It is written:
“For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” (Matthew 15:9)
Calvinists assert that Jesus here teaches that mankind is totally depraved.
However, the passage actually excludes infants and small children from the list.
First, Jesus here is explaining what He has been discussing previously. The word “for” at the beginning of the verse is the Greek word gar, which means “to introduce the meaning of a preceding statement” (Thayer). As such, what has Jesus been discussing that He is here clarifying?
In Matthew 15:1-11, Jesus was discussing the Word of God with the Pharisees (a religious sect of the Jews). Their attempts to exalt the traditions of man over the Word of God led to hypocritical lifestyles, and the Lord called them on this inconsistency. Jesus (in Matthew 15:16-20) is explaining to the disciples (Matthew 15:12-15) a parable that He had used in describing the Pharisees (Matthew 15:10-12). It was the Pharisees that Jesus was addressing in this conversation (cf. Mark 7:1-23)!
The point is: Jesus is not giving a theological discourse on origin sin. Far from it! He is discussing the wickedness of persons who choose to rebel against God.
Second, to drive this point home: what infants or small children have you ever met that were capable of: evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, and blasphemies?
The very text excludes infants and small children.
Therefore, we see another text that Calvinists misuse to promote the idea of original sin.
Leave a Reply