The strength of the Lutheran Church, of course, is its doctrine: it’s theology that focuses our attention on the Lord Jesus Christ and His work of salvation for us.

The gospel of Christ is what started the Lutheran Reformation 500 years ago, and it is what continues to distinguish us as conservative Lutheran Christians. For the past 500 years, Lutheran theology has been summarized by these simple phrases: grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone. We hear them frequently, they are part of our theological vocabulary.

But they are much more than that. They reflect a fundamental truth in Holy Scripture. They teach us about Divine Monergism. Divine monergism means God’s one work alone. It is a way of saying that God does all the work of salvation for us, on our behalf, and without any help whatsoever from us. the opposite of Divine monergism, God’s one work alone, is synergism, which means that you cooperate with God in order to be saved. Synergism teaches that you have a role to play in salvation, a work to do in order to be reconciled with God.

As conservative Lutherans, we reject synergism. We hold to Divine monergism, God’s one work alone, because the Bible teaches it. Here are two examples: Romans 3:28 & Galatians 2:16

These verses, and a 100 other ones, clearly teach us that God does the work of our salvation. God is the active one, we are passive. God is the subject of all the verbs of our salvation. There are many doctrines of Scripture that intersect with Divine monergism, God’s one work alone that saves us.

Divine Monergism is a good summary of Lutheran theology. We are saved because of God’s one work alone. We do not contribute, we do not assist, we do not cooperate with God. It is His work alone that saves us. As our Lutheran forefathers would proclaim to the world, we are saved by grace alone, faith alone, and Christ alone. Amen!