To be spiritually dead is to be diabolically alive
R. C. SproulRead
Fallen man is free to choose what he desires, but because his desires are only wicked he lacks the moral ability to come to Christ. As long as he remains in the flesh, unregenerate, he will never choose Christ. He cannot choose Christ precisely because he cannot act against his own will. His fall is so great that only the effectual grace of God working in his heart can bring him to faith.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the idea that fallen humanity is bound by wicked desires and cannot choose to come to Christ without divine intervention.
R. C. Sproul's quote illustrates the theological belief that due to the fall of man, individuals are enslaved by their sinful desires. It asserts that without the transformative and enabling grace of God, a person is incapable of making the righteous choice to follow Christ. This perspective emphasizes the necessity of divine grace in the redemption process, suggesting that inherent human weakness prevents genuine self-directed moral choice.
Themes
GraceFaithRedemptionSinDivine Intervention
In practice
Example use cases
During a sermon discussing the nature of sin and grace.
More from R. C. Sproul
All quotes →I’ve often wondered where Jesus would apply His hastily made whip if He were to visit our culture. My guess is that it would not be money-changing tables in the temple that would feel His wrath, but the display racks in Christian bookstores.
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The real crisis of worship today is not that the preaching is paltry or that it's too drafty in church. It is that people have no sense of the presence of God, and if they have no sense of His presence, how can they be moved to express the deepest feelings of their souls to honor, revere, worship, and glorify God?
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We talk about predestination because the Bible talks about predestination. If we desire to build our theology on the Bible, we run head on into this concept. We soon discover that John Calvin did not invent it.
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Without God man has no reference point to define himself.
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I do not want to drive across a bridge designed by an engineer who believed the numbers in structural stress models are relative truths.
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