Definition
Monergism (from Greek monos = alone + ergon = work) is the soteriological doctrine that salvation is exclusively God’s work, without any contribution from the human will. God alone is the initiator, executor, and completer of redemption; human conversion is itself a result of God’s action, not a cooperating cause. Monergism stands in contrast to synergism (human and God cooperate in salvation) and is classically defended by the Reformed tradition.
Usage in the Corpus
E.W. Bullinger
Bullinger defends monergism as the core principle of Scripture: “God alone is Savior.” He appeals to Isa. 43:10-11 (“before me there was no God formed, and there will be none after me; I, I am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior”) and Rev. 1:11 as proof that salvation proceeds exclusively from God. He distinguishes “the gospel of God” (sovereign grace) from “the gospel of man” (human cooperation). His numerological exegesis supports this: σωτηρία has the value 5² = 25, and 5 is the number of grace — salvation is literally “grace upon grace.” [Bullinger, Number in Scripture]