Many evangelicals believe that people are spiritually unable to believe in Christ unless God grants them the necessary faith to do so. This view is based on the idea that the word “dead” in Ephesians 2:1 means people, like lifeless objects, are unable to respond to spiritual things. To prove this point, other passages like Job 5:20; Psalm 30:3; 33:19; Jonah 2:6; Luke 15:24-32; Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22; Colossians 2:3; 1 John 3:14; Revelation 11:8; 3:1-2 are also pooled in. However, a close examination of these passages reveals that they do not teach so. Their references to “dead” or “death” refer to either physical death or spiritual separation from God. Nowhere does Scripture teach the inability of individuals to respond to God’s drawing. For example, Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37). And “The Spirit and the bride say ‘Come’” (Revelation 22:17). Otherwise, how could God blame people for not acknowledging Him or believing in Christ (John 5:40)?
In emphasizing the human inability to respond to God, some would say that since humans were dead to God, they were dead to the truth, righteousness, peace, happiness, and every other good thing, no more capable to respond to God than a dead body. The severity of mankind’s condition is intensified by stating that unrepentant sinners are “spiritual death-walkers, unable to understand the seriousness of their situation. They are lifeless.” However, the fact that unbelievers lack the spiritual qualities inherent in eternal life to be enjoyed only by believers does not prove that they are dead bodies unable to respond to God. Ephesians 2:1 speaks of unbelievers as being “dead” in their trespasses and sins. Yet, that in no way means that they are incapable of any spiritual activity and unable to respond to God.
On numerous occasions, the Bible shows that people are capable of exercising faith in Christ. For example, God heard the prayers of Cornelius, a Gentile unbeliever, and He sent Peter to Cornelius with the message of salvation in Christ (Acts 10:30-32). Did God actually talk to an unregenerate person? Yes! Did the unsaved person understand what God said? Absolutely! In fact, God had been hearing the prayers and appreciating the almsgiving of Cornelius, an unbeliever (Acts 10:31). Cornelius was most likely a Gentile proselyte to Israel, for “he was a devout man, who feared God” (Acts 10:22). All the 153 occurrences in Acts of theos with the definite article ho refer to God of Israel. Nowhere in Acts is there any hint that God endowed Cornelius with faith in order for him to respond to the gospel. Instead, Cornelius heard Peter’s message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, responded in faith, and was saved (Acts 10:44-48).
When Paul and Silas were in Philippi, they spoke to women who gathered at the river outside the city gate to pray. One of the women was Lydia, and “the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul” (Acts 16:14). The Greek dieinoichen (“opened”) refers to “opening of the eyes to make understanding possible and enable perception.” Many of the New Testament occurrences of kardia (“heart”) refer to the mind, as it does here. God opened Lydia’s “eyes of the heart,” as if removing a mental veil (2 Cor. 4:3-4), so that she would understand, respond to Paul’s message, believe and be saved. But opening her heart (or understanding) is not the same as giving her faith. Acts 16 does not say God gave her faith. Instead, He enabled her to understand so that she could exercise faith (Matt. 8:5-13).
A Roman centurion is another example of a person who exercised faith (Matt. 8:5-13). Marveling at his faith, Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel” (v. 10). Jesus’ reference to the centurion’s “great faith” makes sense only if that faith came from the centurion and not God. For why would Christ emphasize the centurion’s degree of faith if it came from God?
Thus, an unscriptural doctrine of total depravity leads to an unscriptural and inconsistent plan of salvation. A doctrine of total depravity that excludes the possibility of faith must also exclude the possibilities of ‘hearing the Word’, ‘giving serious application to divine truth, and ‘praying for the Holy Spirit for conviction and regeneration.’ The extreme Calvinist deals with a rather lively spiritual corpse. If the corpse has enough liveliness to read the Word, and heed the message, and pray for conviction, perhaps it can also believe.
People in many cultures around the world have some awareness of a god and seek some deity. This is why Romans 1:18-32 condemns people for ignoring natural revelation that testifies about the supreme deity. Indigenous people might seek the wrong god unless they possess special revelation (the Word of God), but the fact that they seek shows that they have some spiritual sensitivity to religious or spiritual things, whether true or false.
A starving, homeless person may be invited to eat at a home. The food will be provided and he may accept the invitation, but no one can eat for him. He must still decide whether to eat. Likewise, unsaved people are not like dead bodies. They are convinced either to receive or reject Christ.
