Total Depravity vs. The Bible

I have been working through 1 Kings at the moment as part of my daily reading of the Bible (I’m the type of person who goes through the Bible cover-to-cover [using the English, Greek, and Hebrew texts, because I’m that hardcore . . .8-) ]) I have noticed that so many of the texts in the opening chapters refutes the common Reformed understanding of the nature of the “heart” of an individual, and that there is a natural ability within man to accept or reject God, even if such has diminished due to Fall. I offer the following texts as evidence, sometimes followed by my commentary in italics:

That the Lord may continue in his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail these (said he) a man on the throne of Israel. (1 Kgs 2:4) Here, Yahweh conditions the promise he makes to Solomon based on the ability of man to do works pleasing to God. The Hebrew term for “soul” (נֶפֶשׁ) refers to the totality of a person, showing that, far from being “totally depraved,” there is a natural ability within man to do good works pleasing to God. Behold, I have done according to why words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any wise like unto thee. (3:12) And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. (4:29) And it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. And the Lord said unto David, my father, Wheras it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart. (8:17-18) When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house. (8:33) Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness; and so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name. (8:47-48; this parallels the “natural ability” of man discussed in 2:4 quoted above) That he may incline our hearts not him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statues, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers. (8:58) On the eighty day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people. (8:66) And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statues and my judgments. (9:4) And she [the Queen of Sheba] came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart . . .Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the Lord loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice. (10:2, 7) What is significant is that, in Reformed theology, the Queen of Sheba would be a godless idolater and totally depraved, and yet, based on the “integrity of her heart,” to borrow language used of David in 9:4, she recognised the reality of Israel’s God, Yahweh, and His placing Solomon in a position of kingship over the people. Furthermore, we learn from Jesus Christ Himself that she was a true believer (cf. Matt 12:42; Luke 11:31) in contradistinction to the faithless Jews of Christ’s time. This is paralleled in the life of Cornelius, whom I discussed here. But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Somon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. (11:1-3) This text shows that Solomon’s heart became corrupted, not that it was naturally corrupted or “totally depraved,” as we are often led to believe by Reformed apologists. Far from proving their anthropology, this, and the entire evidence of both Old and New Testaments proves, their anthropology to be sub-biblical.