Synergism & Freewillism Commonly Taught in Modern Pulpits

"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be." Rom. 8:7

Our theology really reflects how we think about God. When we have poor theology it reveals that we are thinking wrong thoughts about God. Wrong thoughts about God dishonor Him. Good theology, then, means that we are thinking more closely in line with His revelation about Himself, and therefore honor Him with our thoughts. A.W. Tozer once remarked: "The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him." I would agree that unity in the church is of great importance but we cannot have it at the expense of revealed truth. To say we all love Jesus but have entirely different understandings of who Jesus is just will not do. Although this essay is critical and may appear polemical, it is important that we expose theological error where we find it so that we have the right balance in our understanding of God and His plan. It is only written in a spirit that we strive after what is excellent and leave behind that which does not benefit the church.

Recently I received a letter from a brother who pointed out some of the erroneous theology coming out of Chuck Smith's ministry. For those of you who are not familiar with him, he is the Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, a church that strongly promotes a synergistic gospel, meaning that both God and man each make a contribution to complete the work of salvation. To give you an idea where he stands, Smith also recently gave a hearty endorsement to Dave Hunt's embarrassingly unscholarly book entitled "What Love Is This" which was intended to expose the shortcomings of the doctrines of grace.

As was pointed out to me by a visitor, part of Chuck Smith's sermon on Eph, 1:1-4 focuses on God's foreknowledge and the word "chose." He gave the following racetrack illustration of what it means for God to choose us. In essence Smith taught the following: God knows everything, so when He chooses you it is like Him going to the racetrack. Since He knows who will win, those are the ones He chooses. God doesn't choose losers, only winners; I am a winner because I chose Him first. Here is his exact quote from that sermon:

So I am a winner because I chose Him first? Hmmm, lets follow this logic ... In other words then, according to Smith's analogy, God only chooses the one who has physically trained himself better, or is naturally stronger than the one who lost the race, so to speak. Or, to bring this same analogy into the spiritual realm, God chooses the one who contributed more towards his/her salvation - One man, while still in his old nature, either created a right thought, generated a right affection, or originated a right volition that led to his salvation while the other man, did not have the natural wherewithal to come up with the faith that God required of him to obtain salvation (to "win the race'). So God, according to this scheme, really chose one man over the other based on something good within one while rejecting the man who lacked this inclination towards goodness. So who are we trusting for salvation then? Why does one believe and not another? Is one naturally endowed with more wisdom to start with? Did one train himself better prior to salvation, so to speak? Even if God initiates with grace, in this scheme, what does the one man have, who chooses God that the one who rejects Him does not? Has evangelicalism gone full circle? ... Isn't that the very reason why we broke off from Rome in the 16th century - to get away from such man-centered doctrines? Are we saved by merit then? I would challenge you to go back to the Council of Trent, the document that came out of the Catholic Counter-Reformation to see how closely it resembles Smith's teaching on the free will of one who is not yet born again.

In the Council of Trent (1563), which is the standard of the Roman Catholic Church, we find the following statement about freedom of the will written in opposition to one of the most critical recovered biblical doctrines of the Reformation (Sola Gratia):

The frightening thing to me is that much of modern evangelicalism has basically compromised the most valued biblical doctrine recovered at the Reformation: Salvation by Grace Alone (By grace alone through faith alone). We have replaced it with a cheap counterfeit: Grace PLUS Faith. We must that recognize that faith does not come from the natural man but the spiritual man. "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised." (1 Cor 2:14) We would never believe unless the Holy Spirit came in and disarmed our hostility to God, making our heart of stone into a heart of flesh that we might believe. Faith, desire and will for God are not produced by the old nature but are produced only after God does a work of regenerative grace in our soul. (1 John 5:1; Ezekiel 11:19-20; Acts 16:14b)

We can really see how the synergistic concept carries over into the religious language of modern popular evangelicalism. The other night I was out with some friends celebrating a birthday and one of the gentlemen sitting there said, "I accepted Christ three years ago..." Now I understood what he meant and have heard this expression many times before but something inside me felt uncomfortable when I heard it put that way. In fact, this expression has never been comfortable for me, but we all have probably used it at one point or another. So after coming home I pondered what about this expression that I didn't like. I think it comes down to this:

When someone says: "I accepted Christ" at such and such a time in the past, it puts the entire impetus or stress of salvation on the individual and his assurance comes from something he did at a moment in the distant past. But the reality of the matter is that God accepted us. We were a loathsome stench in His nostrils but the blood of Christ made us clean and a sweet aroma to Him so that He might have fellowship with us. So perhaps we should try to be more biblical when conversing about salvation by speaking of it in a more God-centered manner. Without being legalistic about this, for instance, instead of "I accepted Christ ten years ago…" perhaps it would be more effective to listeners to be speaking like this: When God called me to faith in Christ; When God opened the eyes of my faith or understanding (as he did Lydia in Acts). When God turned my heart of stone into a heart of flesh; When God turned me from darkness to light; When God made me alive in Christ. --- The work of salvation is the work of the Trinity: God the Father elects us, Jesus the Son, purchases our redemption (those the Father has "given Him.") (John 6:37,39) and the Holy Spirit applies the benefits of Christ's redemption to the same.

To say that we "received" Him is actually more biblical but it would be good to put that in context. "We love God because He first loved us" Even in the one place where John uses this word "received" (John 1:12) he is careful to qualify it with the next verse which says:

Not of human decision. Hmmm. Born of God. All glory to Him. In other words, I didn't generate a right affection or originate a right volition that led to my salvation until God did a work of grace in me. God did it and my response was sure. I deserved only God's wrath but He was merciful to me and brought me to Himself. Regeneration is not we, in the flesh, voting yes, it is a work of God that disarms the rebellion in our hearts towards God that the Spirit applies to His people when the gospel is preached. We did the believing but God gets the glory, even for the very desire we have for faith. The Church is charged with calling all people to repent and believe the gospel, but no person will do so left in his unregenerate state. Our hearts are far too disinclined from the desire for God. But those who are born again have now the dispositions of their hearts changed which desire to believe and obey:

With this in mind we can preach indiscriminately to the lost, "Be reconciled to God!" (2 Corinthians 5:20). In other words, "...repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21) is commanded to all people. It is the sinners responsibility to turn and embrace Christ, but God, the Holy Spirit alone initiates and applies the benefits of the new birth through the preached word of God: “You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God...That word is the good news preached to you.” (1 Peter 1:23,25) James says, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth“ (James 1:18). These verses testify that the apostles strongly believed that regeneration came only as God applied the gospel to the heart of His people through preaching. So it is not we who effect our own conversion to God, but an act of His lovingkindness:

"It is not of him that wills or of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy" (Romans 9:16).

Here Read from one of Smith's Published workes, "The Gospel According to Grace":

God chose between Jacob and Esau before they were born. While they were still in the womb, He said, "The elder shall serve the younger" (Genesis 25:23b; Romans 9:12). Of course, God foreknew the attitudes and responses of each son before he was born. God made His choice with the knowledge that Jacob would be a spiritual man and Esau a fleshly one. Yet, no one can say that Jacob was elected because he was so wonderful, kind, or generous. God simply chose him.

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? (9:14). Our logical conclusion to this is that God is unfair. However, as we said before, carrying the truths of God to our own logical conclusions is dangerous. There are facts about each case that we don't know or understand, because our knowledge is limited. We cannot reason as God or know all the things He knows.

Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid (9:14). God does what is right. His selections are perfectly justified. He bestows His love and grace upon whom He wills, and He has the right to do so. Thank God that He chose me!

You may say, "God didn't choose me."

"How do you know you're not chosen?"

"Because I'm not a Christian."

"Why don't you accept Jesus?"

"I don't want to."

Isn't it amazing that you don't want to choose God, yet you want to find fault with Him because He didn't choose you? The only way to know whether or not He chose you is to believe. You'll then discover that He had chosen you before you were even born. No one has ever called upon the name of the Lord and been told, "Sorry, your name isn't on the list."

I have even more difficulty when He says, "Jacob have I loved." Jacob wasn't so lovable. I have some difficulty when God says, "Esau have I hated."

My greatest difficulty comes when God says that He loves me. I'm not at all lovable! God's glorious grace is manifested in His love for any of us - Jacob, me, or you.

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). God would be justified in destroying all men. If God wiped out the human race, no one could point a finger of accusation at Him. So why are we accusing God of unfairness when He chooses to redeem some from destruction?

Again, we cannot enter into God's reasoning processes. God operates on a level far above ours. "For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?" (Isaiah 40:13; Romans 11:34). On occasion, we've all tried to counsel God about how to run this world. He doesn't seem to be very interested in our ideas. How foolish for us to think that we can counsel Him. "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9).

For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion (9:15). God has the right to do whatever He wishes. If He has mercy or compassion on some people, no one can fault Him for that. I thank Him for His mercy and compassion on me.

So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy (9:16). The work of God's favor is out of my hands. It isn't found by desire or effort "of him that willeth." I may have worked hard for the Lord, but God's favor isn't found "of him that runneth." "To God be the glory, great things He hath done," says the hymn. Salvation is of the Lord.

For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? (9:17-19).

How can God blame me for being what I am, since I'm only what He's made me? If God has chosen to harden my heart, how can He punish me for it? Since He hardened Pharaoh's heart, how could He hold Pharaoh responsible for his evil? Who can resist God's will?

The Book of Exodus tells us that "the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh." The Hebrew word for "hardened" means "made firm." God simply confirmed Pharaoh's own decision, but He didn't make the decision for him. If you should harden your heart against God and choose to go to hell, God will make firm your decision. You say, "That's unfair! I want Him to break me down and change my mind." However, it is fair. If you're uncomfortable around God and want nothing to do with Him, why should He force you to live in His presence forever? If you're miserable around Him, God won't save you. He'll let you spend eternity in the abysmal darkness far from heaven. Yet you object, "That's unfair!"

Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? (9:20a). A good question. Who are you to argue with God?

Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? (9:20b-21). A potter puts the clay on his wheel and cuts it in half. With one half he can make a beautiful vessel to hold roses, and with the other half he can make a spittoon. The potter has the right to make whatever he wants with his clay. Can the clay that was made into a spittoon say, "Why did you make me like this?" The clay has no power over its destiny. It's in the hands of the potter.

The thought of God's sovereignty is frightening. In fact, the doctrine of the sovereignty of God would terrify me if I didn't know the full truth. When I realize that God is love, all fear is suddenly gone. Without this knowledge, I would resist God and His touch. "Will you make me into a garbage pail?" Only when I know that God loves me and chooses the best for me can I yield to the Master Potter.

The potter knows what he wants to make when he begins to work on a lump of clay. The clay only discovers the intent of the potter by yielding to the potter's touch. God has a concept of what He wants me to be when He starts to work in my life. I can only find the mind of God by yielding to His touch.

What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction (9:22). God had such patience with Pharaoh! He endured Pharaoh's rebukes and stubbornness to show the world both His patience with the rebellious and His wrath on them.

And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory (9:23). Since God can do what He wants, He can make some vessels fit for destruction by His wrath and others fit for glory by His mercy.

God wants to bestow His mercy upon you as a vessel. He prepares, molds, and fits you for the glory He wants you to experience in the presence of His love. The ball is in your court. God offers you His mercy through Jesus Christ, and you can accept it or reject it.

To avoid heresy, these two truths - God's sovereignty and the responsibility of man - need to be kept in balance.

From Chapter 9.

The Arminian makes much of human "free will," insisting that our free decisions, especially those of religious significance, are not foreordained or otherwise determined by God. He seeks thereby to reinforce the doctrine of human responsibility (a doctrine with which, in itself, the Calvinist has no quarrel). But the Arminian also recognizes (1) that God foreknows the future exhaustively, and (2) that He has created the world knowing what the future will bring. For example, before the foundation of the world, God knew that Joe would make a free decision to become a Christian. Somehow, then, before Joe was born, God knew of his free decision. So even at that time, Joe's free decision must have been inevitable. Why was it inevitable? Not because of Joe's free will, for Joe was not yet born. Not because of God's predestination, because the Arminian denies that possibility from the outset. It would seem that the inevitability in question had some source other than either Joe or God.

[Frame's Note]: That is a scary possibility! In rejecting "divine determinism," the Arminian in effect embraces a determinism coming from some mysterious other source -- another god? the Devil? world history? impersonal laws? In any case, this idea certainly does not leave much room for free will.]

But ultimately God's predestination remains the key element. For God is the one who (1) foreknows Joe's decision and (2) creates the world in such a way that Joe's decision will be made. The decisive factor is God's foreknowing creation. Creation is what sets the whole universe in motion. Is it too much to say that God's foreknowing creation causes Joe to make the decision he makes?

Thus, even Arminianism implicitly concedes the Calvinist point without admitting it. Therefore, some Arminians today have abandoned the premise that God foreknows everything and have moved to a view more akin to that of process theology. But this move is exceedingly dubious scripturally.

Excert From Apologetics to the Glory of God by John Frame pp. 44-45

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