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?