Monergism / Synergism 2 , The Heart

God is omnipotent. There is nothing too difficult for Him. So that means He can do anything, right? Well, yes that would be true if power was the only consideration in God's choosing to do something. But, it is not. Along with power, God is equally wise and good, making somethings impossible for him to do or others impossible not to do. God cannot bless wickedness and He will always draw near to the humble. So with that said I want to look at a scripture that is usually put forward to support the concept of Monergism. Again, Monergism is the view that there is only one agent, i.e. God, at work in the heart of a person when they decide to believe the gospel. If it can be shown that man is incapable of making a good choice, with or without support from God, then Synergism is left untenable.

Jer 17:9 NASB  "The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?

Without context this scripture can be folded together with a pretext of man being unable to make any spiritual choices. Remember, if you are going to say that man is only able to make wicked choices, then you cannot say he is dead like a corpse and unable to respond, because a bad choice is still a choice. And if you if you think only wickedness can come out the heart of man then you need to explain why we are not all atheists, murderers and rapists. It is said that the doctrine of Total Depravity does not mean we are as completely depraved as we could be. But again, why not? The reason is man has a will and is able to make moral choices. Verse 9 serves as the fulcrum for two opposing and ultimate truths. 

Man is in a sinful condition ---v--- God requires man to do right.

Jer 17:5-11

5 Thus says the LORD, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the LORD.

6 "For he will be like a bush in the desert And will not see when prosperity comes, But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt without inhabitant.

7 "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD.

8 "For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its eaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.

9 "The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?

10 "I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.

11 "As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, So is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly; In the midst of his days it will forsake him, And in the end he will be a fool."

Cursed is the man ---^--- Blessed is the Man

Whose heart turns away from the Lord ---^--- Who trusts in the Lord

The '^' is the HEART or the will of man, the seat of all decision making. It is our heart that chooses blessing or a curse. Our heart is the fulcrum or the pivot point. 

But, our heart is deceitful, twisted, polluted, frail, wicked, incurably sick. (see Strong's definitions for deceitful and sick) Who knows how to change it? GOOD News! God does. The Lord searches the heart. 

However, it seems like verse 10 ends with a hopeless truth that God will reward each man according to the results of his deeds, actions, choices. So, there it is we are going to be rewarded according to the choices made by a polluted and desperately sick heart. We are doomed. And we would be doomed if God was not good and willing to forgive sin.

Jer 17:14 NASB  Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, For You are my praise.

If we acknowledge our condition as sinners and that our heart is sick, and cast ourselves on God our maker to forgive us and cleanse us, we will be healed and we will be saved. There is nothing we can do with this polluted heart that will allow God to accept us. God can only regard faith and faith alone by itself. Faith is the opposite of trusting in flesh like the cursed man in verse 5.

Psa 32:1-2 NASB
1  How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered!
2  How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!

Psa 32:5 NASB  I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.

Man has the choice to be blessed or cursed. Man's condition is sinful, but our God is good and He will bless the one who trusts in Him.

In case you are wondering, I realize these verses where spoken under the old covenant and no amount of trusting and repenting by itself will qualify one for eternal salvation and to be a joint-heir with God. I will address this question in another post. But you, if you disagree with me, you have a question of your own to answer. How is it that unregenerate people in the old covenant were blessed and healed and were called righteous? How could they be blessed and righteous when Leviticus 18:5 says cursed is everyone who does not keep every part of the Law? 

Monergism / Synergism Introduction

Christians have no problem finding doctrines to debate and most of them eventually arrive at and march around the question of Monergism or Synergism. Has God determined every event, good and evil, or has he chosen to allow other agents to have an effect on events? Not an effect on the ultimate outcome, but an effect on the individual events within the outcome. In other words, can God determine that Jesus Christ is going to have an eternal bride, i.e. a body of believers, and yet allow individual believers the free will to choose to enter or not enter the kingdom of Heaven.

Yes, it seems to me that sum total of scripture points to a synergistic explanation of God's interactions with mankind. As a young Christian I read passages of the bible that supported both points of view. Some verses spoke of predestination. And it made sense that God as the creator would have to know all future events and therefore must have decided these events are what He wanted to come to pass. He is the one who lifts up and He is the one who puts down. What He opens and no man can shut and what He closes no man can open. And to this day, I believe this is all true. On the other hand I read scriptures that said to "choose this day whom you will serve" or "whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." This too makes good sense. One day there will be a final judgment day and God will judge every man according to what he has done. And so I reasonably understand that God considers every man to be responsible for his own actions. So there we have it: God predestines the future according to His will and we are accountable to Him.

So when people ask me "do you believe in predestination or free will?" I answer, "Yes!" It is okay to not know how God does what He does. This kind of mystery is completely acceptable. All mysteries are solved by putting in place the pieces of knowledge that we know to be true and working in from there. I know that the stream of God's activities, seen and unseen, flow down the valley between the mountains of God's decrees and Man's choices. God does hold man accountable for the free will he has been given while at the same time it is absolutely true that there is nothing outside of God's sovereign control. I don't always need to know exactly where the stream is turning at any given point in time. If I remember where the mountains are I will always know where to find the stream of God's faithful dealings. It is always at the intersection of God's promise and God's command. Obey Him until you run into His promise.

If you find yourself disagreeing with my position of synergism, please be patient with me. Saying what I believe is "man centered" is not helpful at all. The question is not "has God decreed?", but "what has God decreed?" Did God give man moral free will as part of His making man in His own image? Is God free to speak into existence a universe in which He places limits on how and when He will give grace? 

Weakness Of The Believer Under The Old Covenant

There is one more aspect of the concept of "Weakness" as it is used in Rom 5:6, where the word Greek word asthenēs is translated "without strength".

Keeping in mind that the context of the book of Romans is the redemptive work of God developed through God's covenantal relationship with Israel. Rom 5:6 says that we were weak and without strength before Christ died for us. One of the reasons they were weak is found in Heb. 7:8 where the Greek word asthenēs is again interpreted "weakness".

Heb 7:18 NKJV  For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness,

Heb 7:18 NASB  For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness

They were weak and without strength because they were under a weak Law. And the Law was weak because "the Law made nothing perfect" Heb 7:19 (NASB). But, we know that the Spirit has been poured out and is making us complete (perfect). John 17:23

They were also weak because the old covenant was an inferior covenant. Heb. 8:6 says the new covenant is better with better promises.

The Greek word for Better is kreittōn which is defined as "stronger". The opposite of "without strength." The Law was "useless" in that it could not minister or supply heavenly benefits like the promises of the new covenant.

The point here is that when Paul says "when we were weak, Christ died for the ungodly." He does not mean we were unable to think or act, being dead like a corpse. Whatever we think might be our condition before salvation, our view of "without strength" must be consistent throughout the bible and throughout out the New Testament's use of the Greek word asthenēs. Being weak does not mean we cannot know, understand or believe the truth. It just means that there are no means by which our knowledge or faith can effect a change in our spiritual condition. To receive we must believe and to believe we need a promise and the promises of the old covenant did not promise adoption or an eternal inheritance; the new covenant did.