Free-Will in Mongergism vs. Synergism

Most people associate monergism with Calvin and synergism with Arminius. I am more comfortable using the terms “monergism” and “synergism” versus the people associated to the theological terms.

The biggest criticism that synergists have with monergists is that they believe that to hold to a monergistic theology, there lacks a free-will. While it is another ‘argument’ as to what really is ‘free-will’ I will use it as to mean ‘the ability to make choices.’

Synergists hold to the view that monergists believe that since God predestines, the predestination removes free-will and the sinner is, in essence, forced to salvation. This simply is not the case.

At no point is a person’s free-will set aside by God. The question that needs to be addressed is what is our will? Each sentient being has a form of will that is confined to their nature. My pet macaw is never going to have the desire to join a pack of dogs and roam the streets looking for feral cats. That activity is not part of a bird’s nature and simply will not happen. He is not going to think about it, he is not going to desire it. It is not part of a bird’s nature.

Since all of God’s creation has a nature according to its kind, what is the human nature? Scripture states:

Isa 1:4-6 Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. (5) Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. (6) From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil.

Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Jer 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Job 15:16 how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks injustice like water!

Psa 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psa 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

Mat 15:19-20 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. (20) These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”· or out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

Rom 3:9-12 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, (10) as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; (11) no one understands; no one seeks for God. (12) All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

1Co 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Those are merely a few verses that speak to the nature of man from God’s perspective. An apple tree will produce apples because that is its nature. Our nature has been corrupted because of sin and the natural nature of man does not seek God nor understands.

as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. (Rom 3:10-11 ESV)

Free-will is exercised according to one’s nature. In other words, we stay within our nature when exercising our free-will. That nature an unregenerate man possesses is one that is hostile to God, dead in sin, and therefore does not seek God. Sometimes we are very frustrated when, after explaining the Gospel in the best way we can, it is not believed or rejected. Scripture tells us that they are unable to understand. This is vastly different than they reject the Gospel in that they understand and believe but choose to reject the free gift of God. A natural person (one that is dead in their sins), lacks the ability to understand things of God.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1Co 2:14 ESV)

So now there’s a dilemma. Scripture tells us that man is dead in his sin, does not seek after God and is unable to understand.

Each of God’s creatures which includes humans, have a nature. According to scripture, and monergists and synergists read the same scripture, mankind is sinful and does not seek after God. I do not believe this is in dispute. What is in dispute is that God offers the same grace, calls all men unto Him but man has chosen to reject salvation. In order to reject salvation, one must understand what they are rejecting. To reject salvation, one must know that the alternative is eternal separation from God. People that say no to the Good News simply don’t believe it’s really true. They are not saying “I realize that once I die, I am going to hell because I exercised my free-will and made an informed decision to reject the only means in which I could be saved from eternal damnation. I choose eternal damnation over eternal life in the presence of God.” That’s just not what is taking place. These are folks that have no idea what they are doing because, according to scripture, they are unable to understand. They are doing what is natural to them according to their nature.

In order for a man to exercise his ‘free-will,’ something has to change in order for him to see that which is of God. Since we are incapable of seeking Him, He seeks those that He has predestined unto salvation from eternity past. Again, it is not, as claimed by the synergists, a loss of one’s free-will. It is an irresistible calling that one does not wish to reject. His call to those that He predestined is so appealing, attractive and enticing that a person’s ‘free-will’ is exercised in favor of salvation. Nothing is forced on us by God. Those whom He calls is such that the elect sinner comes to Him freely and willingly. The elect want and desire to accept what He offers.

Colossians 2:12
Ephesians 1:18-20
Ephesians 2:1-5
Ephesians 2:8-9
Galatians 1:15-16
John 6:37-40
John 6:44-45
John 6:63
Philippians 1:29
Psalms 110:3
Psalms 65:4
Romans 8:30

God forces no one to do anything they do not want to do. What He does is give the elect sinner the ability to understand salvation so that they can willingly come to Him. The non elect does not understand (1 Cor 2:14) and as such, acts according to his nature. The elect sinner is given the ability to discern and therefore can make a choice. No one who is able to discern will say to themselves “I have a difficult decision to make, I am not sure I would prefer heaven or hell for my eternity.” To exercise one’s ‘free-will,’ one must have the ability, and those that He calls do just that, they exercise that ‘free-will.’