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Hereditary Total Depravity — A Question

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Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles

A querist asks, “I’ve heard of John Calvin’s doctrine regarding hereditary total depravity. Proponents often refer to Psalm 51:5 and Psalm 58:3 as two of their proof texts. Is this doctrine true or false?”

This doctrine is totally false and without merit. Psalm 51:5 – NKJV and Psalm 58:3 – NKJV state:

“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me (Psalm 51:5 – NKJV).

“The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies” (Psalm 58:3 – NKJV).

Let’s note the following observations regarding the above verses:

1) Calvinists misapply the teaching in Psalm 51:5 and proclaim that we are sinners from conception (“my mother conceived me”), and yet Psalm 58:3 tells us that estrangement from God occurs after birth (“from the womb”). The question then becomes: “Are we sinners before or after birth?”

2) Coming from the womb, children do not yet speak. They acquire the ability to speak through the teaching and example of their parents, learning the language in which they were born (cf. Acts 2:8 – NKJV).

3) Regarding the term “womb” in Psalm 58:3 – NKJV, note the same term in Job 31:18 – NKJV which states:

“But from my youth I reared him as a father, And from my mother’s womb I guided the widow” (Job 31:18 – NKJV).

In this text, Job is simply saying that he never neglected his responsibility to care for orphans and widows. But did he fulfill this responsibility from his mother’s womb? Obviously not. Job simply meant that as he spiritually matured from the teaching and learning of the Lord’s will, he became active in assisting others (cf. Jeremiah 22:1-3 – NKJV; Deuteronomy 14:28-29 – NKJV; Deuteronomy 26:12 – NKJV; 2 Timothy 1-2 – NKJV). Thus, the term “womb” and “youth” in Job 31:18 – NKJV is used as a Hebrew parallelism denoting the same aspect of Job’s life.

Similarly, in Psalm 58:3 – NKJV, the Psalmist is acknowledging the fact that human beings begin sinful thoughts and activities in the early stages of life in a relative sense — “from our youth” (see Genesis 8:21 – NKJV and Jeremiah 3:25 – NKJV).

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