Sanctification and Monergism in Christian Theology

As we ponder the nature of sanctification, we are reminded that our salvation, from start to finish, is a work of God's sovereign grace. In sanctification, just as in justification, we see the monergistic work of God, where He alone is the primary actor, and we are the passive recipients of His gracious work. The Scripture tells us that it is God who works in us, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13), and that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).

While we are indeed called to strive for holiness, to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), this striving is not a synergistic effort, where we contribute our part and God contributes His. Rather, it is a response to the prior work of God in our hearts, where He has given us new life, and we are now able to obey Him, not out of our own strength, but out of the strength that He supplies (1 Peter 1:3-5, Philippians 4:13). The Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it beautifully when it says that sanctification is "the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness" (WSC 35).

In this sense, sanctification is indeed monergistic, for it is God alone who can change our hearts, who can give us new desires, and who can enable us to walk in obedience to His commands. We are not merely passive recipients, however, for we are called to participate in this process, to cooperate with the Spirit, who is at work in us, conforming us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). And yet, even this participation is a gift of God, a fruit of His monergistic work in our lives, where He has given us the gift of faith, and the desire to obey Him, that we might bring glory to His name.