Discussion Jumpstarter

Study leader reference - not a definitive answer

Question 9

The speaker rejects monergism and calls the early Christian view “synergism… God’s power, and it’s us responding”—what parts of your current theology or church vocabulary make it hard to hold “God draws” together with “he’s not going to do our believing/obeying for us”?

Another way to ask: If God draws people but doesn’t believe or obey for them, what parts of your church language or theology make it hard to hold both ideas together?

Discussion Jumpstarter

Direct Answer
The transcript suggests the main difficulty is vocabulary and instincts that tilt either toward “we do nothing” (monergism) or toward self-powered religion; the speaker insists both must be held together: God must draw and empower, but we must still believe and obey.

Support from Transcript:

He defines monergism as the Calvinist claim that “all of the force energy comes from God. We do nothing.”
He says early Christians would have called it “synergism… God’s power, and it’s us responding to God’s power.”
He grounds God’s initiative in Jesus’ words: “no one can come to me unless the Father draws him.”
He also quotes Jesus: “without me, you can do nothing,” stressing dependence.
Yet he refuses passivity: “We still have to believe… he’s not going to do our obeying for us.”
He summarizes: God “will give us the power to make it possible… [but] the two things working together” is the biblical picture.

Discussion Follow-ups Which phrases in your tradition push you toward passivity (“God does it all”) or pride (“I changed myself”)? What language would better reflect the speaker’s “working together” balance?

Jumpstarter 9 of 10