In Christian theology, synergism is the belief that salvation involves some form of cooperation between divine grace and human freedom. Synergism is upheld by the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Anabaptist Churches, Anglican Churches and Methodist Churches. It is an integral part of Arminian theology.
Semi-Pelagianism 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.[1]
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 Catholic Church.[2] [3]
The Catholic Church rejects the notion of total depravity: they hold that, even after the Fall, human nature, though wounded in the natural powers proper to it, has not been totally corrupted.[4] In addition, they reject double predestination, the idea that would "make everything the work of an all-powerful divine grace which arbitrarily selected some to be saved and some to be damned, so that we human beings had no freedom of choice about our eternal fate".[5]
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches 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".[6] "The preparation of man for the reception of grace is already a work of grace."[7] "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."[8]
The Eastern Orthodox view of synergism holds that "human beings always have the freedom to choose, in their personal (gnomic) wills, whether to walk with God or turn from Him", but "what God does is incomparably more important than what we humans do".[9] [10] [11]
"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."[12] "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."[13]
Anabaptists hold to synergism, teaching that "both God and man play real and necessary parts in the reconciling relationship which binds them."[14] Anabaptists have a high view of the moral capacities of humans when "enlivened by the active agency of the Holy Spirit."[14]
In Anglican Churches there are both synergistic[15] and monergistic views of salvation.[16]
Monergism is most commonly associated with the Reformed Protestant as well as Lutheran traditions.
Lutheran theology distinguishes between monergistic salvation and a synergistic damnation. By monergistic salvation, Lutherans mean that saving faith is the work of the Holy Spirit alone, while man is still the uncooperative enemy of God. For Lutherans, people freely reject God's call to salvation because they refuse his grace.
For Calvinists, people freely reject God's call to salvation because God eternally chooses not to place his saving grace upon them so as to magnify the value of his undeserved grace to those whom he does choose.
Christians who hold to Arminian theology, such as Methodists, believe that salvation is synergistic, being achieved through "divine/human cooperation".[17] Methodist (Wesleyan-Arminian) theology teaches that both conversion and sanctification is synergistic.[18]
Arminians believe that all humans are totally corrupted by sin but God grants all sinners prevenient grace (prevenient meaning "coming before").[19] 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.[20] If the person accepts it, then God justifies them and continues to give further grace to spiritually heal and sanctify them. This view differs from semipelagianism, which maintains that a human being can begin to have faith without the need for grace.[21] John Wesley explained the Arminian conception of free will, 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."[22] He continues, "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."[23] Arminians hold that the individual's decision is not the cause of their salvation or loss, but rather that the 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.
Jacobus Arminius rarely gave scriptural support for synergism, but in Disputation XI "On the Free Will of Man and Its Powers" he provides textual support for prevenient grace, citing,, and .
An analogy sometimes cited is based upon, 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.