Wicked Hearts and Dead Men

Published in

The Flower Falls

13 min readAug 3, 2019

**The heart is deceitful above all things, and is desperately wicked; who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9 (KJV)**

NOTE: The post you are about to read is adapted from Chapter 19 of my book The Flower Falls: A Careful Examination of Calvinism’s TULIP. The entire book is available here in blog format, but you can find it in print form on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or ask for it at your favorite bookstore.

Wicked Hearts and Dead Men

Even before Time Magazine named New Calvinism as number 3 on their 2009 list of The Top Ten Ideas Changing the World Right Now (1), it seemed that not a week went by without me hearing someone quote Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”(KJV). These words about the desperate state of the human heart are consistent with the whole of the Scriptures and are evidenced in daily life. But when Calvinists use them as support for TULIP’s total depravity, they claim something Jeremiah did not.

For a long time, the translation quoted above was the only one I ever heard, so I was surprised when I saw the word sick, rather than wicked, while reading the New American Standard Version one morning: “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” Stunned, I reached for my concordance and Bible dictionary with the assumption that sick means demented or deranged. Instead, I found that the Hebrew word anash truly does refer to illness, rather than wickedness. In fact, on further investigation, I discovered Jeremiah 17 is the only place in the King James Bible that anash is translated “wicked.” Every other time it is translated in line with its definition of sick or injured.

Anash is the word used to describe the baby born to Bathsheba and David who “was very sick” and died (2 Samuel 12:15). It’s the word used to speak of Job’s “incurable” wound (Job 34:6). And it is the word used twice in Jeremiah 30 where the Lord said of Israel, “Your wound is incurable, and your injury is serious” (v.12). When anash is translated in line with this meaning, Jeremiah 17:9 states what many people recognize by experience: In varying degrees, the human heart is deceitful, sick, and wretched. However, rather than being a proof text to support TULIP’s idea of total depravity, Jeremiah 17 supports a consistent truth woven throughout the Scriptures: In our weak, sick, and desperate state, we need only call on God to heal and save us. This is evidenced by the greater context of Jeremiah’s words. Recognizing the desperate state of the human heart, he cried out just five verses later, “Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for You are my praise” (Jeremiah 17:14).

Paul’s Response to Sin

As we saw in the previous post, like Jeremiah, Paul seemed to know his own wretchedness and need for the Lord to save him, so he cried out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24).

Paul’s recognition of the sinfulness of the human heart is consistent with Isaiah 1:2–5 where the Lord described Judah as sinful, weighed down with iniquity, corrupt, rebellious, stricken, sick, and despising of him. Nevertheless, he also seemed to understand that God gave humanity the ability to reason, and he knew of God’s eagerness to forgive and cleanse people who use that ability to confess their sin and cry out to him for help. In fact, rather than merely crying out and wondering who would set him free, Paul went on to give thanks to God through Jesus Christ who sets us free from the law of sin (Romans 7:25— 8:2). This too is consistent with Isaiah 1. Only a few verses after speaking of Judah’s sin, the Lord said, “Come now, and let us reason together. . . . Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword” (Isaiah 1:18–20).

The answer for Jeremiah, Judah, and Paul is the same answer for you and me. In our sick and sinful state, we need only call on God to save us. This truth is woven throughout the Scriptures and is a cause for great rejoicing. But Calvinistic ideas about the depravity of humankind don’t end here. Calvinists look to Ephesians 2 and claim people are not only sin-sick, they’re dead in their sins. Therefore, they’re unable to reason and respond to God.

Dead Men Don’t Respond

Long before I knew anything about TULIP, my then pastor used the illustration of a corpse when teaching on Ephesians 2 where Paul told his readers, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins” (v.1). After reading this passage, he explained that, just as a corpse can’t respond if we were to speak to it, so people who are dead in their trespasses and sins can’t respond to God’s offer of salvation unless he had chosen and predestined them to do so. His conclusion confused me, and the vivid illustration left an imprint on my mind, but I attempted to write it off as something I couldn’t understand. It wasn’t until several years later, when I was formally introduced to TULIP, that I discovered his illustration was not original but is commonly used to support the teaching of total depravity.

After quoting several passages out of context to support the Calvinistic view of salvation, the well-known Calvinist pastor John MacArthur said, “The Bible doesn’t describe our condition as a disability. It describes it as death. And everybody knows that death means an inability to respond.”(2)

If we were to view Ephesians 2 from a twenty-first century perspective, Dr. MacArthur might be right that dead people are incapable of responding. However, the first-century audience to whom Paul wrote understood the terminology differently. Jesus, Paul, and other Scripture writers used illustrations to describe people as dead in their sin, but none of them support the idea that people are incapable of responding to the light that “enlightens every man” and calling on God for salvation (John 1:9).

Paul indicated that humans are comprised of (at least) body, soul, and spirit when he wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete.” Philosophers have been speculating about the distinctions between these three since at least the times of Plato and Aristotle — long before Jesus was born. This might be the reason people who speak of their soul and spirit interchangeably are rarely questioned. Nevertheless, the writer of Hebrews suggests a definite distinction between the two: “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (4:12).

I won’t presume to be able to distinguish the intricacies and differences between the soul and the spirit, but while the Scriptures declare that people are dead in their sins, they also reveal that our minds and bodies are active participants in our daily lives. Without question, physically dead people are incapable of bringing themselves back to life, but nothing within the Scriptures indicates living people aren’t able to use their God-given reasoning capacity to ask him to bring their soul and spirit to life.

In fact, the word for “reason” the Lord used in Isaiah 1:18–19 when pleading with Judah to reason with him, consent, and obey is yakach, which means to decide, adjudge, or prove. In other words, decide whether you’ll obey or not. This is different than manda, the word King Nebuchadnezzar used in Daniel 4:34 when speaking of his knowledge or sanity returning to him after (or as) he turned his eyes to God. Yet, both passages suggest people have a God-given ability to choose whether to turn to him and obey; “But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever.”

In order to gain a first-century understanding of the human capacity to reason and Paul’s words about people being dead in trespasses and sins, it might be helpful to consider Jesus’ well-known words about a dead man. Luke 15:11–32 records Jesus speaking of a son who left his father and home, squandered everything his father had given him, and hired himself out as a servant before he came to his senses and went back to his father. Describing his return, Jesus said:

“But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am here dying with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.’ So he got up and came to his father” (Luke 15:17–20).

The son’s return to his senses is reminiscent of Jeremiah 17:12–14 where, recognizing the desperate state of people who turn from the Lord, Jeremiah cried out to God for salvation. Furthermore, it supports Isaiah 1:18 where God called Judah to reason with him and return. And it supports Joshua 24:15 where Joshua spoke the Lord’s words to Israel, “Choose for yourselves today who you will serve.” But what happened after the son came to his senses and went home to his father? Luke 15:20–32 says that while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him, felt compassion for him, and ran to embrace and kiss him. Then, after hearing his son’s repentant heart, the father celebrated in a grand way.

Many followers of Jesus love this parable because we see ourselves in the son’s foolish behavior and, therefore, greatly rejoice in the extravagant forgiveness, grace, and love of the father. However, some people might not realize that this parable was one of three that Jesus told in succession: the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:4–7), the parable of the lost coin (15:8–10), and the parable of the prodigal son (15:11–32). Each has different elements, but Jesus concluded all of them by speaking of the great rejoicing that takes place in heaven over one sinner who repents.

At the conclusion of the parable of the lost sheep, he said, “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (v. 7). At the conclusion of the parable of the lost coin he said, “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (v. 10). And at the conclusion of the parable of the prodigal son, he told of the grand celebration held in honor of the son’s return (vv. 22–32).

These parables are both encouraging and instructive. Not only do they illustrate the human ability to reason and repent, Jesus made two statements in the last one that provide insight into the father’s perspective of his younger son. After telling his servants to put the best robe on his son, place a ring on his hand, sandals on his feet, and kill the fattened calf so they could celebrate his return, the father said, “This son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found” (v. 24). The father spoke a similar phrase when talking to his older son who seemed to resent the celebration to honor his brother’s return: “We had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found” (v. 32).

The story provides no indication that the father received news of his son’s demise. The father didn’t say, “I was sure my son was dead, but I was wrong.” Instead, he said twice that his son was dead and had come to life again. This parable and Jesus’ graphic description of the son being dead, seems to illustrate a truth conveyed in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. While people who walk according to the course of this world are “dead” in their trespasses and sins, like the prodigal son, they can use their God-given reasoning capabilities, come to their senses, and return to God.

So People Would Seek God

The Calvinistic idea that people are unable to reason, turn to God, and cry out to him for salvation not only overlooks the truths of Jesus’ parables in Luke 15, it reads something into the Scriptures. And, sadly, like one lie typically begets another lie, when people erroneously read something into one text, they are forced to read things into other texts to support the original error. This progression seems to be the case with Ephesians 2:5 where Paul wrote of God making people alive together with Christ. Calvinists suggest that God “quickens” the “unconditionally elect,” so they will respond to his grace. But, in doing so, they go beyond the Scriptures. While their idea fits well with the Calvinistic ideas of total depravity and unconditional election, it’s merely philosophical speculation, born out of necessity rather than from the text itself.

In contrast to Calvinistic ideas about people being unable to seek God or reach out to him for salvation, Acts 17 records Paul telling the men of the Areopagus that God determined the appointed times and boundaries of their habitation “that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” (v. 27). Whether the times mentioned in the passage involve a general or exact day and the boundaries involve a country or particular house isn’t clear. But one thing is: God set them so people would seek him! And, lest anyone think God would play some mystical and torturous game of hide-and-seek, Paul spoke of him being so near that people could find him if they would reach their hands out to him.

Paul also referred to the nearness of God in Romans 10:8–13:

“‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ — that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for ‘Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”

These passages reveal God’s sincere desire that all people reach out to him and be saved, but he doesn’t passively desire this response. Paul went on in verse 20 to quote these gracious words of the Lord: “I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I’ to a nation which did not call on My name” (Isaiah 65:1).

The Scriptures are undeniable in claiming all have sinned, every part of people has been affected by sin, every person’s natural inclination is to sin, and apart from God’s saving grace all people are without hope. We can’t merit, earn, or buy our salvation. Nor can we use self-determination to will ourselves to be saved. These truths, however, don’t leave us without hope. Titus 2:11 tells us “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.” John 1:9 tells us “There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” And Acts 17:24–27 and Romans 10:8–13 tell us God is not far from each of us. In fact, he’s calling all people everywhere to use their God-given capacity to recognize their sinfulness, repent, cry out to him for mercy, and receive his gracious gift of salvation through Jesus. Beyond these truths, mercy of mercies, grace upon grace, the Scriptures tell us the creator and sustainer of the universe calls “Here am I” to people who don’t ask for him and don’t seek him. This is the story of my salvation and yours!

Despite the passion of Calvinistic claims, the idea that men are unable to respond to God’s gracious call to salvation is not supported by the context of the Scriptures. Calvinists not only overlook the greater context of Jeremiah’s words and the parable of the prodigal son, they read something into Ephesians 2 in order to support their beliefs and ignore passages that conflict with them. Yet, Calvinistic arguments don’t stop here. Not only do they claim that people can’t respond to God’s gracious call to salvation unless they’ve been unconditionally chosen and predestined by him, TULIP’s Limited Atonement says that the atoning sacrifice of Jesus is also limited to those who are “Unconditionally Elect.” Is that what the Scriptures teach? We’ll consider what they say about Calvinism’s idea of Limited Atonement here.

NOTES:

1. David Van Biema, “The New Calvinism,” Time, March 23, 2009, https://content.time.com/ time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1884779_1884782_1884760,00.html.

2. John MacArthur, “The Doctrine of Absolute Inability,” Grace to You, October 24, 2004, https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/90-276/the-doctrine-of-absolute-inability.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt81bc4.1.

You can connect with me on Twitter X, or email me at patti@theflowerfallsoff.com

To read more, return to the homepage or follow one of the links below.

Calvinism’s Errors: A Brief Introduction

The Protestant Reformation: Truth and Error

Calvinism, Illusory Truth, and the Scriptures

The Sovereignty and Will of God

Chosen and Predestined Ephesians 1

Calvinism and the Plain Sense of Pronouns

Ephesians: Redemption, Adoption, and the Seal of the Spirit

Romans 8- Foreknown and Predestined

Romans 8:33- A Charge Against God’s Elect