Recently, in a leadership training class at our church, a spirited
discussion broke out on whether sanctification is monergistic or
synergisitic. No, this is not what every class is like at University
Reformed Church. But this one was. I wasn’t there, but I was told the
discussion was energetic, intelligent, and respectful. I’m glad to serve
at a church where people know and care about this level of theological
precision.
The terms monergism and synergism refer to the working of God in regeneration. Monergism teaches that we are born again by only one working (mono is Greek for “one,” erg is from the Greek word for “work”). Synergism teaches that we are born again by human cooperation with the grace of God (the syn
prefix means “with” in Greek). The Protestant Reformers strongly
opposed all synergistic understandings of the new birth. They believed
that given the spiritual deadness and moral inability of man, our
regeneration is owing entirely to the sovereign work of God. We do not
cooperate and we do not contribute to our being born again. Three cheers
for monergism. Continue at Kevin DeYoung
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