Definition
Synergism (from Greek synergos = working together) is the soteriological and pneumatological doctrine that human will and divine grace cooperate in the process of salvation and sanctification. The human being is not merely passive but actively participates in spiritual growth. Synergism stands opposed to monergism — the doctrine that God alone acts and the human will is only the result of God’s action, not a contributing factor. In the corpus, the term is used as a descriptive label for the practical pneumatology of Nee/Lee.
Usage in the Corpus
Watchman Nee & Witness Lee
The pneumatology of Nee/Lee possesses a structurally synergistic character: the human spirit must be actively exercised in order to receive the Holy Spirit. Witness Lee writes: “Simply come to the Lord in your spirit for a personal contact with Him” and “By exercising your faith and your spirit to apply the ascended Christ to your situation, you will immediately sense a living stream flowing within you.” Human activity (exercise, faith, contact) and divine operation (flowing stream, transformation, liberation) are both indispensable. Nee/Lee themselves do not use the term synergism, but their pneumatological model “stands closer to synergism than to exclusively monergistic” categories: man reaches out in the spirit, God fills; human activity and divine operation are both essential. This distinguishes them clearly from the Reformed monergistic pneumatology in which the entire salvific operation flows from God’s sovereign will alone. [Nee/Lee, The All-inclusive Christ, Chs. 2-3; The Economy of God, Ch. 2]