afforded them. Thus, it is clear that in keeping with the Word of God as a whole, and with all its ways both in creation and providence, the doctrine of man's inability is a complementary and balancing doctrine, namely his responsibility. And it is only by maintaining both in their due proportions that we shall be preserved from distorting the truth. but man is a creature of extreme, and his tendency to lopsidedness is tragically evidenced all through Christendom. Swirls is divided into opposing parties which contend for bits of the truth and reject others, where it can be found a denomination which preserves a due balance in his proclamation of God's law, God's gospel, in the presentation of God as light, in God as love. and in equal emphasis on his three steps and his promises. In there we shall find a group of churches, or even a single church, which is preserving a due proportion in his preaching on man's inability and man's responsibility. On every side today men in the pulpits pit one part of the truth against another, overstressing one doctrine and omitting its complement, setting no things against each other which God has joined together. confounding what he has separated. So important is it that God's servants should preserve the balance of truth. So disastrous are the consequences of a one-sided ministry that we feel impressed to point out some of the more essential balancing doctrines which must be preserved if God is to be duly honored and his people rightly edified. We shall later resume the subject of human responsibility in order to throw light on the problem raised by the doctrine of man's impotence. 1. The Means of Salvation First, let us consider the causes and the means of salvation. There are no less than seven things which concur in this great work, for all of them are said in one passage or another. To save us, salvation is ascribed to the love of God. to the atonement of Christ, to the mighty operations of the Spirit, to the instrumentality of the Word, to the labors of the preacher, to the conversion of a sinner, to the ordinances or sacrament. The view of salvation entertained today by the majority of professing Christians is so superficial, so cramped, so inadequate, And even so great is the ignorance which now prevails, that we had better furnish proof-texts for each of these seven occurring causes, lest we be charged with error, and so title the subject. Salvation is ascribed to God the Father, who has saved us and called us within holy calling, 2 Timothy 1 verse 9, because of his electing love in Christ. To the Lord Jesus, He shall save His people from their sins, Matthew 1 verse 21, because of His merits and satisfaction. To the Holy Spirit, He has saved us by the renewing of the Holy Spirit, Titus 3 verse 5, because of His almighty efficacy in operations. To the instrumentality of the Word, the engrafted word which is able to save your souls, James 1 verse 21, because it discovers to us a grace into which we may be saved. To the labors of the preacher, in doing this you shall save both yourself and them that hear you, 1 Timothy 4 verse 16, because of their subordination to God's work. The conversion of a sinner in which repentance and faith are exercised by us, save yourselves from this untoward generation. By the repentance spoken of in verse 38, these are you saved through faith, Ephesians 2 verse 18. To the ordinances or sacraments, baptism does also now save us, 1 Peter 3 21, because it seals the grace of God to the believing heart. Now these seven things must be considered in their order and kept in their place, otherwise incalculable harm will be done. For instance, if we elevate a subsidiary cause above a primary one, all sense of real proportion is lost. The love of wisdom of God comprise the primal cause, the first mover of all the rest of the causes which contribute to our salvation. Next are the merit and satisfaction of Christ, which are the result of the eternal wisdom and love of God and all the foundation of all that follows. The omnipotent operations of the Holy Spirit work in the elect of things which are necessary for their participation in and application of the benefits purposed by God and purchased by Christ. The word of the chief means employed in conversion for faith comes by hearing, Romans 10 verse 17. As a result of the Spirit's operation and its application of the word, we are brought to repent and believe. In this, it is the Spirit's general custom to employ the ministers of Christ as his subordinate agent. Baptism and the Lord's Supper confirm repentance and faith in us. Not only must these seven concurring causes of salvation be considered in their proper order and kept in their due place, but they must not be confounded with one another so that we attribute to a later one what belongs to a primary one. We must not attribute to the ordinances that which belongs to the word, disappointed for conversion, the ordinances for confirmation, a legal contract is first offered and then sealed or ratified when the parties are agreed. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, Acts 2 verse 41. Nor must we ascribe to the ordinances that which belongs to conversion, Many depend on their outward hearing of the word as ground for partaking of the Lord's Supper. We have eaten and drunk in your presence. Many have taught in our streets, Luke 13 verse 26. But to sound conversion, not frequenting the means of grace that's our title to pardon in life, be doers of the word and not hearers only, James 1 verse 22. Again, we must not ascribe to conversion what belongs to the Spirit. Our repentance and faith are indispensable for the enjoyment of the privileges of Christianity. Yet these graces do not spring from mere nature, but are wrought in us by the Holy Spirit. Nor must we ascribe to the Spirit an honor which belongs to Christ, as if our conversion were meritorious, or that the repentance and faith worked in us deserve the benefits we have come to possess. Know that honor pertains to the Lamb alone, who merited and purchased all for us. Neither must we ascribe to Christ that which belongs to the Father, for the Mediator came not to take us away from God, but to bring us to Him. Thou hast redeemed us to God. Revelation 5 verse 9. Thus all things pertaining to our salvation must be arranged in their proper place. we must consider what is peculiar to the love of God, the merit of Christ, the operations of the Spirit, the instrumentality of the Word, the labors of the preacher, the conversion of a sinner, the ordinances, unless we observe the true order of these causes and rightly predicate what pertains to each, we fall into disastrous mistakes and fatal errors. If we ascribe all to the mercy of God, so as to shut out the merit of Christ, we exclude God's great design in the cross to demonstrate His righteousness. On the other hand, if we proclaim the atonement of Christ in a manner that lessens the steam of God's love, we are apt to form the false idea that He is all wrath and needed blood to appease Him. whereas Christ came to demonstrate his goodness, 2 Corinthians 5 verse 19. If we ascribe to the merits of Christ, that which is proper to the work of the Spirit, we can found things that are to be distinguished, as if Christ's blood could take us to heaven without a new nature being wrought in us. If we ascribe our conversion to the exercise of our own strength, we wrong the Holy Spirit. If, upon pretended conversion, we neglect a means and produce no good works, we err fatally. Must these seven things not be confounded? But they must not be separated from one another. We cannot rest on the grace of God without the atonement and merits of Christ. For God does not exercise His mercy to the detriment of His justice. Nor can we rightly take comfort in the sacrifice of Christ without regeneration and true conversion wrought in us by the Spirit. For we must be vitally united to Christ before we can receive His benefit. Nor must we expect the operations of the Spirit without the instrumentality of the Word. For of the Church it is said that Christ by the Spirit would sanctify and cleanse it from the washing of water by the Word. Ephesians 5 verse 26. Nor must we conclude that we are regenerated by the Spirit without repentance and faith, for these graces are evidences of the new birth. Nor must the ordinances of baptism in the Lord's Supper be slighted, otherwise we dislocate the method by which God dispenses His grace. Secondly, Christ must not be divided, either in His natures or His offices. there may be an abuse of the orthodox assertion of his deity. For if we reflect exclusively on that, neglect his great condescension in becoming flesh, we misachieve intent of his incarnation to bring God nearer to us in our nature. On the other hand, if we altogether consider Christ's humanity and overlook his Godhead, we are in danger of denying his super-imminent dignity, power, and merit. Man is always just serving the harmony of the gospel and setting one part against another. Unitarians deny that Christ is God, and so impeach His atonement, pressing only His doctrine and example. Carnal men reflect only on Christ's redemption as a means of our atonement with God, and so overlook the necessary doctrine of His example, of Christ appearing in order to be a pattern of obedience in our nature. so often pressed in Scripture, John 13, verse 15. Let us not put asunder what God has joined together, so as Christ's offices. His general office is but one, to be mediator or redeemer, but the functions which belong to it are three, prophetic, priestly, and royal, one of which concerns his meditation with God. the other his dealings with us, we are to reflect on him on both parts. Consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, Hebrews 3 verse 1. The working of an apostle has to do with men, that of a high priest with God. But some are so occupied with Christ's mediation with God that they give little thought to his dealings with men. Others so consider his relation to men that they overlook his mediation with God. The garden is very priesthood. Some are so concerned with his sacrifice that they ignore his continual intercession, and thus fail to appreciate what a comfort it is to present our requests by such a worthy hand to God. Yet both are acts of the same office. It has been done by so preaching the sacrifice and intercession of Christ that his doctrine and government have been made light of. This is one of the most serious defects today in a considerable section of Christendom which prides itself on its orthodoxy. They look so much to the Savior that they have scarcely any eyes for the Teacher and Master. The whole religion of many professing Christians consists in depending on Christ's merit and trusting in His blood, without any real concern for His laws, by believing and obeying of which we are interested in the fruits of His righteousness and sacrifice. But the Word of God sets before us an entirely different sort of religion, and does not make one office of the Redeemer to serve another. None find true rest for their souls until they take Christ's yoke upon them. He is the Savior of none, unless He is first their Lord. The Scriptures of truth set forth Christ under such terms as not only intimate privilege to us, but speak of duty and obedience as well. God has made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ, Acts 2, verse 36. He is Lord, or Supreme Governor, as well as Christ, the anointed Savior, not only a Savior to redeem and bless, but a Lord to rule and command. Him as God Exalted, to be a Prince and a Savior, or to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins, acts 5, verse 31. Here again the compound terms occur because of His double work, to require and to give. Christ is such a Prince that He is also a Savior, and such a Savior that He is also a Prince, and as such He must be apprehended by our souls. will be to those who divide what Christ has joined. Also, Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body, Ephesians 5.23. On the one side, it's Christ saves his people from their sin, so he also governs them. On the other side, his dominion over the church is exercised in bringing about his salvation. The carnal segment of the religious world snatches greedily at comfort, but has no heart for duties. It is all for privileges, but lacks nothing of obligation. This liberty in spirit is very natural to all of us. Let us break their bands of thunder, and cast away their cords from us. Psalm 2 verse 3. It was thus with men when Christ was in their midst. We will not have this man to reign over us." Luke 19 verse 14. Had he presented himself to them simply as a redeemer, he would have been welcome, but they had no desire for a sovereign over them. Christ is wanted for his benefit, such as part in eternal life and everlasting glory, but the unregenerate cannot endure his strict doctrine and righteous laws. Submission to a scepter is foreign to their nature. On the other hand, there are some who so extol the mediation of Christ with men that they ignore His mediation with God. Some are so absorbed with the letter of His doctrine that they overlook the necessity of the Holy Spirit to interpret it for them and apply it to their heart. Men are such extremists that they cannot magnify one thing without deprecating another. They rejoice in the Spirits communicating the Scriptures, but they deprecate His equally important work of opening hearts to receive them. Acts 16, verse 14. Others source Christ as lawgiver that they neglect Him as the fountain of grace. They are all for His doctrine and example, but despise His atonement and continued intercession. It is His taking of the gospel piecemeal instead of whole, which has wrought such damage and corrupted the truth. all for heavenly wisdom and grace to preserve the balance and to preach a full gospel.