“Monergism” is often identified as the distinguishing mark of Calvinist soteriology. In contrast to other Christian systems, Reformed theology alone consistently emphasizes that God alone works our salvation, regardless of our cooperation with His grace. For B.B. Warfield, monergism implies immediacy. Calvinism, he says, teaches the Spirit works on the heart apart from any created medium. A sinner hears the spoken gospel, but the saving event is the Spirit’s “parallel” act directly on the soul.
Other theologies are “synergistic,” since they teach that salvation involves some form of cooperation between God’s grace and the human will. Warfield links synergism with “mediated” views of salvation. Lutherans, for instance, insist that regeneration through baptism is monergistic, but they aren’t consistent. The effect of baptism depends on the power the baptized receives and how he employs that power. Thus, Warfield says, “we are back on the plane of pure naturalism.”
The problem for strict monergism is that the Bible is full of passages that attribute saving power to means.
*The gospel is “the power of God for salvation” (Rom 1:16).
*“Baptism now saves you” (1 Pet 3:21).
*“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life” (John 6:54).
In each case, salvation comes through some created reality – the sound waves of the spoken gospel or the ink marks on the page of a tract; the water of baptism; the bread and wine of the Eucharist.