Mark

“Mark, so you believe that Jesus is equal in authority and power to God (meaning the Father in your case?) but that he is SUBORDINATE by choice? I’m not sure what you “think” but based on what you’ve communicated my opinion would be that you think Jesus is UNDER God which = subordination which = NOT equal. Jesus is not equal (in function) by choice then. That’s how I read you. Please fine tune this for me where I’m not understanding you…”

I will quickly comment to pinklight as i continue to study…

1. Yes, i think Jesus is equally God, and equal in essence, power, authority etc to both the Father and the Holy Spirit.

2. However i do think that Jesus is ‘subordinate'(and i use that term unhappily) in relation to his subsistence. This has been the orthodox position of the Trinity since the Nicene Creed. For example, Jesus is sent from the Father, and the HS is sent from the Father and Son. The Son never sends the Father or likewise with the Spirit. This is what the bible teaches in regards to the ‘subsistence’ of the members of the Trinity.

3. You seem to think that ‘subordination’ of subsitence must infer ‘unequal’ as God, therefore heretical. This is the commonly adopted approach of Egals, but is unscriptural and un-confirmable by the historic debates. If one cannot come to terms with the differences in subsistence, a modalistic Trinity is the result, which is condemnable- because the Son is really no different from the Father. The early church councils and Fathers, aswell as the Reformers all commented on a difference between the economic and the essential Trinity. One in relation to ‘essence’, one in relation to ‘subsistence’.

Hope this helps you understand my view. Any thorough research of the Bible and the history will confirm what i am saying, but of course an egalitarian cannot accept this because it means that men and women can be ‘equal’ yet different in terms of roles. Therefore they must reject the orthodox position of the Trinity.