Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. (John 14:12-13)
The context is the upper room discourse. Jesus was comforting His disciples because in a few hours He would be arrested, tried in an illegal court, tortured, and crucified. How could a single believer do greater works than what Jesus had performed?
Some want to apply this to the efforts of individuals with special gifts, doing the same things Jesus did, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, and casting out demons. However, upon careful examination of the text, it becomes clear that while verse 12 refers to a single believer, the verbs that precede and follow are all plural. He is speaking of one individual in concert with other believers. We see this same synergy within the godhead in John’s gospel account:
For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and greater works than these will He show Him, that you may marvel. (John 5:20)
The term synergy is transliterated from the Greek sunergos. One dictionary defines synergy as:
the interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements, contributions, etc. (see)
Sunergos is a combination of two Greek terms (sun, meaning “together,” and ergon, meaning “work”) that form a single effort. The promise Jesus gave to His disciples was that when they received the Holy Spirit, they would be able to accomplish more together than alone.
Christianity went off the rails when the Western Church, which originated in the school at Alexandria, Egypt, formed hierarchies with leaders possessing authority that Jesus forbade. (cf. Matt 20:25-28; Mk 10:42-45; Lk 22-25-27) The grip that this false teaching held on the early church was the reason so many believers of the conservative school in Antioch of Syria were martyred. The Alexandrian church leaders chose political power, while the Antioch church leaders chose spiritual influence. The literal interpretation of what Jesus and the Apostles taught was a threat to the oligarchs.
The world thinks bigger is better. Numbers mean success. Throughout Jesus’ ministry on earth, especially during the upper room discourse, Jesus taught the opposite. The epistles, especially the sections regarding the proper understanding and use of spiritual gifts, emphasize what each believer, working together with other gifted believers, can accomplish.
While synergy does not occur in the two texts from John’s gospel account, it occurs in thirteen passages in the New Testament and is translated as fellow workers. Size is not the issue. It is every believer working together through their spiritual gifts, accomplishing the work of the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is spiritual synergy.
Little is much when God is in it!
Labor not for wealth or fame;
There’s a crown, and you can win it,
If you go in Jesus’ name. (see)