Synergism
Encyclopedia
In theology, synergism is the position of those who hold that salvation involves some form of cooperation between divine grace and human freedom. It stands opposed to monergism
, a doctrine most commonly associated with the Lutheran and Reformed
Protestant
traditions, whose soteriologies have been strongly influenced by the North African theologian Augustine of Hippo
(AD 354 – 430).
frequently use the term "synergism" to describe the Arminian doctrine of salvation
, although some Arminians would disagree with the characterisation. According to Calvinists, synergism is the view that God and man work together, each contributing their part to accomplish regeneration in and for the individual. John Hendryx, a Calvinist theologian, has stated it this way: synergism is "...the doctrine that there are two efficient agents in regeneration, namely the human will and the divine Spirit, which, in the strict sense of the term, cooperate. This theory accordingly holds that the soul has not lost in the fall all inclination toward holiness, nor all power to seek for it under the influence of ordinary motives." Arminians of the classical
and Wesleyan
traditions would respond with the criticism that Hendryx has merely provided a description of the heresy of semi-Pelagianism, and they recognize that grace precedes
any cooperation of the human soul with the saving power of God.
In other words, God has offered salvation, and man must receive it. This is opposed to the monergistic view as held by Reformed or Calvinistic groups in which objects of God's election participate in, but do not contribute to, the salvific or regenerative processes. Classical Arminians and most Wesleyans would consider this a straw man
description, as they have historically affirmed the Reformed doctrine of total depravity
. To this, Hendryx replies by asking the following question: "If two persons receive prevenient grace and only one believes the gospel, why does one believe in Christ and not the other? What makes the two persons to differ? Jesus Christ or something else? And that 'something else' is why Calvinists believe Arminians and other non-Augustinian groups to be synergists." Regeneration, in this case, would occur only when the unregenerate will cooperates with God's Spirit to effectuate redemption. To the monergist, faith does not proceed from our unregenerate human nature. If faith precedes regeneration, as it does in Arminianism, then the unregenerate person must exercise faith in order to be regenerated.
One must understand, however, what the doctrine of prevenient grace
actually teaches. Arminians in agreement with the monergist with respect to the prior necessity of grace for regeneration; strictly speaking, at no time have Arminian theologians, classical or Wesleyan, argued that faith proceeds from the unregenerate (that is, a totally natural or graceless) human nature. John Wesley
expressed this himself, saying, "The will of man is by nature free only to evil. Yet... every man has a measure of free-will restored to him by grace." "Natural free-will in the present state of mankind, I do not understand: I only assert, that there is a measure of free-will supernaturally restored to every man, together with that supernatural light which 'enlightens every man that comes into the world.'" "This is not a statement about natural ability, or about nature as such working of itself, but about grace working through nature."
Arminians, therefore, hold a position which may be summarized in the following way: a human being cannot, on his or her own, turn to God. God grants all sinners prevenient grace (prevenient meaning "coming before"). With this prevenient grace (or with its effects on the fallen human), a person is able to freely choose to place faith in Christ or reject his salvation. If the person accepts it, then God justifies him and continues to give further grace to spiritually heal and sanctify him. In response to Hendryx's question about the two individuals receiving prevenient grace and only one being saved, the Arminian would reply that the one who was saved freely chose faith, but only had the power to choose faith because of the prevenient grace, whereas the one who was not saved had the same assistance from prevenient grace and thus the same ability to choose, but freely chose not to have faith. Whether this is characterized as synergy will depend upon one's definition. It differs, however, from semi-Pelagianism, which maintains that a human being can begin to have faith without the need for grace. In addition, the Arminian might say that the person's decision is not the cause of his salvation or loss, but rather that his free response to prevenient grace forms the grounds for God's free decision; the person's decision does not constrain God, but God takes it into consideration when He decides whether to complete the person's salvation or not. An analogy may be seen in that when person A offers to pay off a loan for person B, person A offers freely. If person B declines, person A could still choose to pay off the loan (in theory), and if person B consents, person A is still not constrained to pay it off. Rather, the response of person B informs the decision of person A to either settle or not settle the loan. In like manner, God takes the person's response to the gospel, empowered by prevenient grace, into account as relevant information when freely choosing whether or not to save that person. Therefore, the person's choice does not work alongside God. For this reason, many Arminians do not view the term synergism as an accurate description of their theology.
Another analogy sometimes cited is based upon Revelation
chapter 3, in which Christ states that he stands at the door and knocks, and if anyone opens he will enter in. Arminians assert that Christ comes to each person with prevenient grace, and if they are willing for him to enter, he enters them. Therefore, no one does any of the actual work of saving themselves, because Christ does the work of coming to them in the first place, and if they are willing to follow him, he does the work of entering in, but whether he does so is dependent upon the will of the person (no one, however, could will for him to enter if He did not first knock).
This is similar to the position taken in the Conferences of St. John Cassian. In this work, the matter of grace and faith is taken as analogous to that of the invalids that Christ healed. That Christ met the ill persons where they were is likened to prevenient grace because unless Christ went to them, the invalids would have had no opportunity to ask him for help. Likewise, without prevenient grace no sinner would be able to ask God for help. The actual asking for help comes from the free choice of the invalid or person in question. It is made possible by Christ's presence (by prevenient grace), but there is no necessary outcome: Christ's presence (prevenient grace) leaves a person able to ask for help, but also able to refuse to ask for help. Asking, however, does not accomplish anything to actually heal the person; Christ's response to their request is what heals them, not their own choice. Likewise, God saves those who ask Him. However, they are only able to ask because He first comes to them with prevenient grace. Nonetheless, they are free to refuse to ask for His help, just as the invalids were free to not ask Christ for healing. Thus it is concluded, "it belongs to divine grace to give us opportunities of salvation... it is ours to follow up the blessings which God gives us with earnestness or indifference." God is then free to decide how to response to our earnestness or indifference, which make up a part of the data which He considers in His free decision. We know, however, that in love He will respond by completing the salvation of those who respond earnestly, while leaving those who respond with indifference to their own devices.
In the 13th Conference, Cassian also uses the analogy of a farmer. Although the farmer must chose to work the farm, the growth of his crops is entirely due to God. God provides the growth, but He does so only for those who are willing to have that growth and actualize this through their effort.
and also of the Eastern Orthodox Church
. In contrast to the Protestant views indicated above, these churches reject the notion of total depravity: they hold that, even after the Fall, man remains free, and human nature, though wounded in the natural powers proper to it, has not been totally corrupted. They teach that the ability of the human will to respond to divine grace is itself conferred by grace. "By the working of grace the Holy Spirit educates us in spiritual freedom in order to make us free collaborators in his work in the Church and in the world". "The preparation of man for the reception of grace is already a work of grace." "For the regenerated to do spiritual good — for the works of the believer being contributory to salvation and wrought by supernatural grace are properly called spiritual — it is necessary that he be guided and prevented [preceded] by grace." "When God touches man's heart through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving that inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet, without God's grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward justice in God's sight."
Monergism
Monergism describes the position in Christian theology of those who believe that God, through the Holy Spirit, works to bring about effectually the salvation of individuals through spiritual regeneration without cooperation from the individual...
, a doctrine most commonly associated with the Lutheran and Reformed
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
traditions, whose soteriologies have been strongly influenced by the North African theologian Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
(AD 354 – 430).
Arminian Protestantism
CalvinistsCalvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
frequently use the term "synergism" to describe the Arminian doctrine of salvation
Soteriology
The branch of Christian theology that deals with salvation and redemption is called Soteriology. It is derived from the Greek sōtērion + English -logy....
, although some Arminians would disagree with the characterisation. According to Calvinists, synergism is the view that God and man work together, each contributing their part to accomplish regeneration in and for the individual. John Hendryx, a Calvinist theologian, has stated it this way: synergism is "...the doctrine that there are two efficient agents in regeneration, namely the human will and the divine Spirit, which, in the strict sense of the term, cooperate. This theory accordingly holds that the soul has not lost in the fall all inclination toward holiness, nor all power to seek for it under the influence of ordinary motives." Arminians of the classical
Remonstrants
The Remonstrants are the Dutch Protestants who, after the death of Jacobus Arminius, maintained the views associated with his name. In 1610 they presented to the States of Holland and Friesland a remonstrance in five articles formulating their points of disagreement from Calvinism.-History:The five...
and Wesleyan
Wesleyanism
Wesleyanism or Wesleyan theology refers, respectively, to either the eponymous movement of Protestant Christians who have historically sought to follow the methods or theology of the eighteenth-century evangelical reformers, John Wesley and his brother Charles Wesley, or to the likewise eponymous...
traditions would respond with the criticism that Hendryx has merely provided a description of the heresy of semi-Pelagianism, and they recognize that grace precedes
Prevenient grace
Prevenient grace is a Christian theological concept rooted in Augustinian theology. It is embraced primarily by Arminian Christians who are influenced by the theology of Jacob Arminius or John Wesley. Wesley typically referred to it in 18th century language as prevenient grace...
any cooperation of the human soul with the saving power of God.
In other words, God has offered salvation, and man must receive it. This is opposed to the monergistic view as held by Reformed or Calvinistic groups in which objects of God's election participate in, but do not contribute to, the salvific or regenerative processes. Classical Arminians and most Wesleyans would consider this a straw man
Straw man
A straw man is a component of an argument and is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position, twisting his words or by means of [false] assumptions...
description, as they have historically affirmed the Reformed doctrine of total depravity
Total depravity
Total depravity is a theological doctrine that derives from the Augustinian concept of original sin...
. To this, Hendryx replies by asking the following question: "If two persons receive prevenient grace and only one believes the gospel, why does one believe in Christ and not the other? What makes the two persons to differ? Jesus Christ or something else? And that 'something else' is why Calvinists believe Arminians and other non-Augustinian groups to be synergists." Regeneration, in this case, would occur only when the unregenerate will cooperates with God's Spirit to effectuate redemption. To the monergist, faith does not proceed from our unregenerate human nature. If faith precedes regeneration, as it does in Arminianism, then the unregenerate person must exercise faith in order to be regenerated.
One must understand, however, what the doctrine of prevenient grace
Prevenient grace
Prevenient grace is a Christian theological concept rooted in Augustinian theology. It is embraced primarily by Arminian Christians who are influenced by the theology of Jacob Arminius or John Wesley. Wesley typically referred to it in 18th century language as prevenient grace...
actually teaches. Arminians in agreement with the monergist with respect to the prior necessity of grace for regeneration; strictly speaking, at no time have Arminian theologians, classical or Wesleyan, argued that faith proceeds from the unregenerate (that is, a totally natural or graceless) human nature. John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
expressed this himself, saying, "The will of man is by nature free only to evil. Yet... every man has a measure of free-will restored to him by grace." "Natural free-will in the present state of mankind, I do not understand: I only assert, that there is a measure of free-will supernaturally restored to every man, together with that supernatural light which 'enlightens every man that comes into the world.'" "This is not a statement about natural ability, or about nature as such working of itself, but about grace working through nature."
Arminians, therefore, hold a position which may be summarized in the following way: a human being cannot, on his or her own, turn to God. God grants all sinners prevenient grace (prevenient meaning "coming before"). With this prevenient grace (or with its effects on the fallen human), a person is able to freely choose to place faith in Christ or reject his salvation. If the person accepts it, then God justifies him and continues to give further grace to spiritually heal and sanctify him. In response to Hendryx's question about the two individuals receiving prevenient grace and only one being saved, the Arminian would reply that the one who was saved freely chose faith, but only had the power to choose faith because of the prevenient grace, whereas the one who was not saved had the same assistance from prevenient grace and thus the same ability to choose, but freely chose not to have faith. Whether this is characterized as synergy will depend upon one's definition. It differs, however, from semi-Pelagianism, which maintains that a human being can begin to have faith without the need for grace. In addition, the Arminian might say that the person's decision is not the cause of his salvation or loss, but rather that his free response to prevenient grace forms the grounds for God's free decision; the person's decision does not constrain God, but God takes it into consideration when He decides whether to complete the person's salvation or not. An analogy may be seen in that when person A offers to pay off a loan for person B, person A offers freely. If person B declines, person A could still choose to pay off the loan (in theory), and if person B consents, person A is still not constrained to pay it off. Rather, the response of person B informs the decision of person A to either settle or not settle the loan. In like manner, God takes the person's response to the gospel, empowered by prevenient grace, into account as relevant information when freely choosing whether or not to save that person. Therefore, the person's choice does not work alongside God. For this reason, many Arminians do not view the term synergism as an accurate description of their theology.
Another analogy sometimes cited is based upon Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
chapter 3, in which Christ states that he stands at the door and knocks, and if anyone opens he will enter in. Arminians assert that Christ comes to each person with prevenient grace, and if they are willing for him to enter, he enters them. Therefore, no one does any of the actual work of saving themselves, because Christ does the work of coming to them in the first place, and if they are willing to follow him, he does the work of entering in, but whether he does so is dependent upon the will of the person (no one, however, could will for him to enter if He did not first knock).
This is similar to the position taken in the Conferences of St. John Cassian. In this work, the matter of grace and faith is taken as analogous to that of the invalids that Christ healed. That Christ met the ill persons where they were is likened to prevenient grace because unless Christ went to them, the invalids would have had no opportunity to ask him for help. Likewise, without prevenient grace no sinner would be able to ask God for help. The actual asking for help comes from the free choice of the invalid or person in question. It is made possible by Christ's presence (by prevenient grace), but there is no necessary outcome: Christ's presence (prevenient grace) leaves a person able to ask for help, but also able to refuse to ask for help. Asking, however, does not accomplish anything to actually heal the person; Christ's response to their request is what heals them, not their own choice. Likewise, God saves those who ask Him. However, they are only able to ask because He first comes to them with prevenient grace. Nonetheless, they are free to refuse to ask for His help, just as the invalids were free to not ask Christ for healing. Thus it is concluded, "it belongs to divine grace to give us opportunities of salvation... it is ours to follow up the blessings which God gives us with earnestness or indifference." God is then free to decide how to response to our earnestness or indifference, which make up a part of the data which He considers in His free decision. We know, however, that in love He will respond by completing the salvation of those who respond earnestly, while leaving those who respond with indifference to their own devices.
In the 13th Conference, Cassian also uses the analogy of a farmer. Although the farmer must chose to work the farm, the growth of his crops is entirely due to God. God provides the growth, but He does so only for those who are willing to have that growth and actualize this through their effort.
Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox theology
Synergism, the teaching that there is "a kind of interplay between human freedom and divine grace", is an important part of the salvation theology of the Roman Catholic ChurchRoman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and also of the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
. In contrast to the Protestant views indicated above, these churches reject the notion of total depravity: they hold that, even after the Fall, man remains free, and human nature, though wounded in the natural powers proper to it, has not been totally corrupted. They teach that the ability of the human will to respond to divine grace is itself conferred by grace. "By the working of grace the Holy Spirit educates us in spiritual freedom in order to make us free collaborators in his work in the Church and in the world". "The preparation of man for the reception of grace is already a work of grace." "For the regenerated to do spiritual good — for the works of the believer being contributory to salvation and wrought by supernatural grace are properly called spiritual — it is necessary that he be guided and prevented [preceded] by grace." "When God touches man's heart through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving that inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet, without God's grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward justice in God's sight."
See also
- ArminianismArminianismArminianism is a school of soteriological thought within Protestant Christianity based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius and his historic followers, the Remonstrants...
- Decision theologyDecision theologyDecision theology is the belief by some fundamentalist and evangelical sects of Christianity that individuals must make a conscious decision to "accept" and follow Christ . Some Christian denominations object to the "decision theology" theory as contradicting the monergism of orthodox historic...
- Eastern Orthodoxy
- MonergismMonergismMonergism describes the position in Christian theology of those who believe that God, through the Holy Spirit, works to bring about effectually the salvation of individuals through spiritual regeneration without cooperation from the individual...
- PelagianismPelagianismPelagianism is a theological theory named after Pelagius , although he denied, at least at some point in his life, many of the doctrines associated with his name. It is the belief that original sin did not taint human nature and that mortal will is still capable of choosing good or evil without...
- Regeneration (theology)Regeneration (theology)Regeneration, while sometimes perceived to be a step in the Ordo salutis , is generally understood in Christian theology to be the objective work of God in a believer's life. Spiritually, it means that God brings Christians to new life from a previous state of subjection to the decay of death...
- Semi-Pelagianism
- SoteriologySoteriologyThe branch of Christian theology that deals with salvation and redemption is called Soteriology. It is derived from the Greek sōtērion + English -logy....
External links
- Universal prevenient grace
- Prevenient Grace by Jeff Paton