Tried With Fire

The following is an excerpt from the 3rd chapter of The Rise and Fall of the Complementarian Doctrine of the Trinity . This chapter examines how evangelicals "do" theology? Somewhere along the way, this methodology led a large number of very intelligent theologians down a path contrary to the historic Christian church. How was this possible? Kevin Giles examines this by taking a look at the presuppositions in Grudem's Systematic Theology. Grudem says he works from two presuppositions: that the Bible is true, and that it is, in fact, our only absolute standard of truth. that the God who is spoken of in the Bible exists, and he is who the Bible says he is, the creator of heaven and earth and all things in them. The possibility that other presuppositions may impinge on his interpretation and systematizing of Scripture and on his theological conclusions is not seen as a possibility. The implication is that if you affirm that the Bible is inerrant you will be able ...

In the first chapter of  The Rise and Fall of the Complementarian Doctrine of the Trinity , Kevin Giles traces the origin of the Eternal Subordination of the Son (ESS) in evangelicalism. 1 He cites  The New Testament Teaching on the Role Relationship of Men and Women by George Knight III as the source of this error. Published in 1977, this book lays out the concept of men and women having inherently different "roles" based on the God-given differences between men and women. In order to support this view, Knight redefined the Trinity as a "chain of command" in which the Son is subordinate to the Father and likewise woman to man. So if the Son is always under the authority of His Father and yet God, then a woman can be always submissive to man and yet be fully human. Thus you have the perfect trump card. If God is like this, what Christian woman would question that and not want to be like Jesus? You may have gotten what you want regarding human relationships but yo...

The elephant of the Eternal Subordination of the Son (ESS) is still in the room. Thankfully some folks are not letting this go quietly into the night without raising the alarm. If you are new to the debate, this latest round of podcasts provide good summaries of what is at stake when you turn the Trinity into a hierarchy. Theology Gals: Eternal Subordination of the Son with Rachel Miller Does ESV=ESS ? - A professor, pastor, and parishioner look at the ESV translation of a few passages. I dare you not to wince when some notes from the ESV Study Bible are read out loud. Eternal Functional Subordinatino is wack yo . - This podcast raises a number of good questions - Is a reformulation of the Trinity being used to shore up a particular view of men and women? Are seminary candidates being trained in questionable theology and not allowed to disagree with their teachers, which is then propagated to future congregations? Is the Son's subordination to the Father being used as th...

In light of the recent and lively debate about the Eternal Subordination of the Son and gender, here is Kevin Giles on the word "role." The French word role originated in reference to the part an actor played on stage. In the 1930s, it became a key term in functional sociology. It was only in the late 1950s and early 1960s, as the study of sociology became established in the universities, that the word began to be widely used in the English-speaking world. I can find no evidence of Christian usage of the word in theological discourse before this time. 1 Giles then gives an example of an officer and a private in the army. They have different roles, but the roles do not imply inferiority of one to the other. Likewise the roles are not intrinsic to the persons involved. A private may be promoted up the ranks. The officer may be demoted. 2 Makes sense, right? A parallel cannot be made with the complementarian-hierarchical view of women. In this case, because a woman is ...