The Monergy and Synergy of Theos and Cosmos: God Works All in All and All Things Work

Together Martin Hanna, Ph.D. 1. Abstract This poster explores the question of whether the Bible describes Gods work in the cosmos as (1) a monergy (God working alone), (2) as a synergy (God working together with the cosmos), or (3) as inclusive of monergy and synergy (God working alone and together with the cosmos). The thesis of this poster may be presented in the words of Paul: God works all things . . . according to His will (monergy) (Eph 1:11) and all things work together for good to those who love the Lord (synergy) (Rom 8:28). The implications of this thesis are clarified on two levels. First, God works all in all (1 Cor 12:6) in order to be all and in all (15:28) in the sense that without Him we can do nothing (cf. Jn 15:5). Therefore, the monergy of Gods works makes possible the synergy of our being workers together with God (1 Cor 3:9). Second, God works all things together for good by justifying and glorifying those who love God, namely, those who are called according to His foreknowledge and predestined purpose (Rom 8:28-30). As such, Gods work is characterized by monergy as well as by synergy with those who are justified by faith and who hope for glorification as the love of God is poured out into their hearts (5:1-5). 2. The Monergy-Synergy of Theos and Cosmos The terms monergy and synergy are used in this poster to indicate that God works without the cosmos and with the Cosmos. Further, when God works with the cosmos there is a distinction between what God does and what the cosmos does through powers given to it by God. 3. The Monergy-Synergy of Creation and the Fall Pauls teaching on the monergy and synergy of Gods work in the cosmos is best understood against the background of the biblical teaching on creation and the fall into sin. God worked without the cosmos (monergy) when in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1). Also, God worked with the cosmos (synergy) when God said, Let the earth bring forth . . . and it was so (1:11). Note that even in the synergy of Gods work in the cosmos, there is a distinction between what God does (He speaks) and what the cosmos does when empowered by divine speech (it brings forth). God also empowered the moral nature of human persons when He gave moral instruction to Adam as follows. Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you should not eat (Gen 2:17). Adam chose the human monergy of sin rather than the divine-human synergy of righteousness. Therefore, there is a sense in which sinners are without Christ . . . and without God in the world (Eph 2:12). Sin is not the work of God. Is Christ therefore the minister of sin? God forbid! (Gal 2:17). Sin involves synergy with the Devil. He that commits sin is of the Devil for the Devil sins from the beginning (1 Jn 3:8). One way in which the sinless God interacts with sinners through the law. Paul testifies: I would not have known sin but by the law. . . . For without the law, sin was dead (Rom 7:7-8). 1

4. The Monergy-Synergy of Salvation 4.a. In the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul describes the monergy and synergy of Gods work with those who preach the gospel. I have planted, Apollos watered (synergy); but God gave the increase (monergy) . . . we are workers together with God (synergy) (1 Cor 3:6, 9). Later, Paul uses the phrase all things to all to describe his ministry in synergy with God for the salvation of others. I am made all things to all men if by any means I may save some (1 Cor 9:22). Paul also uses the phrase all in all to describe Gods work through all the spiritual gifts which equip Christians for ministry in synergy with God. It is the same God who works all in all (12:6). Paul uses these two phrases (all things and all in all) to describe the goal of the ministry of Christ with specific reference to the destruction of Gods enemies. For he [Christ] must reign, till he has put all enemies under his feet. . . . When all things shall be subdued unto him [Christ], then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him [the Father] that put all things under him [Christ], that God may be all in all (1 Cor 15:25, 28). [This does not refer to God being everything but to Gods ability to bring about harmony by the subduing of enemies by the Son and by the willing subjection of the Son, who is not an enemy. This is like the willing submission of Christians to each other and to God (see section 4d). Christ is all in all (Col 3:11) to the Father who is all in all (1 Cor 15:28) to the Son. They are one on the level of divinity (Jn 10:30). What a wonder that even at the level of creation, there is a sense in which we can be one with each other (Jn 17:11) and one with God (Jn 17:21). In this sense, God can be all in all to us]. 4.b. In the second letter to the Corinthians, Paul makes another reference to all things in order to describe G ods present work in those who are in Christ. If anyone is in Christ . . . all things are become new. All things are of God (2 Cor 5:18). He also uses this language to describe the all things new from God as including Gods work and our work with God. All things are of God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation (5:18). We then, as workers together [with Him], beseech you (6:1). Here the concept of reconciliation communicates the concept of a oneness with God wherein God is all in all (1 Cor 15:28) through a relationship of love. 4.c. In his letter to the Romans, Paul develops the concept that those who are in Christ already experience a foretaste of the promise that God will be all in all. Even now, we know that all things work together (synergy) for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28). This is not a forced harmony but a synergy of love. This is an important key for understanding the reference to the monergy of Gods work in the subsequent verses. For whom he foreknows, he also predestines to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he predestines, them he also calls: and whom he calls, them he also justifies: and whom he justifies, them he also glorifies (8:29-30). 2

Paul aims to assure his readers that their love relationship with God is part of a foreknown and predestined plan which is motivated by divine love. Therefore, he writes: I am persuaded that . . . [nothing] shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:39). However, foreknowledge and predestination are not the only reasons for a secure love relationship with God. According to his foreknowledge and plan, God also calls, justifies, and glorifies those who have faith, love, and hope through the monergy and synergy of Gods work. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. . . . And hope does not make us ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us (5:1-2, 5). Our experience of assurance is not grounded alone in Gods foreknowledge and predestination which is largely unknown to us. Assurance is also grounded in our experience of justification by faith and our hope of glorification. 4.d. In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul further develops his use of the language of all things and all in all to describe the monergy and synergy of Gods work of salvation. God has purposed . . . to gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and on earth, in him (Eph 1:9-10). [This is not a reference to the ultimate salvation of every sinner since Christ gathers all things, in part, by defeating and destroying those who remain Gods enemies (see section 4a). Rather this gathering is a reference to the fact that God will bring harmony to the cosmos through Christ]. Through Christ we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ (Eph 1:11-12). Predestination does not force anyone to trust in Christ. Rather, it is Gods plan to manifest the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ (1:19-20). This mighty power works in synergy with our working together with God. As Paul expresses it: I also work, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily (Col 1:29). Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Phil 2:12-13). Through Christ this power is mediated to the church. God gave Him to be the head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all (Eph 1:22-23). The church is not Christ but Christ is fully available to the church. The phrase all in all indicates that he is everything to the church. This involves a monergy-synergy of God working alone as well as working with those who are members of the church. When we were dead in sins, [God] has quickened us together with Christ, by grace you are saved (monergy). . . . For by grace are you saved through faith (synergy); and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of [human] works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship (monergy), created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them (synergy) (2:5, 8-10). 5. Conclusion 3

The issues of the monergy and synergy of Theos and Cosmos may be summarized in the words of one of Pauls prayers. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen (Eph 3:14-21). 6. Bibliography Bauckham, Richard, ed., God Will Be All in All: The Eschatology of Jrgen Moltmann. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1999. Bracken, Joseph. The World: Body of God or Field of Cosmic Activity? in Santiago Sia (ed.), Hartshornes Concept of God. Boston: Kluwer, 1990. Fredrickson, David. God, Christ, and All Things in 1 Corinthians 15:28. Word and World 18:3 (Summer 1998): 254-263. Hanna, Martin. The Corporate Body of Christ and Creator-Creation Relations Poster for Seminary Colloquy (2006), SDA Theological Seminary (SDATS). ________. The Cosmic Christ of Scripture: How to Read Gods Three Books. Berrien Springs, MI: Cosmic Christ Connections, 2006. ________. (Re) Creative Word and Spirit: The Cosmic Relevance of Seventh-day Adventist Theology. Poster for Scholarship Fair (2005), SDATS. ________. The Servant_Master Roles of the Laws of Christ, of Scripture, and of Nature. Journal of the Adventist Theological Society 9/1_2 (1998): 278_309. ________. Science and Theology: Focusing the Complementary Lights of Jesus, Scripture and Nature, JATS 6 (1995): 6-51. ________. The Use of Science in Theology: Case Studies of Thomas F. Torrance and Langdon B. Gilkey. Ph.D. Dissertation, Andrews University, 2004. Hiebert, D. Edmund. Romans 8:28-29 and the Assurance of the Believer. Bibliotheca Sacra (April - June, 1991): 170-183. Lewis, S. So That God May be All in All: 1 Corinthians 15:12-34. Liber Annuus 49 (1999): 195-210. Pasewark, Kyle A. Predestination as a Condition of Freedom. Lutheran Quarterly 12 (1998): 57-78. Snook, Lee E. What in the World is God Doing? Re-imaging Spirit and Power. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999. Stackhouse, John G. Can God Be Trusted? Faith and the Challenge of Evil. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Talbert, Charles H. Tracing Pauls Train of Thought in Romans 6-8. Review and Expositor 100 (Winter 2003): 53-63. York, Gosnell. The Church as the Body of Christ in the Pauline Corpus: A Re-examination. New York: Lanham, 1991. The Monergy and Synergy of Theos and Cosmos: God 4

Works All in All and All Things Work Together Outline 1. Abstract 2. The Monergy and Synergy of Theos and Cosmos 3. The Monergy and Synergy of Creation and the Fall 4. The Monergy and Synergy of Salvation 4.a. The First Letter to the Corinthians 4.b. The Second Letter to the Corinthians 4.c. The Letter to the Romans 4.d. The Letter to the Ephesians 5. Conclusion 6. Bibliography

SOME THOUGHT QUESTIONS 1. God works together with His creatures (1 Cor 3:9). Is this because He needs them or because they need Him? 2. Does Pauls encouragement that we work out our salvation (Phil 2:12-13) imply that we can merit salvation? 3. When the Bible testifies that God works all in all (1 Cor 12:6), does this mean that God does everything? 4. Does Gods goal to be all and in all (1 Cor 15:28) indicate that the creation become a part of God? 5. Is there a contradiction between predestination and free will? 6. Is God prejudiced since all things work together for good to those who love God (Rom 8:28)? 7. When the Bible teaches that we are justified by faith (Rom 5:1), does this mean that we justify ourselves by faith? 8. Does God always act within the cosmos in the same way that he acted in the creation of the cosmos? 9. Did God make it possible for his creatures to sin? If so, is He responsible for our sin? 10. Does sin lead to death because sin is not in synergy with Gods work? 11. The Bible teaches that God will gather everything in Christ (Eph 1:9-10). Does this mean that everyone will be ultimately saved? 12. Are we saved simply because God has foreseen and predestined our salvation? Does God have to do anything else to save sinners? 13. Is the church the same as Christ because it is His body and His fullness (Eph 1:22-23)?

Please Consider Contributing To My 2008 Service Project Martin Frederick Hanna As a Seminary professor I am involved in teaching, research, and a service project at the Mount Sinai SDA Church Plant in Chicago. Update: Owen Barnaby, one of our students, serves as Pastor. He receives a travel allowance from the Illinois Conference but is not a salaried worker. Another student, Orville Howell, has been serving as an unpaid associate leader of this ministry. There are 40 persons in the Mount Sinai fellowship who engaged in evangelism in 2006 and baptized eight persons. Presently they are renting a place of worship and are dreaming about having their own Sanctuary. They need help in raising funds for this project. My Service Contribution: I have been assisting with ministry at Mount Sinai since 2004. My service has included the following: mentoring the student leaders; preaching on the third Sabbath of each month; and serving on the Elders Board and the Church Board. Recently, I have added an additional aspect to my Service Project: to raise money for the Mount Sinai Church project. Please consider participating in my Service Project by making a donation to Mount Sinai SDA Company. Those who make a donation of any size will receive a copy of my recent book: The Cosmic Christ of Scripture: How To Read Gods Three Books. Berrien Springs, MI: Cosmic Christ Connections, 2006.