Cheryl

Donna,
Regarding your “questions” regarding the subordination of the Son:

1. If one person willingly submits his will to that of another person because they are of one will in the first place, is that person’s being diminished in any way?

Answer: It is impossible for there to be “one will” if one is submitting his will to another. The fact that one has to submit his will proves that there is not one will but two wills with one will subordinated to the other.

2. What does the phrase “the Father SENT the Son to be the Saviour of the world” say about when the Son began to obey the will of His Father? No one disagrees that Jesus was in submission to the will of His Father during the time of His earthly ministry. However, when did this submission to His Father’s will begin, right at the moment of His conception by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary, or before? When was He SENT, IOW?

Answer: The Father’s sending does not in any way mean that it was not the Son’s will to become man. You may want to watch our DVD on the Trinity to see the OT references where YHWH of Hosts sends YHWH. YHWH of Hosts is a reference to the preincarnate Christ. This does not mean that there was a difference of will just because one sent the other. It actually proves a unity of will.

3. The very words “Father” and “Son” show that they are in a hierarchical relationship, but one that does not diminish them in any way. God chose to reveal Himself as the eternal Father who has an eternal Son. Christ’s sonship did not begin at the incarnation and end when He returned to sit at the right hand of the Father.

Answer: Not so. It proves a relationship not a hierarchy. An adult son is not under the lordship of his Father. Also in the Old Testament the Son is not called the Son except in prophesy about the incarnation. He is called YHWH of Hosts – the LORD of armies.

Your presupposition about what we believe and how we reach our beliefs has tainted your view. This is kin to witnessing to a JW who says that we get our idea of the Trinity from pagan sources. No, we get our idea of the Trinity from the pages of scripture, in context. That is the exact same way that we get our belief that God has created men and women spiritually equal. It is from the pages of scripture taken in context.

I do not know what you mean by “shot-gun” theology. I do not shoot anyone. The theology I have is very respectful to scripture. I believe that each word and each piece of grammar is God-breathed and there for a purpose. There are many complementarians who do not hold to this level of respect for scripture.

In the end we will all give an account of ourselves before God. How have we treated God’s word and how have we treated our brothers and sisters in Christ? When we judge each other unfairly and attribute sin to a person merely by the gender of the people that they minister to with their God-given gifts, we are judging unfairly and with an unrighteous “law”. For those who think that their sisters in Christ are sinning by giving their teaching gifts for the benefit of men in the body of Christ, I would think they should leave the matter in God’s hands, accept them as sisters in Christ and move on to more important things.

Romans 14:4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

Donna, thank you for stopping by. The body of Christ needs to be united on the gospel and united in our love for one another. It is then that the world will pay attention because they will see us in diversity but in loving unity.