leaving it totally depraved. Total depravity, according to Luther, consists of
more than simply the “wounding” of man, and entails the following more
far-reaching effects:
(i)
The destruction of the human intellect to the point of rendering
man by himself incapable of achieving knowledge of religious
truth.
(ii)
The enslavement of the will, reducing it to being purely a passive
agent, incapable of actively cooperating with grace, rejecting the
inspirations of God or the temptations of the devil.
(iii)
The total vitiation of the life of grace, leaving humanity incapable
of performing any morally good actions (in fact, all human actions
are as a consequence at least venially sinful).
(iv)
The inability of grace to intrinsically regenerate the human soul,
grace being not a reality infused by God in the soul but simply
God’s good will towards it. Justification is reduced to a juridical
act of God whereby He mystically “cloaks” the Christian in the
merits of Christ (Justitia Christi extra nos – the Justice of Christ
outside us).
In response to Luther’s teachings, the Council of Trent asserted that in
active justification an actual and real regeneration of the soul takes place,
removing both original and actual sin through the infusion of sanctifying
grace by the sacraments of Baptism and Penance:
“If anyone denies that, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
is conferred in baptism, the guilt of original sin is remitted; or even
asserts that the whole of that which has the true and proper nature of
sin is not taken away; but says that it is only canceled, or not
imputed; let him be anathema.”
6
6
Decree on Original Sin, Canon 5.
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