All Articles
Each doctrine begins with its cornerstone study, followed by focused passage studies and essays. The complete recommended order is available without JavaScript; the controls below narrow or reorder what is already on the page.
24 studies shown
Total Depravity
Does Scripture teach that fallen humanity is incapable of any positive response to God, or does spiritual death describe alienation, corruption, and condemnation rather than the complete destruction of the ability to hear and respond to God's gracious call?
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Start here: cornerstone study
Total Depravity and Total Inability: What Does Scripture Actually Teach?
Christians agree that every person is affected by sin. No one is naturally righteous before God. No one can erase guilt, repair a corrupt heart, or earn eternal life. -
Mark 7:21–23: Does Evil from the Heart Prove Total Inability?
Jesus locates moral defilement in the heart. The dispute is whether that diagnosis also fixes regeneration before faith. -
Ephesians 2:1–5: Does “Dead in Sin” Mean Unable to Believe?
The interpretive hinge is whether Paul’s language of spiritual death describes guilt and bondage or also fixes the order of regeneration and faith. -
Genesis 3:10–13: Fall, Hiding, Responsibility, and Divine Initiative
Genesis 3:10–13 portrays fallen humanity hiding, fearing, blaming, and answering God’s questions. -
Luke 15:24: Death-and-Life Imagery in the Prodigal-Son Narrative
Luke 15:24 uses death-and-life language for the lost son: he was dead and is alive again, lost and found. -
John 5:24–25: Hearing, Believing, Life, and Spiritual Death
John 5:24–25 places hearing, believing, eternal life, escape from judgment, and passage from death to life in one tightly connected promise. -
Romans 10:9–17: Faith, Hearing, Proclamation, and Salvation
Romans 10:9–17 places confession, heart-belief, righteousness, salvation, the universal Lordship of Christ, proclamation, hearing, and the word about Christ in one missionary argument. -
James 1:18: Does New Birth Through the Word Require Faith Before Regeneration?
James 1:18 reads: "Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." The verse is compact but theologically rich. -
Genesis 2:16–17: Did Adam’s Death Mean Total Inability?
God warned Adam that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would bring death. -
Genesis 6:5: Does “Every Intention Was Evil” Prove Total Inability?
Genesis 6:5 gives one of Scripture’s darkest descriptions of human sin: the Lord saw that the wickedness of humanity was great and that every intention of the thoughts of the heart was only evil continually. -
Genesis 8:21: Is the Human Heart Evil from Youth and Unable to Respond?
After the flood, Noah offers a sacrifice. God promises not to curse the ground again in the same way, even though the intention of the human heart is evil from youth. -
Ecclesiastes 9:3: Does a Heart Full of Evil Prove Total Inability?
Ecclesiastes 9:3 says there is an evil in life under the sun: the same fate comes to all, human hearts are full of evil, madness is in them while they live, and afterward they go to the dead. -
Jeremiah 17:9: Does the Deceitful Heart Make Faith Impossible?
“The heart is deceitful above all things” is one of the best-known biblical statements about human sin. -
John 8:44: Does Being “of Your Father the Devil” Prove Total Inability?
In John 8:44, Jesus tells hostile opponents that they are of their father the devil and want to carry out their father’s desires. The words are severe. -
Romans 3:10–18: Does “No One Seeks God” Prove Total Inability?
Romans 3:10–18 gathers Old Testament texts to declare the universality of sin: none is righteous, none understands, none seeks God. -
Romans 5:12: Does Adam’s Sin Make Faith Impossible?
Romans 5:12 is central to Christian teaching about Adam, original sin, death, and humanity’s need for Christ. -
Romans 6:20: Does Slavery to Sin Eliminate the Ability to Believe?
Romans 6:20 says that when believers were slaves of sin, they were free with respect to righteousness. -
2 Corinthians 4:4: Does Satanic Blinding Make Faith Impossible Before Regeneration?
Second Corinthians 4:4 says the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they do not see the light of the gospel of Christ’s glory. -
Colossians 2:13: Does “Dead in Trespasses” Require Regeneration Before Faith?
Colossians 2:13 describes believers as once dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of their flesh. -
2 Timothy 2:25–26: Does God Grant Repentance Only to the Elect?
Second Timothy 2:25–26 tells the Lord’s servant to correct opponents with gentleness, “if God perhaps will grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” -
Titus 3:3: Does Enslavement to Passions Prove Regeneration Must Precede Faith?
Titus 3:3 describes the former life of believers in unflattering terms: foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hated and hating one another. -
1 John 3:10: Are the Children of God and the Devil Fixed by an Eternal Decree?
First John 3:10 says the children of God and the children of the devil are evident: whoever does not practice righteousness and love a brother or sister is not of God. -
1 John 5:19: Does the Whole World Under the Evil One Prove Total Inability?
First John 5:19 draws a stark contrast: believers are from God, while the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. -
Calvinism and the Problem of Evil: Divine Sovereignty, Sin, and Responsibility
The problem of evil is one of the most serious questions raised by Calvinist theology.
Unconditional Election
Is election individual and unconditional — God choosing specific persons — or is it corporate, with God choosing a people "in Christ" and individuals participating through faith?
Limited Atonement
Did Christ die for the sins of all humanity, or did He bear the punishment due for the sins of the elect alone? Does universal provision entail universal salvation?
Irresistible Grace
Does God give selected individuals an inward saving call that necessarily changes their desires and infallibly produces faith, or does God graciously call, reveal, convict, and enable people in a manner they may still resist?
Perseverance of the Saints
Does Scripture teach that God guarantees every genuine believer will continue in faith to the end, or do its warning passages describe a real possibility of final apostasy? Does assurance rest on Christ alone, or must it include evidence of perseverance?
Terminology
How should contested Calvinism terms and labels be used with enough precision to avoid caricature?