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Synergism

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For a whole being more than the sum of its parts, see synergy.
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In Christian theology, synergism is the belief that salvation involves some form of cooperation between God and man. This perspective is supported by the Catholic Church, and Eastern Orthodoxy. Synergism is also present in many Protestant denominations such as Anabaptist Churches, and is especially prominent in those influenced by Arminian theology, such as the Methodist Churches. Semi-Pelagianism also incorporates aspects of synergism.

Definition

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Synergism is the belief that salvation involves some form of cooperation between God and man.[1]

Semi-Pelagianism view

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Semi-Pelagianism maintains that a human being can begin to have faith without the need for prevenient grace.[2] It involves a form of synergism, as it teaches that the initial act of faith originates from human will, while the subsequent growth and completion of faith are attributed to God's grace.[3]

Catholic theology

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Synergism is an important part of the salvation theology of the Catholic Church.[4]

The Second Council of Orange (529) defined that faith, even in its beginnings, results from the prevenient grace of God, which enlightens the human mind and enables belief.[5][6][7] The Council of Trent (1545–63) reaffirmed the resistibility of prevenient grace and its synergistic nature.[8]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992) teaches that the ability of the human will to respond to divine grace is itself conferred by grace.[9][10] This synergistic process applies to both justification and sanctification.[11][12]

The sacraments of the Catholic Church such as baptism and the Mass, are part of the God's grace and are thus a vital element in the synergistic process of salvation.[13]

Eastern Orthodox theology

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In Eastern Orthodox theology, God's grace and the human response work in a "cooperation" or "synergy".[14] This perspective has presented less theological tension on this matter compared to the Christian West.[15] Man possess libertarian freedom (Gnomic will) and must consciously respond to divine grace.[16] This understanding is similar to the Arminian protestant synergism.[17] Actually, divine grace always precedes any human contribution.[18]

The Orthodox synergistic process of salvation includes baptism as a response to divine grace.[19] Deification, known as theosis is also an integral part of this process.[20]

Anabaptist theology

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Further information: Anabaptist theology

Anabaptists hold to synergism,[21] teaching that "both God and man play real and necessary parts in the reconciling relationship which binds them."[22] Anabaptists have a high view of the moral capacities of humans when "enlivened by the active agency of the Holy Spirit".[22]

Lutheran theology

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Martin Luther limited monergism strictly to soteriological aspects.[23] While Luther, at times, seemed to assert that monergism applied to both election and reprobation,[24][25] his contemporary Phillip Melanchthon repudiated this monergism in favor of synergism.[26] The Lutheran Confessions (1580) affirm a soteriological monergism solely in relation to election, explicitly rejecting its application to reprobation.[27]

Reformed theology

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In orthodox Reformed theology, divine monergism is understood as operating through an exhaustive divine providence.[28] In contrast, "libertarian Calvinism", a revision described by Oliver Crisp in his book Deviant Calvinism (2014), is a soteriological monergism.[29] Historically, this perspective has remained a minority view within Calvinism.[30]

Anglican theology

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In Anglican Churches there is a main reformed monergistic views of salvation,[31] but also a synergistic one.[32]

Arminian theology

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Synergists compare God's role in salvation to Christ "standing at the door" (The Light of the World by William Holman Hunt).

Christians who hold to Arminian theology, such as Methodists, believe that salvation is synergistic.[21]

Arminius distinguished between "prevenient" or "preceding" grace that involves a monergistic work of God, and a "subsequent" or "following" grace that involves a synergistic work.[33] For Arminians therefore, prevenient grace prior to regeneration entails a synergistic process.[34]

Similarly, following John Wesley,[35] Wesleyan-Arminian theology teaches that both justification and sanctification are synergistic.[36]

See also

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Notes and references

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Citations

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  1. ^ Bordwell 1999, p. 766. "[Synegism involves] a kind of interplay between human freedom and divine grace"
  2. ^ Pohle 1912.
  3. ^ Lambert 2005.
  4. ^ Bordwell 1999, p. 766, ‌.
  5. ^ Pickar 1981, p. 797.
  6. ^ Cross 2005, p. 701.
  7. ^ Stanglin & McCall 2012, p. 153.
  8. ^ Reymond 2010, ch. Who saves men?.
  9. ^ John Paul II 1993, item 2001. "The preparation of man for the reception of grace is already a work of grace."
  10. ^ John Paul II 1993, item 1742. "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".
  11. ^ Kirkpatrick 2018, p. 223. "[Sungenis] is showing how baptism is the entry point into justification, that righteousness is something progressively attained synergistically, and that sanctification and justification belong together as one in the same end."
  12. ^ LWF&RCC 2019. "When Catholics say that persons 'cooperate' in preparing for and accepting justification by consenting to God's justifying action, they see such personal consent as itself an effect of grace, not as an action arising from innate human abilities."
  13. ^ Reymond 2010, ch. How does God saves men?. "Rome holds that through the foundational sacraments of baptism the sinner is delivered from the liability of original sin, and through the sacraments of the Mass and of penance the liabilities of postbaptismal sins are removed. The institutional church becomes then through its sacramental ministrations the sources and conveyer of saving grace to men [...]".
  14. ^ Ware 1993, PT274. "To describe the relation between the grace of God and human freedom, Orthodoxy uses the term cooperation or synergy (synergeia); in Paul's words, 'We are fellow-workers (synergoi) with God' (1 Corinthians iii, 9). If we are to achieve full fellowship with God, we cannot do so without God's help, yet we must also play our own part: we humans as well as God must make our contribution to the common work, although what God does is of immeasurably greater importance than what we do."
  15. ^ Payton Jr. 2010, p. 151. "In Eastern Christian understanding of synergy, God's grace and human response work together without the questions of rivalry that have bedeviled the Western Christian disagreement about monergism and synergism."
  16. ^ Payton Jr. 2010, p. 151, ‌. "[H]uman beings always have the freedom to choose, in their personal (gnomic) wills, whether to walk with God or turn from Him".
  17. ^ Stamoolis 2010, p. 138. "A further concession is made, one that could easily be made by an Arminian Protestant who shared the Orthodox understanding of synergism (i.e., regeneration as the fruit of free will's cooperation with grace): 'The Orthodox emphasis on the importance of the human response toward the grace of God, which at the same time clearly rejects salvation by works, is a healthy synergistic antidote to any antinomian tendencies that might result from (distorted) juridical understandings of salvation'."
  18. ^ Robertson 1899, Decree 14. "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."
  19. ^ Stamoolis 2010, p. 74. "In orthodox baptismal theology, [...] the candidate for baptism merely responds to and cooperates with that divine grace by actively welcoming it into his or her heart by faith and then living out the baptism through active obedience on that same principle of unmeritable synergism."
  20. ^ Stamoolis 2010, p. 74, ‌. "Faith is both a divine gift and the free response of the human person. [...] This is the basis for Orthodox asceticism and its goal of deification (theosis) as the content of salvation."
  21. ^ a b Bloesch 2005, p. 362. "Yet the polarity seems to fall between Reformation monergism (esp. Calvinist) and Anabaptist and Wesleyan synergism."
  22. ^ a b Hill 2020, p. 129.
  23. ^ Straton 2020, p. 159. "Luther: A person's will is in bondage to sin and cannot, without the grace of God, respond to the gospel. However, apart from salvation-related issues, people can choose freely".
  24. ^ Horton 2011, ch. 9.2. "In fact, Luther affirmed both election and reprobation in the strongest terms."
  25. ^ Block 2013.
  26. ^ Bente 1921, ch. 14.154. "After Luther’s death, however, [Melanchton] came out unmistakably and publicly, also in favor of synergism, endorsing even the Erasmian definition of free will as “the power in man to apply himself to grace.” He plainly taught that, when drawn by the Holy Spirit, the will is able to decide pro or con, to obey or to resist. [...] Melanchthon repudiated the monergism of Luther, espoused and defended the powers of free will in spiritual matters, and thought, argued, spoke, and wrote in terms of synergism. Indeed, Melanchthon must be regarded as the father of both synergism and the rationalistic methods employed in its defense, and as the true father also of the modern rationalistico-synergistic theology represented by such distinguished men as Von Hofmann, Thomasius, Kahnis, Luthardt."
  27. ^ Horton 2011, ch. 9.2. "In fact, Luther affirmed both election and reprobation in the strongest terms. The Lutheran confessions, however, affirm God's unconditional election of those on Whom he will mercy but deny his reprobation of the rest as an actual decreee. The confessional Lutheran and Reformed theologies differ with respect to the decree of reprobation, the extent of atonement, and the resistibility of God´s grace, they are united in their defense of soteriological monergism (i.e., God alone working in salvation), grounded in his unconditional election of sinners in Jesus Christ." [emphasis in original].
  28. ^ Robinson 2022, p. 379. "[T]he heart of Calvinism is as monergism that effectively makes God the sole actor in human history [...]".
  29. ^ Olson 2015. "Crisp’s “libertarian Calvinism” is not consistent with the vast majority of modern and contemporary Calvinisms in the U.S., [...] And it is not acceptable to Arminians because of its soteriological monergism [...]"
  30. ^ Moreland 2001, p. 155. "Indeed, throughout history there have been Calvinists who have accepted libertarian freedom for non-moral or non-salvific decisions".
  31. ^ Salter 2018. "The code and creed of Anglicanism is richly Trinitarian (divine self-disclosure), soteriologically monergistic (grace alone), and warmly pastoral (godly care) in its approach to the people it serves within and beyond the bounds of its membership."
  32. ^ Olson 1999, p. 535. "Many Anglicans follow Richard Hooker's brand of synergism [...]".
  33. ^ Stanglin & McCall 2012, p. 152.
  34. ^ Olson 2009, p. 18. "When Arminian synergism is referred to, I am referring to evangelical synergism, which affirms the prevenience of grace to every human exercise of a good will toward God, including simple nonresistance to the saving work of Christ."
  35. ^ Olson 2002, p. 281. "John Wesley, founder of the Methodist tradition, was also a synergist with regard to salvation."
  36. ^ Fahlbusch 2008, p. 272. "Methodist 'synergism' is grounded in the conviction that in the justification begun in the new birth (the beginning of the divine work), there will have to be 'appropriate fruits'."

Sources

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  • Bente, Friedrich (1921). Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.
  • Block, Mathew (2013). "Why Lutheran Predestination isn't Calvinist Predestination". Firstthings.
  • Bloesch, Donald G. (2005). The Holy Spirit: Works Gifts. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-8308-2755-8.
  • Bordwell, David (1999). Catechism Of The Catholic Church Revised PB. London: Burns & Oates.
  • Cross, F. L. (2005). The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Fahlbusch, Erwin (2008). The Encyclopedia of Christianity. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 9780802824172.
  • Hill, Samuel S. (2020). Southern Churches in Crisis Revisited. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 978-0-8173-6008-5.
  • Horton, Michael (2011). The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way. Grand Rapids, MI (US): Zondervan Academic.
  • John Paul II (1993). Catechism of the Catholic Church Second Edition Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum (PDF). Citta del Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
  • Kirkpatrick, Daniel (2018). Monergism or Synergism: Is Salvation Cooperative or the Work of God Alone?. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications.
  • Lambert, David (2005). "Semipelagianism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3 ed.). Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3.
  • LWF&RCC (2019). Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (PDF). Geneva: The Lutheran World Federation.
  • Moreland, J. P. (2001). "Miracles, Agency, and Theistic Science: A Reply to Steven B. Cowan". Philosophia Christi. 4 (1).
  • Olson, Roger E. (1999). The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 9780830815050.
  • Olson, Roger E. (2002). The Mosaic of Christian Beliefs: Twenty Centuries of Unity & Diversity. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
  • Olson, Roger E. (2009). Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
  • Olson, Roger E. (2015). "Review of Oliver Crisp's "Deviant Calvinism" Part Three". My evangelical, Arminian theological musings. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
  • Payton Jr., James R. (2010). Light from the Christian East: An Introduction to the Orthodox Tradition. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.
  • Pickar, C. H. (1981) [1967]. The New Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. Washington D.C.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Pohle, Joseph (1912). "Semipelagianism" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  • Reymond, Robert L. (2010). A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith (2 ed.). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
  • Robertson, James Nathaniel William Beauchamp, ed. (1899). The acts and decrees of the Synod of Jerusalem, sometimes called the Council of Bethlehem, holden under Dositheus, Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1672. Harvard University. New York, AMS Press.
  • Robinson, Geoffrey D. (2022). Saved by Grace through Faith or Saved by Decree?. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers.
  • Salter, Roger (2018). "THE MARTYRS' STAKE: The Ensign of Reformational Anglicanism". VirtueOnline. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  • Stanglin, Keith D.; McCall, Thomas H. (2012). Jacob Arminius: Theologian of Grace. New York: OUP USA.
  • Stamoolis, James J. (2010). Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. ISBN 9780310864363.
  • Straton, Timothy A. (2020). Human Freedom, Divine Knowledge, and Mere Molinism: A Biblical, Historical, Theological, and Philosophical Analysis. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers.
  • Ware, Timothy (1993). The Orthodox Church. London: Penguin UK. ISBN 978-0-14192500-4.


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