Neo-subordinationism: The Alien Argumentation in the Gender Debate

Over the last forty years, the debate over gender roles in the home, church, and society has escalated in an unprecedented way among evangelical Christians due to the introduction of an alien argumentation that grounds the permanent, functional subordination of women to men in the being of God. This argumentation—which is termed “neo-subordinationism” in this article—states that there is a prescriptive hierarchical ordering of the immanent Trinity that is recognizable through the economic Trinity. In this Trinitarian hierarchy, the Son and the Holy Spirit are said to be ontologically equal but eternally subordinated in role and authority to the Father, with the Holy Spirit also functionally subordinated to the Son (for those who accept the filioque). Likewise, women are ontologically equal but permanently subordinated to men in role and authority. As such, they cannot serve in certain leadership capacities in the home, church, or society. This novel argument has shifted the gender debate from discussing anthropology and ecclesiology to theology proper, a shift that has been called the “turn to the Trinity.” This article argues that, while theology proper should inform all other areas of theological studies, reading perceived differences of gender roles into the immanent Trinity has serious systematic consequences. Thus, the equality of the Trinity should be preserved by excluding neo-subordinationism from the debate on gender roles. This is accomplished, first, by briefly reviewing the history of the gender debate with a particular focus on the emergence of modern complementarian and egalitarian perspectives and the entrance of neo-subordinationism into complementarian argumentation among evangelicals generally and Seventh-day Adventists specifically. Second, four significant problems of neo-subordinationism for Christian theology are discussed: (1) its failure to adequately account for all the canonical data, (2) its inherent logical inconsistencies, (3) its inaccurate reporting of church history, and (4) its ramifications for soteriology and the character of God. Finally, the article concludes with some recommendations for how to proceed in the gender debate without injuring intra-Trinitarian ontology

Hierarchy or Mutuality in the Trinity? A Case Study on the Relationship of the Son and the Holy Spirit in the New Testament

Statement of the Problem: Over the last forty years, the Trinity has become a central topic of debate among evangelical theologians in all disciplines due to the popularization of a newer conception of the Trinity—referred to by many as eternal, functional subordination (EFS), but will hereafter be called “neo-subordinationism.” Neo-subordinationism affirms that the three persons of the Trinity—Father, Son and Spirit—are fully equal ontologically, but denies equality in terms of roles, functions, and authority. It asserts that there is a unilateral-hierarchical ordering pattern that is essential to the triune God in which the Son is exclusively subordinated in function and authority to the Father, and the Spirit is exclusively subordinated in function and authority to the Father and the Son (for those who accept the filioque clause) in eternity. Although neo-subordinationism continues to grow in popularity, there are many evangelical theologians, who have heavily criticized this conception of the Trinity, declaring it to be a significant departure from Scripture and traditional Christian orthodoxy. While these scholars join neo-subordinationists in upholding the full ontological equality of the Trinitarian persons, they adamantly disagree with an eternal, essential, unilateral hierarchy in the Trinity. Purpose: This poster seeks to test the theses of these two positions regarding intra-Trinitarian relationships by way of a case study on the relationship between the Son and the Spirit in the New Testament (NT) in order to answer the following research question: does the NT portray the relationship between the Son and the Spirit as a unilateral-hierarchical relationship in which the Spirit is eternally subordinated in role, function, and authority to the Son or as a mutual-reciprocal relationship in which they equally share authority and have overlapping roles and functions? Methodology: This poster seeks to answer this question through an exegetical and canonical-theological analysis of relevant NT textual data by: (1) exploring whether or not there is a consistent, unilateral-hierarchical ordering pattern of the Son and the Spirit, (2) ascertaining whether or not the Son and the Spirit share any economic actions in the plan of redemption, and (3) examining the major historical movements of the Trinity in the NT to determine if there is a unilateral-hierarchical or mutual-reciprocal relationship between the Son and the Spirit

The Impenetrable Depths of the Love of God in Contrast to the Shallowness of Human Love in Romans 5:6–8: Literary Structure as the Key to Meaning

In Rom 5:6–8, Paul related a robust contrast between divine love, as it was concretely expressed in the death of Christ, and the greatest conceptions of human love of his time. However, much disagreement among scholarship exists regarding this contrast, particularly over its structure and the identification of δικαίου and τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ in Rom 5:7. This paper explores some of these scholarly perspectives and then applies contextual, structural, grammatical-syntactical, and historical- 33 cultural analyses to provide a fresh look at this passage, uncovering its beautiful chiastic arrangement. This chiastic structure is helpful (1) in unlocking the meaning of δικαίου as any morally upright person and τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ as a patron or benefactor in Rom 5:7 and (2) in illuminating its contribution to Paul’s overall contrast between divine and human love. When understood in this way, Rom 5:6–8 powerfully communicates the rarity and conditionality of humanity’s greatest expressions of love in contrast to the surprisingly initiatory, unconditional love of God, as it was demonstrated in Christ’s selfless death for morally weak, ungodly sinners. Thus, divine love profoundly unveils the shallowness found in the greatest displays of human love and reaches beyond them to impenetrable depths

Pauline Pneumatology: Where Is the Spirit in Colossians?

Many scholars have noted a significant difference between the theology of the undisputed Pauline writings and that of Colossians, namely the abundance of pneumatology in the former and its apparent absence in the latter. If Colossians is a Pauline epistle, where is the Spirit? This study seeks to answer this question by conducting an exegetical and intertextual analysis of pneumatological language and concepts in the undisputed Pauline writings and Colossians. This analysis leads the study to conclude that, while pneumatology features less prominently in Colossians than in the undisputed Pauline writings, it still is present in four explicit and seven implicit references that have deep linguistic and conceptual connections to the pneumatological content in the undisputed Pauline writings