By Gary Ray Branscome
The words, No man can come to me, unless the Father who
has sent me draws him, and No one can say that Jesus is the Lord, but
by the Holy Ghost, tell us that we are brought to faith in Christ by the
grace of God alone (John 6:44, 1Corinthians 12:3). And, the fact that our
conversion and salvation is the work of God alone (without any help on our
part) is known in theology as divine monergism.
Some who oppose that doctrine do so because they assume
that God would never command us to do something we are unable to do. However,
that is a silly argument because the words, Keep my commandments, and live, command us to keep Gods commandments, while the
words, Whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law: that
every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God,
tell us that no one can keep them (Proverbs 7:2, Romans 3:19). Is that unfair,
as some contend? Absolutely not! The Bible plainly tells us that The law
was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be declared righteous
by faith (Galatians
The words, The
The words, It is God who works in you both to will and
to do His good pleasure, tell us that it is God who is at work in us
bringing us to faith (Philippians
This brings us to the question: If we are brought to faith
by the power of God, why doesnt He bring everyone to faith? And, the Biblical
answer to that question is that in bringing us to faith He does not deal with
us directly in a way that we cannot resist, but deals with us through His Word.
The words, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no
pleasure in the death of a wicked, tell us that God does not want people to
be lost (Ezekiel 33:11). At the same time, the words, O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets, and stone those who are sent to you, how
often I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks
under her wings, and you would not, tell us that He does not try to bring
them to faith by force but deals with them through His Word (Matthew 23:37)
The words, So will the word that goes out of my mouth
be: it will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish what I want, and
it will achieve what I sent it to do, tell us that the Word of God has
power (Isaiah 55:11). The words, You stiff necked and uncircumcised in
heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do
you, tell us that men resist that power (Acts
The words, It pleased God to save those who believe
through the foolishness of preaching. // For the preaching of the
cross is foolishness to those who perish; but it is the power of God to us who
are saved, tell us that God works through preaching to save the lost
(1Corinthians 1:21 then 1:18). The words, Faith comes by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God, tell us that God works through His Word to
bring us to faith (Romans
The words, Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin,
and When you yield yourselves to someone to obey him as servants, you are
the servants of the one you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to
righteousness? suggest that sin increases our natural resistance to
spiritual truth (John 8:34 and Romans 6:16). At the same time, the words, I
tell you truly, That the publicans and harlots will enter the kingdom of God
before you, suggest that social condemnation that agrees with the Word of
God, can reinforce the Word of God in bringing people to repentance (Matthew
21:31). However, even though there are many things in our lives that can
increase or decrease our resistance to the Word of God, the words, But God,
who is rich in mercy, because of His great love for us, Even when we were dead
in sins, has made us alive together with Christ, (you are saved by
grace,) and the words, To as many as received Him, He gave power to
become the sons of God, even to those who believe in His name: Who are not born
of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
Make it clear that our conversion is the work of God alone (Ephesians 2:4-5,
John
The Pernicious Character of Synergism
Even though the Bible plainly tells us that we are, Not
born of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God,
there are some who seem driven to teach that man has some part in his salvation
(John 1:13). In theology that error is known as synergism.
Some who hold that error
would make works play a role, others would reduce mans part to making a
decision for Christ, asking Jesus into their heart, praying for God to tell
them that they are saved, or ceasing to resist. Now, some who seek God in
this way do wind up coming to faith in Christ, and they are often the most
passionate defenders of synergism. Having come to faith in Christ, they do not see
what the problem is. So let me explain it.
Having come to faith in
Christ, they are blind to the fact that many who make a decision for Christ,
or ask Jesus into their heart, etc. fail to actually
place their faith in Christ. Many ask Jesus into their heart expecting Him to
help them live a more righteous life thus earning Gods favor by works. Young
people who are told to ask Jesus into their heart,
often do so without understanding what faith is. And when those same unsaved
young people are told that they cannot lose salvation no matter what they do,
that can become a way of rationalizing immorality.
A man once told me that
after praying and praying for God to tell him that he was saved he saw sunlight
making a circle on the floor and when he moved into that circle and began to
pray he just knew that he was saved. He said nothing about Christ dying for his
sins, forgiveness, or faith. His entire assurance of salvation rested on that
experience. And that is the heart of the problem! Whenever synergists teach
that man has some role in his own salvation, there will always be some whose
faith will be in what they did, rather that in what Christ did on the cross.
What you are counting on
to get you into heaven is what you are placing your faith in. If you believe
that God will let you into heaven because; on a certain date you gave your
life to Christ, asked Him to come into your heart, or prayed to receive
Him then you are placing your faith in what you did, rather than what Christ
did for you. Faith in Christ consists in believing that God will let you into
heaven because Christ took our sins upon Himself and suffered in our stead, The
just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God (1Peter