Synergism: Interdependence and Responsibility
State socialism, state control of all aspects of society, always and without exception leads to increasing control by the elite, the Party, and growing dependence of the rest of the population upon the crumbs thrown from the table of the elite who fare sumptuously, dress in the finest clothes and travel in limousines and private jets. So in practice it differs little from state capitalism, which more and more frequently borrows some of its practices from state socialism, and which makes the common people increasingly dependent upon the state by its army of social workers offering "free" social services: a modern form of serfdom.
In contrast, Synergism is based on the Christian principles of voluntary community and sharing of resources and responsibilities, creating true interdependence and equality of all members: "The multitude of those who believed were of one heart and soul. Not one of them claimed that anything of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common. With great power, the apostles gave their testimony of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Great grace was on them all" (Acts 4:32-33). Synergism is best expressed in the words of St. Paul: "So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12-13).
This illustrates how God works in us when we work with Him. Of course, God is the senior partner and we are junior partners: without Him we can do nothing, but with Him we can do mighty things! This Scripture text immediately follows the passage that tells us to have the mind of Christ, Who emptied Himself and became a servant, even unto death on the Cross (verses 5-9). This is true servanthood: giving ourselves over to the will of God the Father.
James, a step-brother of the Lord Jesus, wrote the only Scripture text that mentions "faith alone" (sola fide), one of the hallmarks of the Protestant Reformation: "You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone" (James 2:24). To emphasize this, he wrote: "For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead" (verse 26). Faith that does no good works is dead faith, not saving faith.
St. Paul again tells us how faith works out in practice: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love" (Gal. 5:6). Real, saving faith must be a faith that works, not a merely mental, passive, dependent faith that waits for God and others to do the work. And a few verses later Paul wrote: "For you, brothers, were called to freedom. Only don't use your freedom as an excuse to gratify the flesh, but serve one another through love" (Gal. 5:13). Freedom or independence isn't a license to do whatever you want and can get away with; rather, it is the ability to give of oneself and serve one another in agape-love, divine self-giving love. Human freedom is limited by our finite human nature: if we try doing "stupid stuff" beyond the limits of our bodies and of society, we may end up crippled or diseased for the rest of our lives, in prison, or dead.
Ever since the beginning of Christianity and even before, people have struggled with the definition of God, Who is beyond all defining. This is the idea of a totally transcendent God Who is higher than the heavens and beyond the capacity of human minds to comprehend. In our Hosken-News of 24 September 2017 - "Dark" or Unseen Matter and Energy, we saw that 96% of the cosmos consists of matter and energy that our five senses and scientific instrumentation can't understand: we just know now that "it" is out there, very real but beyond our ability to comprehend.
This implies, however, that God and "spiritual" reality is not only transcendent but also is immanent - "God is everywhere present and fills all things" as one of the ancient saints said. This isn't pantheism, the notion that God = everything in the universe. God is a Person, both transcendent - above all things, and immanent - in all things. The Psalmist David wrote: "If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there" (Ps 139:8). God's love is everywhere, even in hell where those who reject it perceive it as a burning fire: "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:38-39).
God is not only everywhere, He is also "everywhen" - God is above and beyond time, and yet He is within time: the divine Logos became flesh and lived among us. God sees and knows the future just as well as the past because He is not limited by time and space, the four dimensions of our material universe. St. Paul wrote: "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers" (Rom. 8:28-29). God foreknows, He knows "in advance" because all events in our lives are always present to Him. For this reason, He is able to predestine our future because He is ultimately in control of the entire cosmos, both the seen and unseen universe.
And yet, we humans have limited free will, we can and must choose to respond to God's grace: "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we must live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:11-13). God's grace is not just for a few elite or elect people, but rather it is available for all human beings. And His grace is not only a "free gift," it is also His transforming power to restore us to the image and glory of Christ, the second Adam, thus empowering us to do His will.
St. Paul also wrote: "...God our Savior, Who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth.For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, Who gave himself as a ransom for all; the testimony in its own time" (1 Tim. 2:3b-6). God desires that all humankind be saved, but we must receive His grace in order to be transformed: "He came to His own [the Jews], and those who were His own didn't receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become God's children, to those who believe in His name" (John 1:11-12).
Augustine of Hippo (354–430) was a brilliant lawyer who had the gift of weaving a very convincing argument. He defined God as totally transcendent and sovereign over the universe, predestining humankind either to eternal bliss in heaven or eternal fire and damnation in hell, without any free choice by us. God loves the "elect" or the "elite" and has a wonderful plan for their lives - eternal bliss in heaven. But He hates the "damned" or the "deplorables" and has a horrible plan for their lives - burn in the fires of hell for all eternity. Thus the "elect" or the "elite" can do no real wrong because they are declared righteous by God, and they can rule over the "damned" or the "deplorables" who exist only to be exploited as expendable hardly-human resources.
But few people today realize that Augustine lived in the Greco-Roman Empire during the fourth century when the empire was ruled from Constantinople and the seat of Christianity was there. St. John Cassian (c. 360–435) was asked by the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople to refute the error in Augustine's teaching that after the fall, man was totally depraved, so corrupt that he could do nothing for his own salvation, by his own will he could not even believe ("the bondage of the will"), and that God simply predestined some men to salvation and others to damnation. In the thirteenth of his Conferences, with Abbot Chairemon, Cassian eloquently sets forth, at length and with many citations from the Holy Scriptures, the Eastern Orthodox teaching of Synergy, the balance between the grace of God on one hand, and man's efforts on the other, necessary for our salvation.
And few people today realize that at the end of his life, Augustine recanted of his earlier teaching on original sin, predestination and inherent human sinfulness, bringing it into harmony with the Eastern Church Fathers: at the beginning of his book The City of God, he wrote that Adam and Eve "merited this [death] by their disobedience; for by them so great a sin was committed, that by it the human nature was altered for the worse, and was transmitted also to their posterity, liable to sin and subject to death." Note that he does not state here that all mankind is totally depraved and inherits Adam's sin and guilt, only death; rather, mankind is only "liable (likely) to sin." This brings Augustine's later teaching into harmony with Eastern Christianity.
Sometimes I'm asked if I believe in predestination or free will. I often reply "Neither and both." A modern analogy is the question of whether light is matter or energy: if we test it for matter, it answers "I'm matter." But if we test it for energy, it answers "I'm energy." I believe that we can't accept God's predestination as the full description of our spiritual destiny, nor can we accept human free will as the total answer to our destiny. It's not "either-or" but rather "both-and." From God's timeless perspective of foreknowledge, He works all things together for the good of those who love Him. But from our time-bound, finite and human perspective, we have the ability and responsibility to choose to respond to God's loving and gracious offer of salvation to all mankind. It's Synergism!
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