Journal: Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
Volume: JBMW 02:1 (Dec 1996)
Article: Egalitarians Revamp Doctrine Of The Trinity
Author: Stephen D. Kovach

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Egalitarians Revamp Doctrine Of The Trinity

Bilezikian, Grenz And The Kroegers Deny Eternal Subordination Of The Son

Stephen D. Kovach

For centuries, the universal church has affirmed that Scripture teaches the eternal subordination of Jesus to God the Father. In creation as well as in redemption, Jesus functioned as the Father’s agent. At the same time he sustained a status equal to the Father in essence and worth. In recent years, however, this historic view of the church has been under attack by socalled “biblical feminists” and egalitarians.

A primary reason for current efforts at redefining this doctrine is the problem created for an egalitarian view of gender roles. Egalitarians believe that any differentiation in role entails corresponding distinctions in worth or value. Hence they must maintain that God the Father and God the Son are eternally equal in roles, excluding any notion of the Son’s eternal subordination to the Father. However, if Jesus has been subordinate to the Father from eternity in role, yet equal to the Father in essence and worth, then women can be seen legitimately as taking a different role without loss of equality in their worth or dignity.

Our evaluation of the legitimacy of recent attacks on the doctrine of the Son’s subordination will focus on the question of whether the following two charges made by evangelical feminists are valid or not. The first is that this doctrine is a form of the Arian heresy of subordinationism.1 The second is that the subordination of Christ occurred on earth only for the purpose of redemption, and that Jesus subsequently returned to the equal status and role in heaven he had maintained from eternity. We will conclude by considering the larger implications of this issue for women’s roles in the church.

Is The Doctrine Of The Subordination Of The Son A Heresy?

Until recently, the doctrine of eternal subordination was questioned by few. From the second century A.D. until today, the orthodox church has held that Scripture teaches the Son’s eternal subordination to the Father.2 Almost all recent systematic theology texts that discuss the issue reflect this reality, including works written by Baptists (A.H. Strong, Gordon R. Lewis, Bruce Demarest), Lutherans (John Theodore Mueller), Anglicans (Edward A. Litton), Arminians (John Miley, Thomas Oden), Reformed theologians (Charles Hodge, Robert L. Dabney, Benjamin B. Warfield, William G. T. Shedd, Louis Berkhof, Wayne Grudem), and charismatics (G. Rodman Williams).3 In light of this broad consensus, it stands to reason that the recent objections to this doctrine are ideologically motivated. Their egalita...

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