To listen to Arminian preachers, you’d swear the Bible is brimming with affirmations of free-will. You’d think every page of Scripture affirms that men are basically good and simply need to apply themselves. You’d think there’s a verse somewhere that actually says, “God has done His part, now the ball’s in your court.” You’d think “God helps those who help themselves” was a Biblical concept.
Below is a SMALL list (There are many, many more passages of Scripture to this effect) of Scripture passages denying that the unregenerate have free-will. If you can read the following list and come away still convinced that man is basically good and that he has the intrinsic power to choose right, then I question your skills of comprehension, not to mention your honesty when it comes to being instructed by Scripture.
Genesis 6:5: “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Psalm 33:10: "He maketh the devices of the people of none effect."
Psalm 81:12: "So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels."
Psalm 119: 36-37: “Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. 37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.”
Proverbs 21:1: "The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will."
Proverbs 28:26: "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool."
Ecclesiastes 7:20: "For there is not a just man upon the earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not."
Isaiah 63:17: O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.
Jeremiah 4:22: "For my people is foolish, they have not known me … they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge."
Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
Matthew 7:18: “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.”
Matthew 16:17: “for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”
John 1:13: "Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
John 3:27: "A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven."
John 6:44: "No man can come to me except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."
John 6:65: "Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father."
John 15:5: "I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing."
John 15:16: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you."
John 17:1a-2: “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.”
Acts 4:27-28: For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
Romans 3:10-12: "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is no that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."
Romans 5:6: "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."
Romans 7:18-19: "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do."
Romans 8:7: "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."
Romans 9:16: "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy."
Romans 10:20: "I was found of them that sought me not."
1 Corinthians 2:11, 14: “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God…But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
1 Corinthians 4:7: “For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”
1 Corinthians 12:3: “no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.”
2 Corinthians 3:5: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God”
Ephesians 2:1: "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins."
Ephesians 2:5: "Even when we were dead in sins, hath he quickened us together with Christ; (by grace ye are saved.)"
Philippians 1:29: “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake”
Philippians 2:13: "For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
Colossians 1:21: “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled”
Colossians 2:13: "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses."
Titus 3:3-5: "For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost."