Monergism is the view in Christian theology which holds that the Holy Spirit is the only agent that effects the regeneration of Christians. It is contrasted with synergism; the view that there is a cooperation between the divine and the human in the regeneration process.[1] [2] It is most often associated with Lutheranism, as well as with the Reformed tradition (which includes Presbyterianism, low church Anglicanism, Puritans, Continental Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Baptists, etc.) and its doctrine of irresistible grace, and particularly with historical doctrinal differences between Calvinism and Arminianism.[3]
The Canons of Dort, a confessional standard for Reformed churches around the world, describes conversion 'as the work of God'. Monergism is also taught in Article 16 of the Belgic Confession, another Reformed confessional standard.
The fact that others who are called through the ministry of the gospel do come and are brought to conversion must not be credited to human effort, as though one distinguishes oneself by free choice from others who are furnished with equal or sufficient grace for faith and conversion (as the proud heresy of Pelagius maintains). No, it must be credited to God: just as from eternity God chose his own in Christ, so within time God effectively calls them, grants them faith and repentance, and, having rescued them from the dominion of darkness, brings them into the kingdom of his Son, in order that they may declare the wonderful deeds of the One who called them out of darkness into this marvelous light, and may boast not in themselves, but in the Lord, as apostolic words frequently testify in Scripture. (III/IV.10)[4]The Formula of Concord, the authoritative Lutheran statement of faith, outlines the meaning of monergistic conversion.
man of himself, or from his natural powers, cannot do anything or help towards his conversion, and that conversion is not only in part, but altogether an operation, gift, and present, and work of the Holy Ghost alone, who accomplishes and effects it by His power and might, through the Word, in the intellect, will, and heart of man, (II.89)[5]In Augustine of Hippo's treatise On Rebuke and Grace, a definition of grace is offered, which underpins monergist conceptions of salvation.
For the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord must be apprehended,—as that by which alone men are delivered from evil, and without which they do absolutely no good thing, whether in thought, or will and affection, or in action; not only in order that they may know, by the manifestation of that grace, what should be done, but moreover in order that, by its enabling, they may do with love what they know. (3)[6]What emerges from these various definitions is that regeneration or conversion is the work of God through the Holy Spirit alone, rather than a process which is dependent on continued cooperation of the human will. According to monergism, any kind of cooperation by the human will is fundamentally a divine work anyway, since man can do nothing apart from grace. God not only initiates the work of salvation, as synergists agree, but he completes it, as the 'operation' of the Holy Spirit is founded on the unconditional election of God's elect from eternity. This election is not dependent on God's foresight of who would choose him out of free will, but is 'unconditional', since human beings of themselves do 'absolutely no good thing', and thus require rescue from outside themselves.
To a monergist, a person possesses human freedom before regeneration (if by 'freedom' one refers to the ability to choose what one wants). Yet, an unregenerate man, because of his fallen nature, is in slavery to sin (i.e., the person chooses sin because that is what he wants); because he is dead in sin before God's regeneration, in this state he is unable to choose God (because God is not desired; the person may want the gifts from God, but not God).
In the Westminster Confession of Faith, the main Presbyterian confessional standard, monergism is introduced within the context of covenant theology. This following section is an argument for monergism from a confessional Reformed perspective.
The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto Him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of Him as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God's part, which He hath been pleased to express by way of covenant, (Chapter VII.i, Of God's Covenant with Man)[7]As a result of Original sin and the Fall, man's free will has been totally enslaved to sin and corruption, such that he cannot render obedience to God as his Creator. This condition is described briefly in, And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. While man is obliged to serve his Creator, he cannot do so, as he is wicked, and his heart is inclined only to evil. Man therefore requires a 'voluntary condescension' by God in order his due service to be rendered to God and therefore communion be restored between God and man. For this he sends his only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for the sin of man by his death, and to bring him to new life through his Resurrection; as described by Christ in, For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. The means by which Christ, his Atonement and Resurrection are accessed is faith, as Paul the Apostle establishes in, For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Here, the condescension which belongs to God alone is established, and is linked to salvation, with faith as the instrument of salvation. After establishing the Gospel (the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ), the Westminster Confession goes on to explain how faith, and therefore the salvation of Christ, is effected in man by God, which explanation constitutes a statement of monergism.
He freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ; requiring of them faith in Him, that they may be saved, and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life His Holy Spirit, to make them willing, and able to believe, (Chapter VII.iiib, Of God's Covenant with Man)Monergistic salvation is founded upon God's 'ordination unto eternal life' of his elect. As God is eternal and sovereign, he effects salvation infallibly by electing a people to rescue from their enslavement to sin, in order that communion may be restored, as Paul describes in, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. What precisely God promises his elect is the 'Holy Spirit, to make them willing, and able to believe'. The heart of the concept of monergism lies here, in the work of the Holy Spirit alone in establishing faith in those God elects. Monergistic salvation is foretold by God to man through the Prophet Ezekiel
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.The language here may be applied definitively to the New Testament, since it is referenced by Christ in, Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Both 'water' and the 'Spirit' are mentioned as elements of that rebirth which permits man to enter into the kingdom of God; which is equivalent in effect to the restoration of communion with God. In Ezekiel 36, God establishes that regeneration is his work alone, since he not only cleanses man of his idols and forms a new heart in him, but he also puts his spirit in him, and causes him to keep his statutes. This means that any 'cooperation' or good act on the part of man is really wholly reducible to the action of God, as the only agent of regeneration. If man keeps God's judgments, it is only because he was caused to do so by the Holy Spirit. This conclusion is also a corollary of the established truth of original sin. Left to his own devices, man will never choose the good, rather every thought of his is evil (cf. Genesis 6:5), therefore the decisive intervention of God is absolutely necessary. Christ states this doctrine negatively in (cf.), No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. The concept of monergism is evident here, in that Christ says no man is capable of faith in him, unless the Father actively condescends to him by 'drawing' him. Thus, if man has faith in Christ, it is because of the work of Holy Spirit alone.
In his On the Predestination of the Saints, Augustine gives the example of Lydia of Thyatira as an example of one who is monergistically saved by a regeneration of the heart, without depending on cooperation.
For what is the meaning of, “Withal praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of the word,” (Col. 4:3) unless it is a most manifest demonstration that even the very beginning of faith is the gift of God? For it would not be sought for from Him in prayer, unless it were believed to be given by Him. This gift of heavenly grace had descended to that seller of purple (Acts 16:14) for whom, as Scripture says in the Acts of the Apostles, “The Lord opened her heart, and she gave heed unto the things which were said by Paul;” for she was so called that she might believe. Because God does what He will in the hearts of men, either by assistance or by judgment; so that, even through their means, may be fulfilled what His hand and counsel have predestinated to be done. (41)[8]The Dutch Reformed theologian Herman Bavinck distinguishes between two aspects of regeneration: 'active' and 'passive'. There is an aspect of regeneration to which we are merely subject, (passive) but this flows necessarily from God's work (active). This active regeneration is just the same as the efficacious call or an inward and particular call that differs from the external and universal call to repentance. This inward call is referenced in, God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Regeneration in the restricted sense further requires a distinction between the activity of God by which he regenerates, and the fruit of that activity in the person who is being regenerated; in other words, between active and passive regeneration. In reality both things are closely interconnected and are frequently summed up in the one word "regeneration." But differentiation is indispensable for a correct understanding here. Regeneration in the active sense, the regenerative activity of God, is only another name for the call: the efficacious call of God. And the connection between the calling in this sense (active regeneration) and regeneration in the passive sense is the same as that between the Father’s speaking and our learning from him (John 6:45), between the Father’s drawing and our following (6:44), between the Father’s granting and our accepting (6:65), between the efficacious offer and our passive acceptance of salvation, between the sowing and what is sown.[9]Augustine provides an argument for monergism, appealing to the fact that Christians pray for God to grant belief to those who do not believe. If the salvation of individuals is dependent upon their acceptance or rejection of God, prayer for unbelievers would be futile, since God will always respect free will to the detriment of his own desire to save.
Now if faith is simply of free will, and is not given by God, why do we pray for those who will not believe, that they may believe? This it would be absolutely useless to do, unless we believe, with perfect propriety, that Almighty God is able to turn to belief wills that are perverse and opposed to faith. Man’s free will is addressed when it is said, “Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” (95:7-8 KJV) But if God were not able to remove from the human heart even its obstinacy and hardness, He would not say, through the prophet, “I will take from them their heart of stone, and will give them a heart of flesh.” That all this was foretold in reference to the New Testament is shown clearly enough by the apostle when he says, “Ye are our epistle, . . . written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.” (Augustine, On Grace and Free Will, 29)
Lutheranism and Reformed Protestantism, including those who ascribe to Covenant Theology, hold to the soteriological position of monergistic salvation and synergistic damnation, rejecting Calvin's monergistic damnation and Arminius's synergistic salvation.
Lutheranism teaches that God predestines some to salvation via His foreknowledge but does not predestine others to damnation, as God wills that all might be saved (1 Tim 2:3-6, Rom. 11:32, etc.). The Scriptural basis for man's justification by faith alone is summarized in the Epitome of the Formula of Concord under Free Will and The Righteousness of Faith Before God. The Righteousness of Faith, and fully discussed in the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord under Free Will and The Righteousness of Faith. Likewise the Defense of the Augsburg Confession discusses the Scriptural basis of man's Justification. Lutherans thus confess that salvation is monergistic, saving faith being the work of the Holy Spirit alone while man is still the uncooperative enemy of God (Rom. 5:8,10), but man's damnation is synergistic: Scripture states repeatedly that man participates in and bears the responsibility for resisting God's grace of the free—not enforced—gift of salvation (ex: Matt. 23:37, Heb. 12:25, Acts 7:51, John 16:9, Heb. 12:15, etc.). Thus, you will see Calvinists incorrectly accuse Lutherans of Arminianism and Arminians incorrectly accuse Lutherans of Calvinism. Lutherans view their stance not as having one foot in Calvinism and one foot in Arminianism, but having both feet firmly planted in scripture. This view is also shared by some Augustinian denominations such as the Church of the Redeemer.
According to monergists, all persons are conceived and born with an unregenerated human nature, and faith to believe is beyond the power of this unregenerated human nature. God circumcises the heart. The apostle John is understood by some monergists as having recorded Jesus saying that we love darkness, hate the light and will not come into the light (2 John; monergists assume that "doing the truth" and "loving the light" in consequence are the results of God's irresistible grace which brings a love and faith enabled by grace. The natural person, apart from the quickening work of the Holy Spirit, will not come to Christ on his/her own; since the person is at enmity with God; and so, will not understand spiritual things (meaning the experience of loving God; i.e. seeing God's loveliness) (2 1Cor). Reading or hearing the word of God alone cannot elicit saving faith in the reader (2 1Thess). The monergist believes in heralding the gospel indiscriminately, and the Holy Spirit regenerates whom He will, according to its sovereign grace.
Monergists believe that once the "eyes have been made healthy" a person will inevitably follow God; because the Infinite is effective to what the Infinite wills to effect. "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose." Philippians 2:12–13. God always does according to His good pleasure; and no thing can stop God's sovereign will.
Synergists have a variety of beliefs. Many would hold the same views listed above in describing how God opens the eyes and ears of a person to both see and hear the Salvation of God before he has faith. They would make the distinction, however, that a person can reject this revelation and maintain their desire to remain as they are. They would maintain that God, in his grace, calls all human beings to follow him, but he allows the "free will" of the individual to not respond to him. Most synergists believe man is unable to do good but God has extended grace to all people which gives them the ability to have faith in Christ (see prevenient grace). Synergists believe salvation is a matter of human and divine synergy, not divine choice alone without human cooperation.
Some synergists believe that monergism is fatalistic; because they interpret it to believe that a man is not free to resist God's (outward) call. Many monergists, however, would counter that when the heart has been regenerated, man accepts God's (inward) call freely and so would defend that their Christianity, while not predicated on "free will," does, in fact, involve their freedom. Opponents of monergism would argue that this type of freedom is akin to being free to take the one-and-only choice available.
These arguments are both aspects of the general argument that monergism means that God chooses individuals without any condition provided by the individual (See unconditional election). Therefore, according to monergism, the only reason that one person is saved and another is not is because God sovereignly decided, without any conditions provided by the two individuals, to save one of them. It follows that the only reason people are not saved is because God sovereignly chooses not to save some individuals. Therefore, monergism is said to lead to the conclusion that God does not in fact love every human being nor want to save every person. By contrast, synergists maintain that God does not save certain individuals because they do not desire to be saved. According to both monergism and synergism, God will not force His will or His forgiveness on those who do not desire it.
Robin Phillips has argued that monergism and monoenergism, the latter of which was condemned as heretical during the patristic era, are closely related.[10]