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In Christian theology, synergism refers to the cooperative effort between God and humanity in the process of salvation. Before Augustine of Hippo (354–430), synergism was almost universally endorsed. Later, it came to be reflected in the so-called Semi-Pelagianism position and the Semi-Augustinian stance affirmed by the Second Council of Orange (529). Synergism is affirmed by both the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy. It is also present in various Protestant denominations, such as Anabaptism, and is particularly prominent in those influenced by Arminianism theology, such as the Methodism.
Pelagius (c. 354–418), however, argued that humans could perfectly obey God by their own will. The Pelagianism view is therefore referred to as "humanistic monergism". This view was condemned at the Council of Carthage (418) and Ephesus (431).
In response, Augustine proposed a view in which God is the ultimate cause of all human actions, a stance that aligns with soft determinism. The Augustinianism view is therefore referred to as "divine monergism". However, Augustinian soteriology implied double predestination, which was condemned by the Council of Arles (475).
During this period, a moderate form of Pelagianism emerged, later termed Semi-Pelagianism. This view asserted that human will initiates salvation, rather than divine grace. The Semi-Pelagian view is therefore described as "human-initiated synergism".
In 529, the Second Council of Orange addressed Semi-Pelagianism and declared that even the inception of faith is a result of God’s grace. This highlights the role of prevenient grace enabling human belief. This view, often referred to as "Semi-Augustinian," is therefore described as "God-initiated synergism". The Council also rejected predestination to evil.
The Semi-Augustinian stance builds upon Augustinian thought, also associating regeneration with water baptism. However, it rejects predetermination, allowing space for human decision, particularly in the act of faith. Thus, it maintains that vocation and the gift of faith are divine actions through prevenient grace, while faith itself is a human action, and regeneration remains a divine action. The Semi-Pelagian position holds that vocation and conversion through faith are human actions, while the "increase of faith" bringing regeneration is a divine action. In Pelagianism, humans possess the innate capacity to obey God. Consequently, all steps of salvation are voluntary human actions.
| +Comparison of the authors' actions in the Pelagian - Augustinian salvation frameworks !Framework !Augustinianism !Semi-Augustinianism !Semi-Pelagianism !Pelagianism |
By 1580, Melanchthon's view had lost prominence, and the Book of Concord (1580) affirmed soteriological monergism in relation to election (to salvation), but explicitly rejected its application to reprobation. Accordingly, the contemporary Lutheran Church continues to uphold this view. While monergism remains the official stance, Lutheran history includes both monergist and synergist views.
The Lutheran Churches generally teach monergism with regard to the doctrine of justification; the Small Catechism states that “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”
With regard to sanctification, Lutheran scholar Gerhard Forde explained that "a key tenet of the Lutheran view of sanctification is that cooperation must not ignore grace." Forde said, with regard to sanctifiation, that "There is a kind of growth and progress, it is to be hoped, but it is growth in grace—a growth in coming to be captivated ore and more, if we can so speak, by the totality, the unconditionality of the grace of God." (2007). 9780761837381, Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9780761837381 Lutheran theologian Mark Ellingsen states that there is an "openness to Synergism one finds affirmed in official Lutheran documents. With warnings, the synergistic joining of our will with God’s grace is not rejected (Formula of Concord, SD II.90). Of course this openness is endorsed along with the strong Lutheran commitment to prevenient grace (the belief that grace precedes any synergistic cooperation), for the Holy Spirit is given credit for our faith and for the surrender of the will to God (Romans 3:21-28; Galatians 3:10-14; Luther’s Works, Vo.26, p.106; Small Catechism, II.6)." The Formula of Concord teaches "But the intellect and will of the unregenerate man are nothing else than subiectum convertendum, that is, that which is to be converted, it being the intellect and will of a spiritually dead man, in whom the Holy Ghost works conversion and renewal, towards which work man’s will that is to be converted does nothing, but suffers God alone to work in him, until he is regenerate; and then he works also with the Holy Ghost cooperates that which is pleasing to God in other good works that follow, in the way and to the extent fully set forth above" (SD II.90).
Anglicanism has historically leaned more toward monergism, particularly in its early phases. Early Anglican leaders such as Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556) held Reformed views that significantly shaped the Church’s initial doctrinal direction. However, following the Stuart Restoration (1660) through the mid-18th century, Calvinist theology became less prominent within Anglicanism. Afterward, the Evangelical movement within Anglicanism revived and emphasized its Reformed roots. Related groups like the Church Society tend to interpret Article 10 of the Thirty-nine Articles in a monergistic sense.
Conversely, High church and Anglo-Catholic traditions have tended toward synergism, drawing on the theology of the early Church Fathers and emphasizing the sacramental life, human free will, and cooperation with divine grace. Proto-Arminianism figures like Lancelot Andrewes (1555–1626) and Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667) upheld the importance of the human response to God’s call. In the 18th and 19th centuries, theologians such as George Pretyman Tomline (1750–1827) and Harold Browne (1811–1891) also interpreted Article 10 in a synergistic light.
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