What is more consonant with faith than to recognize that we are naked of all virtue, in order to be clothed by God? That we are empty of all good, to be filled by him? That we are slaves of sin, to be freed by him? Blind, to be illumined by him? Lame, to be made straight by him? Weak, to be sustained by him? To take away from us all occasion for glorying, that he alone may stand forth gloriously and we glory in him [cf. I Cor. 1:31; II Cor. 10:17]? When we say these and like things our adversaries interrupt and complain that in this way we shall subvert some blind light of nature, imaginary preparations, free will, and works that merit eternal salvation, even with their supererogations. For they cannot bear that the whole praise and glory of all goodness, virtue, righteousness, and wisdom should rest with God. But we do not read of anyone being blamed for drinking too deeply of the fountain of living water [John 4:14].From Institutes, "Prefatory Address," sec. 2.
What Sanctification Feels Like
7 hours ago
4 comments:
I started thinking a while ago that I may not be able to give a clear answer to a question like the following. How do you reconcile the fact that "we are naked of all virtue" and "we are empty of all good" with the fact that we are made in the image of God (though the image is marred)?
Any thoughts?
My first thought is the point that you brought up, namely, that the image of God in us is marred. All humanity, regenerate or not, reflects God's glory in a way that the rest of creation cannot and does not (e.g., creativity, personality, relationship, communication). But our fall in Adam is so complete that every part of us has been contaminated. As Packer says, total depravity means "no part of us is untouched by sin, and therefore no action of ours is as good as it should be, and consequently nothing in us or about us ever appears meritorious in God's eyes." I think when Calvin describes us as naked and empty, he is not saying that we are as evil as we possibly could be and devoid of any possibility of doing something that can legitimately be called "good." What he means is that we are incapable of doing anything so good as to be considered meritorious, worthy of receiving divine favor.
FWIW, I just read through an issue of The Briefing (from Matthias Media) on the matter of total depravity. Very helpful!
Matt, thanks for the response and for the links.
I see someone else is doing the daily Institutes reading plan. Excellent.
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