The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Eternal Subordination of the Son

John,

Thanks for the link. I read through Trueman's article and found it quite good but wanting more. So, I found another article by Carl Trueman here: Continuing Down this Path, Complementarians Lose. This one really turns the lights on and explains in much better ways, IMO, than the first article what the issue is. I can summarize it simply, and I hope not too much so:

1. Historic creedal Christianity: God is one and three persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who are eternally equal in essence, power and authority. This is a statement concerning the ontological/immanent Trinity, i.e., what is God in His very being.

2. Historic creedal Christianity also affirms that there is a "functional subordination" within the three equal persons. This statement concerns the "Economic Trinity", i.e., how God functions and the relationship between the three persons of the Godhead.

Now, this new teaching, to which Trueman is criticizing, seems at best to be confusing the ontological Trinity; God as He is with the economic Trinity, and in the end destroys the very essense of God's essense. Again to put the matter as simply as I can, eternally God is one consisting of three persons who are eternally and infinitely equal in ALL things. There is NO subordination BY NATURE in the Trinity. This is what the Nicene, Anathanasian, and Chaldeconian creeds affirm and to which I personally embrace wholly. This other group is at least in danger of denying this truth and in doing so, whether they intend to or not, introduce inferiority/non-equality, within the Godhead. I suspect that those whom Trueman is taking to task would categorically deny this charge. But the issue is not their intention but the result of their teaching.