Let me posit a WHAT IF:
What if salvation worked exactly as free will Synergists claim it does.
GIVEN ASSUMPTIONS:
1. God has granted everyone the free will to accept or reject the gospel and God takes no active role in influencing your free will.
2. Some facts about God are self-evident from creation.
3. Hearing the 'Law' (to adopt our Lutheran host's terminology) educates us of our sin.
4. Hearing the 'Gospel' allows us to choose between the World and the Jesus Christ.
5. Jesus is still the only way to the Father.
Psalm 51:5-7 NASB
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Our first problem is original sin. Like King David in Psalm 51:5 we are tainted with sin from conception and birth. Like King David in Psalm 51:6-7 we need God to clean us in our innermost parts where God desires truth and can give us spiritual wisdom. There then is the rub, if God so loves our 'free will' then the choice to invite GOD to enter and save us must be our choice. That is the premise of this Synergistic what if.
ASSUMPTION 2: Some facts about God are self-evident from creation.
Romans 1:18-21 NASB
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
GOD says that we exercise our free will to choose to ignore God's "invisible attributes" and to choose to refuse to honor Him of give thanks. As a result, we no longer need to point any fingers of blame at Adam, it is our foolish heart that is darkened and we have earned God's wrath for our own ungodliness and unrighteousness. Our need for a savior is greater than ever, but the Synergistic God is a gentlemen, respecting our free will and waiting for an invitation.
ASSUMPTION 3: Hearing the 'Law' educates us of our sin.
Romans 7:7-13 NASB
7 What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except [fn]through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.” 8 But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; 10 and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; 11 for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
13 Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.
The Law opens our eyes to the sin we refused to see, but it cannot cure it. If fact, sin feeds on the law.
In my experience, the natural man calls this 'judgement' and then ...
John 3:19-21 NASB
19 This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
... flees the light for the shadows of the World. Since John raised the point, who naturally practices the truth: NO ONE (Romans 3:10-12)
We are more desperate than ever for the GOSPEL and a Savior, but the Synergystic God respects our free will and is waiting for an invitation.
ASSUMPTION 4: Hearing the 'Gospel' allows us to choose between the World and the Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:14 NASB
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 NASB
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Here is the fatal flaw in the Synergysm model. Sinful Man will flee from the light, not draw towards it. Natural man will find the gospel foolishness. There is a 'god of this world' that means us harm and is actively blinding the minds of the lost.
So what should God do if, left to their natural fallen free will, no one chooses salvation?
It would certainly be JUST of God to damn all, but that does not seem to be his plan.
