The Gospel...A History Lesson Part 5

In our last post about the gospel, part 4, we ended talking about synergism within the church.  To review, the word "synergism" comes from the Greek prefix SYN, which means "together with; at the same time" and the Greek word ERGOS, which means "work".  Therefore, synergism is the belief that man and God are cooperating, or working together at the same time, to achieve man's salvation. In this system of belief, it is only logical that man get some of the credit for his salvation.  That is because, in the synergistic view, God has done all He can do by sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross...to make salvation possible for you.  Now, you have to make the decision to accept or reject this offer.  That is SYNERGISM.  God has done something; now, you do something.  That is the semi-Pelagian view of salvation and it dominates the landscape of Christianity today.  The problem with this view is that is completely unbiblical.  We will attempt to show why today.

"Salvation is from the Lord.”  (Jonah 2:9)

How is salvation of the LORD?  Well, salvation is of the LORD when it is the LORD who does it from start to finish.  That is what a MONERGISTIC view of salvation consists of...or, in another word, MONERGISM.  This is a view that regeneration and salvation are completely dependent upon the working of God upon a person.  What is a monergistic view of regeneration and salvation, or MONERGISM?  The word comes from a Greek prefix, "mono", meaning "one; alone" and the Greek word "ergos" meaning work.  Therefore, the word monergism means that God alone works the regeneration and salvation of a person through the rebirth of a dead spirit.  This is in direct contrast to synergism, which teaches that God and man work together to accomplish this task.

At the risk of being redundant, the synergistic view of regeneration and salvation holds that man is not dead in trespasses and sins...he is merely sick or wounded.  His nature is not in total and complete bondage to sin.  He is, thereby, able to help himself by helping God.  In this view, God gives grace to ALL men at some point in time.  When this happens, it is incumbent upon the individual to improve upon that grace by showing enough sense to accept this grace and get saved.  In other words, the regeneration and salvation of a person is dependent upon the person and their choice to accept or reject grace.  The credit and glory for this goes, in part, to the person for having enough wits about them to make the right choice.  It does not go to God for having worked a miracle in a dead spirit.

In the monergistic view, man is ruined and held in bondage by the sin nature.  Man is:

"Dead in trespasses and sins"  (Ephesians 2:1)

"By nature children of wrath"  (Ephesians 2:3)

"There is none who does good; not even one"  (Romans 3:12)

"All of us like sheep have gone astray,

"Each of us has turned to his own way"  (Isaiah 53:6)

And, because of this, Jesus tells Nicodemus:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."  (John 3:3)

The phrase "born again" here literally means "born from above" and is talking about the regeneration of the spirit of a man.  We are dead in our trespasses and sins.  Unless we are regenerated, or reborn, or born again or born from above, we cannot see the kingdom of God.  That is because our nature is inherently sinful and cannot be in the presence of a holy God.  As David said in the Psalms:

"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me."  (Psalm 51:5)

We are born with a sinful nature.  That sinful nature must be dealt with if we are to stand blameless in the presence of God.  This rebirth is an act of the Holy Spirit that happens TO US, not an act in which we take part or help God along.  We did not participate in our physical birth; neither do we participate in our spiritual birth.  How do we know this?  Here is the testimony of the Scriptures:

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)"  (Ephesians 2:4-5)

These are some of the most glorious verses in all the Scriptures.  Look at what they say.  Verse 4 must be read in the context of verses 1-3.  Verse 1 says we were dead in trespasses and sins.  Verse 2 says that we formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.  Verse 3 says that we were, by nature, children of wrath.  That is a dire sentence against us and the verdict is in.  We were, by nature, children of wrath, dead in trespasses and sins.  In that context, verse 4 breaks in and becomes most glorious.  "But God....".  I think those 2 words are my favorite in the Scriptures.  But God, because He is rich in mercy......But God, because He loved us with a great love......But God, even when we were dead in our transgressions......made us alive together with Christ.  Notice that this happened EVEN WHEN WE WERE DEAD IN OUR TRANSGRESSIONS.  He had to MAKE US ALIVE because we WERE DEAD.  He did not ask us if we wanted to be alive.  He did not give us a multiple choice option on life....A) I want to remain dead or B) I want to be made alive.  He did not kinda raise us up out of a deep slumber and then leave us to either roll over and go back to sleep, rejecting Him waking us up......or sitting up, jumping out of bed, attacking the day and accepting being risen out of bed.  That is not what the text says.  It says HE MADE US ALIVE WITH CHRIST (BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED).  That is what grace is.  It is favor and mercy from God that is neither expected nor deserved.  Notice this also.  In verse 8, Paul says:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;  (Ephesians 2:8)

Grace is in operation in more ways than one.  Grace raises you from deadness.  Grace also saves through faith because the faith to believe is ALSO given to you.  That is the gift spoken of here....your faith.  Your faith is not of yourselves.  Your faith is the gift of God.  Notice when you put all of these verses together that the first thing that happens is that God MADE YOU ALIVE WITH CHRIST because of the fact that YOU WERE DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS.  That is being "born again" or regenerated.  After that, God gives you the faith to believe.  That is justification, or salvation.  They are both works that God does to you without needing you to help Him along.  He does it all.  

That is monergism.....in a quick, over-simplified nutshell.  I honestly believe that it is the only view of our regeneration and salvation that puts the credit and glory where it belongs....on God and His grace.  Any view that states God has done all He can do and now it's up to you robs God of the credit and glory that belongs to Him and Him alone.  It really is that simple.  I would ask all who read this to prayerfully consider what has been said in this post and Part 4.  A proper view of God and His role is vitally important. A proper view of man and his lack of any roll is also vitally important.  Credit must go where credit is due.  To whom will you give your credit....yourself and your intelligence for choosing God or God and His grace in doing the choosing?