Monergism vs. Synergism

"I often hear this verse in John 1:12quoted over and over and over… But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, But fail so often to complete the firm statement with verse 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:13 As you can see you're not saved by a man-made system or personal effort or the human will of man… BUT of God. Ephesians 2:4

1. Synergism, which I completely disagree with, is the doctrine that the act of being born again is achieved through a combination of human will and divine grace. (From Greek sunergos, working together : sun-, syn- + ergon, work). Though there are godly men who believe this all to be true, there are many, many other godly men that just don't see synergism in God's word.

The Century Dictionary defines synergism as… "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."

Why do people believe this? I can only guess it is because by nature we want to maintain an island of righteousness, a last bastion of pride in thinking that he can still contribute something, be it ever so small, to our own salvation. It would involve great humility on our part to admit this. If the Church took more efforts to search the Scriptures and reform her doctrine on this point, I am convinced that a great deal of blessing would be restored and God would remove much of the current worldliness in our midst.

2. Monergism… The word "monergism" consists of two main parts. The Greek prefix "mono" signifies "one", "single", or "alone" while the suffix "ergon" means "to work". Taken together it means "the work of one". All of God as scripture so clearly point out.

The Century Dictionary's definition of monergism: In theology, [monergism is] "the doctrine that the Holy Spirit is the only efficient agent in regeneration [the new birth] – that the human will possesses no inclination to holiness until regenerated [born again], and therefore cannot cooperate in regeneration."

Very simply, then, monergism is the doctrine that our new birth (or "quickening") is the work of God, the Holy Spirit alone, with no contribution and without the cooperation of fallen man, since the natural man, of himself, has no desire for God and cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor 2:14, Rom 3:11,12; Rom 8:7; John 3:19, 20).

Man remains resistant to all outward callings of the gospel until the Spirit comes to disarm us, call us inwardly and implant in us new holy affections for God. Our faith comes about only as the immediate result of the Spirit working faith in us in the hearing of the proclamation of the word. But just as God does not force us to see against our will when He gives us physical eyes, so God does not force us to believe against our will when giving us spiritual eyes. God gives the gift of sight and we willingly exercise it. To conclude, "…no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord', except by the Holy Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:3) …who is the deposit guaranteeing what is to come (2 Corinthians 5:5).

Thus it should become plain to us that not everyone receives this redemptive blessing from Christ. God bestows it mercifully on whom He will according to His sovereign good pleasure (Rom 9:15-18; Eph 1:4, 5). The rest will continue in their willful rebellion, making choices according to their natural desires and thus receive the wrath of God's justice. That is why it is called "mercy" – not getting what we deserve. If God were obligated to give it to all men then, by definition, it would not longer be mercy. This should not surprise us … what should surprise us is God's amazing love, that He would save a sinner like me at all. (Taken from Monergism vs. Synergism by John Hendryx)

Soli Deo Gloria