After his death, ministers who were followers of Jacobus Arminius, the Dutch Reformed preacher and professor of theology at Leiden University, submitted five remonstrances to five points of orthodox Calvinism. But the Synod of Dort heard their arguments and threw them out, sticking with the five points of Calvinism.
The Arminians felt that human free will, not God, would prevail and decide whether a particular person would receive salvation. However, the Synod of Dort said God’s free will would and should determine the issue.
Depravity and inability do not appear in the King James version of the Bible. The words are not used. So, are these doctrines mentioned in the Bible? Yes! They are discussed in John 5:42, Romans 7:18, 23, Romans 8:7, Ephesians 4:18, 2 Timothy 3:2-4, Titus 1:15, and Hebrews 3:12. The ideas of depravity and inability in humans spiritually before believing, despite the words not appearing in the bible, are mentioned in the Bible.
ORIGINAL SIN
The first sin was the sin committed by Adam and Eve when they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God commanded them not to eat from (Gen. 2:17). Because of this first sin, the guilt of it was transferred to all Adam’s offspring forever through natural human conception (Gen. 3:15). The guilt of the first sin being transferred to the progeny of Adam is called original sin. As a result of this original sin, they were unable to do anything but sin, and they were unable to seek God. Original sin primarily consists of original guilt and original corruption.
Original Guilt
Original guilt is looked upon in two ways. The first way has been called the reatus culpae. This is a basic part of sin. It attaches permanently to the person and cannot be transferred or forgiven by a third party. It is satisfied by physical death only.
As Berkhof has written, “The guilt of Adam’s sin, committed by him as the federal head of the human race, is imputed, not infused, to all his descendants. This is evident from the fact that, as the Bible teaches, death as the punishment of sin passes on from Adam to all his descendants (Rom. 5:12-19; Eph. 2:3; 1 Cor. 15:22).”[1] This satisfies the reatus culpae of original guilt.
But theologians look upon original guilt in a second way, namely, as reatus poenae. Reatus poenae is not considered a part of sin by theologians but is thought of as being related to the punishment for that sin. This view of original guilt involves the satisfaction of a violation of God’s justice and can be satisfied by the person or vicariously by a third person. But the satisfying person must be sin-free.
For the elect, Jesus, the only human being to live a life of perfection, chose a vicarious death on the cross to pay for the past, present, and future sins of the elect. This satisfies the reatus poenae of original guilt.
Original Corruption
Christians see two main things regarding original corruption: the absence of original righteousness in humans and the positive evil in them. Total depravity is the view that sees original corruption’s pervasiveness in humans’ character and its effects on a human being’s spiritual powers.
Overall, the following can be said about original corruption: 1) it is sin and guilt attaches to it, 2) it is an imputed condition and is not infused into the soul, 3) it has both a positive and a negative aspect.
There are two aspects of original corruption: total depravity and absolute inability.
Total Depravity
Total Depravity has to do with a person’s character and inherited corruption.
This DOES NOT imply that 1) human beings are utterly depraved or depraved to a full extent, 2) they do not have the knowledge or cannot tell the difference between good and evil, 3) they do not know admirable character or act accordingly regarding relationships with others, or 4) due to their inherent sinfulness, they commit every form of sin.
It does mean: 1) the corrupt human being is affected in its entire nature, and 2) the unregenerate person has no spiritual good and is only perverted. As mentioned before, this is taught in Scripture, too.
Absolute Inability
Absolute Inability has to do with the effects on a person’s spiritual powers.
Christians consider each unregenerate human being to be completely unable to comply with God’s holy law, not to sin, and to seek God. He is incapable of doing spiritual good. There is much scriptural proof of this doctrine (John 1:13, 3:5, 6:44, 8:34, 15:4, 5; Rom. 7:18, 24, 8:7, 8; 1 Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor. 3:5; Eph. 2:1, 8-10; Heb. 11:6).
However, humans can commit natural, civil, and outwardly religious good. Although the acts of the unregenerate fall far short of God’s approval. The unregenerate human being is also capable of virtuous acts in social life that get society’s approval.
CONCLUSION
Arminians and others believe that human free will decides whether a person receives salvation. Reformed theologians and Calvinists believe that only God’s free will and His election of believers determine whether a person receives salvation.
The Arminians believe that all humans can be saved, but they won’t, and that each person’s free will has the choice over whether to receive salvation.
The Reformed theologians and the Calvinists believe that only God’s free will in choosing the future humans who will be saved, before the foundation of the world, determines the believer’s salvation. Then, the rest of the world will receive condemnation.
Because of the fall, the Reformed theologians and the Calvinists believe that every human being, except Jesus, is conceived in a state of depravity, which makes them only able to sin and unable to seek God.
God’s regeneration of the elect allows the future believer to seek God. After receiving saving faith from God, the believer believes in Jesus Christ and becomes justified and adopted by God.
Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life and voluntarily died a substitutionary death on the cross to pay for the sins of the elect and give them salvation for eternity.
[1] John Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Combined Edition (The Banner of Truth Trust 2021), p. 235.
