What of Original Sin, the Total Depravity of man?
John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Nature of grace:
John 1:9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
John 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
A salvation that is offered "for all" must by nature be attainable for "all."
Let us examine mankind's fallen condition: David lamented, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Ps. 51:5). The prophet Jeremiah wrote: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9). Indeed the Lord himself has said, "The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth" (Gen. 8:21). In the epistle to the Ephesians Paul writes of man that "by nature [are] the children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3). The apostle Paul confirmed this truth writing: " As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God" (Rom. 3:10-11). These verses and others speak of man's inability to seek God because of his fallen nature. Because of his sinful deprived nature he is unable to draw near God on his own accord; nor does fallen man apart from the ministry of the Lord even desire to draw near God so deprived is his nature. This condition is what is referred to as original sin or what Reformed theology refers to as Total Depravity.
It is at this point we note only two options:
Many opt to overcome the above problem by appealing to man's apparent freedom to choose to accept or reject God and salvation. Yet confining the ability to choose God as a kind of inherent ability found wholly within human nature that is set apart from the Lord's ministry of grace is to revisit Pelagius' error. Pelagianism denies that man is so depraved and so set apart from God that he is unable to draw near to God without the need of supernatural grace. Pelagianism believes that people can of their own natural accord draw nearer to God though simple exercise of choice. Pelagianism denies the Bible's self-report that apart from God's supernatural gift of grace, nobody even wants to seek God and the kingdom of heaven in the first place. Pelagianism is further denied by Jesus who said: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him," and, "Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father" (John 6:44, 65). The result seems to be a paradox. God must choose the sinner, yet the sinner ought to be able to choose God—else why are men held responsible before the Lord if they are unable to exercise any kind of choice? To this paradox does my argument attempt an answer.
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