Is Natural Ability Required for Salvation

I would not be just a nuffin’
My head all full of stuffin’
My heart all full of pain.
I would dance and be merry
Life would be a ding-a-derry
If I only had a brain…

To answer this question concerning natural ability and salvation, we must first define what is meant by natural ability. Covenant of Grace Church in MO says this on its website, “Jonathan Edwards made a distinction that is helpful in thinking about this issue. He distinguished between natural ability and moral ability. God provides certain natural abilities to members of his creation. For example, he provides the birds with the ability to fly. Fish have the ability to live under water and extract oxygen from the water through their gills. God provides the fish with fins and gills and the birds with feathers and wings. Human beings do not naturally have that equipment. Human beings, however, are given the natural ability to make choices. God gave people minds that can receive and analyze information. Man’s corruption in sin does not strip from him the ability to choose what he wants. In the fall, however, man did lose his desire for God and his inclination toward the good. In this regard, a person can intellectually understand the law of God and its obligations and he can understand the content of the gospel. The unregenerate person, however, does not want to obey God or to come to Christ. He could choose Christ and the things of God if he wanted them, but he has no desire for them. This is where Edwards makes the distinction between natural and moral ability. Man has the natural ability to choose God, but he does not have the moral ability to do it.”

John Calvin writes in his Institutes (2.2.17), “We see among all mankind that reason is proper to our nature; it distinguishes us from brute beasts, just as they by possessing feeling differ from inanimate things.”

R.C. Sproul says on p.60 of Chosen by God, “The will is a natural ability given to us by God. We have all the natural faculties necessary to make choices. We have a mind and we have a will. We have a natural ability to choose what we desire.” He goes on to ask the question, ‘What, then is our problem?”, and then proceeds to talk about the fallen, dead condition of man’s heart as being the reason why he cannot come to God.

So, what exactly is the issue with respect to whether or not natural ability is required for salvation? And what do I mean when I say that man has the natural ability to choose God? Well, it really is quite simple. Are you ready for the answer? Do you have pen and paper ready to take copious notes? Here goes…

Saying that man possesses the natural ability to choose God is simply stating that man has a brain (and yes, that natural ability is itself a gift from God). That’s it. That’s all there is to it. Even fallen man possesses the natural, cognitive, physical ability to choose what he wants, including God. The problem lies within the reality that he doesn’t want to choose God, and in fact cannot choose God and cannot come to Christ unless the Father draws him; not because he lacks a brain, but because his heart is wicked above all things, and because there is none righteous, and none who choose God, not even one.

It is interesting to note that BOTH the Westminster and 1689 Baptist Confessions agree with this position by having provisions in their sections on effectual calling that address those individuals who do not (or never do reach a point where they will) possess the natural ability to choose God. Both confessions state the following:

Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated, and saved by Christ, through the Spirit, who works when, and where, and how He pleases: so also are all other elect persons who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.

NOTE: Please don’t hear what I am NOT saying. I have not said, nor do I believe, that man is capable of coming to God prior to regeneration, as some have accused me of. I think if you read some of my other posts on faith and being born again, you will see what I believe concerning God’s monergistic work of saving His elect.