Question from Visitor:
John
All Arminians are synergists, but not all synergists are Arminian. Those who embrace synergism also include Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Methodists, Nazarenes, Molinists, Free Will Baptists, Libertarian Free Will Theists and some Dispensationalist Evangelicals.
We often use the term "synergist" because it is more accurate to describe a wider group. Synergism is related to the doctrine of regeneration or the new birth as described in John chapter 3. A Monergist is one who believes that God the Holy Spirit alone does the work of regeneration which opens blind eyes, unplugs deaf ears and turns the heart of stone to a heart of flesh. The synergist. on the other hand, believes that faith is produced by our UNREGENERATED human nature...that a natural man can exercise faith apart from the regeneration of the Holy Spirit (a position that all of the groups listed above share in common). The belief we are promoting here, that we believe is biblical, is that of monergism, that no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' apart from the Holy Spirit' ... that All that the Father gives to Christ will come to Him (John 6:37) and "no one comes to Christ unless the father grants it (John 6:63-65) ... So the Scripture in these passages is plainly saying, No one can believe the gospel unless God grants it and ALL to whom it is granted will believe -- making God's grace is both invincible and indelible. 2 Tim 2:25 also says it is God who grants repentance. It is not something that the natural man has the desire to do, for John 3:19 says the natural man "loves darkness and hates the light and will not come into the light." But those who come into the light show that it is a work wrought by God. We love God only because he first loved us. It is Paul who plants and Apollos who waters but God causes the growth. When we preach the gospel to people we can preach till we are blue in the face and no one will respond UNTIL Christ sets them free from their bondage to the corruption of nature. Left to themselves men will always reject Christ. It takes a special work of supernatural grace to remove the hostility of man. So we cast forth the seed of the Gospel in preaching but the Holy Spirit germinates the seed, so to speak, if that man would respond.
To further answer your question, it is not appropriate, imho, to label a Roman Catholic an Arminian. Why? Simply because he is not an Arminian and would never own that name. Nor would an Arminian appreciate being called Roman Catholic even though they may share some aspects of their doctrine of salvation in common. Arminians have very specific beliefs called the "Five Points of the Remonstrance" (a protest against Calvinism). This practice of calling anyone we disagree with an "Arminian" is not unlike if there were an Arminian who called all Calvinists "hypercalvinists". We would be quick to correct him and show the stark differences. If I were to call a Roman Catholic an Arminian it likewise would be inaccurate and both parties would be offended for not attempting to define their position accurately. They may hold synergism in common (a cooperation of man and God in regeneration) but they do not hold many other beliefs in common so the label becomes meaningless when we apply the term Arminian to anyone who does not agree with the five points of Calvinism. Some Calvinists have a tendency to do this but, I believe it is not helpful to any discussion.
If the average evangelical coming out of Dallas Seminary does not believe in monergistic regeneration I do not automatically call him an Arminian, because he would vehemently disagree with most Arminian doctrine. In fact he would be much closer to a Calvinist than an Arminian theologically since he believes in unconditional election and total depravity. He may be inconsistent in his theology and confused, but not Arminian. When we debate with other people it is better, imho, to describe other people in a way that they can agree with. If you paint them in colors they disagree with then we are creating a straw man. So over the years as I debate and discuss I find being precise is much more likely to persuade than to give a sweep of the hands and just labeling everyone an Arminian. Synergism more accurately describes the main difference we have with many other groups and is helpful to creating the desire on both sides for further discussion.