the primacy of christ & other essays

8/8/2019 THE PRIMACY OF CHRIST & Other Essays

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JESUS

In Everythingby David R. Leigh, M.A.


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LEIGHIST & GRATEFUL PRESSLESS FULL PRESSDAVID R. LEIGH

P.O. BOX 268

FOX RIVER GROVE, IL 60021-0268

847-571-3011

[email protected]

2010 Copyright David R. Leigh. All Rights Reserved.


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... that He [Jesus Christ] might come to have first place in everything.

Colossians 1:18b


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Contents

Section I: The Primacy Of Christ: Summarizing A Christ-Centered Theology

Outline For A Christ-Centered Theology

Prolegomena

1. God-in-Christ-ology

2. Gods Saving Action in Christ

3. The Spirit of Christ is God (Pneumatology)

4. Christ-in-Eccles-iology

5. Christ and the World

Glossary

Endnotes

Section II: Excursus Over Questions Of Divinity

1. Is The Evangelical Jesus As Divine As He Used To Be?

2. THE COMPLEMENTARIAN AS ARIAN COMPLEMENT:

A Classic Protestant Response To An Objection

About Jesus' Eternal Status

3. Speaking Of Arians.... A RESPONSE TO THE WATCH TOWER'S

LESSER DEITY

Section III: Coming To Terms With Jesus Christ Our Head

[Chapters and contents forthcoming.]


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Section I:

THE PRIMACY OF CHRIST

SUMMARIZING A CHRIST-CENTERED THEOLOGY

Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. If you

really know me, you will know my Father as well. From

now on, you do know him and have seen him.'

John 14:6-7


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Outline For A Christ-Centered Theology

Prolegomena


Grace

JealousyAseity

Omnipotence

InfinityPersonality

ImmutabilityOmniscience

The Trinity

Revelation Today


Election

AtonementJustification

SalvationSanctification

Glorification

3. The Spirit of Christ is God

(Pneumatology)


The OrdinancesChurch Government


Anthropology

Harmartiology

Eschatology

Glossary

Endnotes


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Prolegomena

It might seem like common sense to assume that Christianity begins with and

emanates from Jesus Christ, who is the author, founder, and pioneer of our faith.

After all, the Christian is by definition a Christ-Follower. But theologians have

never been accused of having too much common sense.

Systematic theologies customarily share some variation on this traditional

outline:

Theology (the doctrine of God)

Anthropology (the doctrine of humanity)

Harmartiology (the doctrine of sin) Christology (the doctrine of Christs Person)

Soteriology (the doctrine of Salvation)

Pneumatology (the doctrine of the Holy Spirit)

Ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church)

Eschatology (the doctrine of the end times or last things)

The traditional outline stands in contrast to the outline found at the start of

this chapter. It shows that traditionally theologians have treated Jesus Christ as asubset of theology, rather than rightly seeing Jesus Christ as the only proper source

and environment for all theological thinking. Ironically, the traditional outline is

misleading in that it does not comport with reality. The reality is Christian

theologians only know what they know, and believe what they believe, because of

their faith, which began by an encounter with Jesus Christ. And the source of all

they believe rests upon his authority.

One can only marvel, therefore, that traditional theologians have chosen any

other starting point than Jesus Christ, the personal self-revelation of Yahweh-God.

And what little wonder it is that this simple corrective of giving Jesus first place ineverything results in a paradigm shift of seismic proportions. Suddenly, with Jesus

as the center and starting point of theology, Jesus truly becomes the Way, the Truth,

and Life. He is now rightly restored to his place as the only way to the Father. He

takes us away from truth being merely a body of information and turns theology

into a matter of relationship to Truth as a Person, with all people, places, and things

finding their meaning, significance, and understanding determined by their relation


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to him. Jesus is the very Life of God in all things, first breathed into Adam in the

Garden and passed through all creation by the breathe of his Spirit in the gospel.

The traditional approach comes to us via the Catholic and Protestant

Scholastics, who faithfully endeavored to crystallize the teachings of their

predecessors. With little variation, that agenda also typifies most major works ofChristian theology since the Scholastic movements, regardless of how conservative

or progressive.

Ironically, even those who profess to be non-creedal seem unable to shake

off the common addiction to these fossilized Scholastic formulae and categories.

But if one is non-creedal, why be pro-formulae? However well the Scholastic

model has served both orthodox and heterodox alike, we hold no obligation to it as

an environment for hearing from God nor for articulating his message.

The biggest problem with the Scholastic approach is that it is procedurallymisleading. Its format presumes and gives the message that one may speak of God

truthfully beforeand therefore withoutspeaking of Christ. Jesus, on the other

hand, says, No one comes to the Father, but through me.1 While there is a general

and non-saving knowledge of God communicated in nature, in Christ alone we find

the full self-disclosure of God. In Christ alone do we speak of God (or ourselves or

the world) with depth, accuracy, and clarity. In Christ alone can we come to truly

know God. For this reason Luther said, You cannot find God outside of Christ,even in heaven, and Seeking God outside of Jesus is [the work of] the devil. All

truly consistent Christian theology, then, must begin with Christ and proceed fromhim to an understanding of God, humanity, salvation, or anything else.

While the Old Testament chose general revelation as its starting point (In

the beginning God created ...), it never manages to present Yahweh beyond the

veil. The New Testament, on the other hand, begins with Jesus Christ as the

unique self-revelation and personal disclosure of Yahweh, establishing Jesus

therefore as the only theological starting point for the Christ follower. The Gospels

and Epistles boldly model this in content, order and arrangement. The New

Testament model, then, flatly challenges the Scholastic approach to systematic

theology and resists being squeezed into its categories. The New Testament callsus, instead, to something more organic and personal, being grounded and centered

upon the Person of Jesus the Messiah as God With Us.

Ordering each article of a Jesus-centered faith is therefore no small matter.

The order divulges the faith and presuppositions behind and prior to the articles

themselves, while the arrangement of the whole flavors the content of the parts.


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This is why the following presentation summarizing my theology will take a non-

traditional, distinctively Christocentric, approach.


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We begin with Jesus Christ, yet we do not. As Jesus said, Whoever believes inme does not believe in me.2 Jesus is the only window to the Father and he is

perfectly clear; whoever has seen me has seen the Father.3

Jesus is not a mere reflection of the Father. He is the direct radiance of the

Father. He is to the Father as the suns rays are to the sun. We cannot see one

without seeing the other. They are one and yet distinct. Jesus is Light from Light

and very God from very God.4 Therefore, His name will be called Wonderful

Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father ....5

In Christs life, death, and resurrection, we see Yahweh-Gods greatest

attributes revealed. That is, by becoming flesh, God peels away the persistent veil

of the Old Covenant. Here are a few very brief examples:

GraceGod acts in Christ on behalf of the world, despite the worlds rebellion.

One thing Christs sacrifice did not do was to gain for us Gods love. Gods love

preceded and gave impetus to Messiahs coming.6 It always was, as Jesus always

was. Jesus is Gods grace fully revealed in that humanitys greatest sin, the

slaughter of Christ, becomes humanitys only redemption. Here we see that Gods

favor depends in no way on human merit. Gods costly grace is totally freefree

to all (offered to everyone) and free of all (dependent on no one). Meanwhile, in

the same act of sacrifice upon the cross, Christ also reveals the full extent of Gods

wrath in that by becoming sin for us, he becomes the receptacle in which all wrath

and judgment against sin, and all that stood against us, is completely poured out

and exhausted.

JealousyThe length to which Jesus went to demonstrate Gods love and to

reconcile us to Yahweh shows how zealous is our jealous God. Whilegrace allowsGod to forgive us in Christ, hiszeal compels him. Gods love is not passive; it isjealous. He does not simply wait; Yahweh seeks and sacrifices.

AseityJesus demonstrates that God is independent and totally self-sufficient. The

ultimate proof of this sufficiency is Yahwehs ability in Christ to unilaterally atone

for the insufficiency of all fallen humanity and to then go on to reign victoriously.


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OmnipotenceGod demonstrates his power through weakness. He conquers

Satan, all of hell, hells forces, sin and the world of sin by a show of meekness: a

single, broken man on a cross. The force and power of every wicked and righteous

enemy to humanity exhausts itself in the seemingly defeated Jesus of Nazareth.

Even Gods wrath over sin is poured out and exhausted upon Christ as he becomessin for us. Yet Jesus resiliently springs back as victor. When we look at the

crucified carpenter who incarnates the weakness of humanity, we see Yahweh and

Yahwehs power incarnated and unveiled.

InfinityJesus is the infinite God in finite man. We see there is no end to God

when we see the boundlessness of Christs wisdom, compassion, and love.

PersonalityIs God an impersonal force? An ultimate It? Jesus demonstrates that

God is personal, for Jesus is the exact representation of God. 7

ImmutabilityDoes God change? We find the answer in Jesus. For Jesus Christis the same yesterday and today and forever.8 There is a dimension to God that

does change in the sense that movement and interaction are change. These actions

always are consistent with Gods personality and character, which is what we speak

of when we say God is immutable.

OmniscienceWho can hear Christs words and not feel completely known by

him? Even the Samaritan Woman at Jacobs well perceived it.9

Further investigation would demonstrate how Jesus reveals these and all of

the traditional qualities ascribed to God. Jesus reveals Gods eternality,omnipresence, holiness, justness, goodness, truthfulness, faithfulness, and

absoluteness. We could explore Gods volition revealed in Christ, and his

sovereignty. Through Christ we could discover God as Creator,10 Sustainer,11 and

Re-creator.12 Each of these subjects is a fascinating and captivating study in itself.

And yet all of these topics combined would just be a beginning.

So lets move on to what perhaps is the most enigmatic mystery that Jesus

reveals about God. For prior to his coming this truth was as little understood as

was his grace.13 That mystery is, of course, Gods triunity.

The TrinityOn the most simplistic level, we can argue from the examples of

Christs life and teaching that God is three and yet one. We see Gods threeness in

Jesus baptism, where the Father speaks from heaven, the Spirit descends, and

Jesus stands revealed as the Lamb of God.14 We further see the distinction of

Persons in the fact that Jesus prays to the Father15 and speaks of the Spirit as

another.16 Likewise, we see the unity of Yahweh in Jesus statements of oneness


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with the Father and the Spirit.17

On a deeper level, we learn of the Trinity through the self-revelation of God

in Christ itself.18 For what is a self-revelation if it is not that the Revealer, Yahweh,

is also Whatis Revealed? God is as much the Content of his revelation in Christ as

he is its Author and Subject.

Jesus is the objective revelation of the invisible Father.19 The Holy Spirit is

the subjective revelation of the Father in the Son.20 Because Jesus is the visible

self-revelation of the invisible God, he must be distinguished from God the Father.

Because it is God the Father whom Jesus reveals, there is a necessary unity, or

identity, of essence between them.

God reveals himself not just objectively but subjectively. For we not only

learn of God in Christ, but we are reconciled to him personally. The Holy Spirit is

the subjective form of this revelation; he is God within us and is calledinterchangeably the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of him who

raised Christ from the dead.21 He too must be distinguished yet seen as one in

essence with the Godhead for the same reasons given for Christ.

Because Jesus reveals God as immutable, we know that Yahweh always

existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even prior to Christs advent. Jesus reveals

what God always was, is, and ever shall be ontologically. The Economic

(objective) Trinity reveals the Ontological Trinity (i.e., God as he is in himself).

We see in Jesus, then, that God, who is Person, is an indivisible One, forYahweh acts in Christ as one. Yet we also see the threefoldness of the Godhead. We

see the one Being distinguished into three eternally co-existent modes of

subsistence.

Revelation TodayTo speak ofrevelation is to speak of a revealing, an unveiling,

a making immediate of what before was not known, seen, experienced. Whereas

God communicated in the past through prophets and speaks to the world through

nature and in diverse ways today, Yahweh only unveils himself in Christ. It is only

through the mediation of Christ that Yahweh-Gods Spirit becomes immediate tous. This is now and always has been the case.

Jesus was God with us, and he remains so.22 We find Gods self-revelation

in Christ alone. We find the Christ who sits on heavens throne in and through the

message of the Scriptures alone. The Old and New Testaments are Gods

authoritative witness to his primal self-revelation in Christ. This makes them the

final, authoritative, infallible Word of God.


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Every word of the Bible is, after all, God-breathed.23 The breath (heb. ruach)

of God is none other than the Spirit (ruah) who bears witness to Christ externallyin the written Word and internally in our hearts. The first part of his twofold

witness we call inspiration, the second illumination.

The Scriptures not only come to us by commendation and commission ofChrist, who is the Word (Logos) of God, but they imitate and model Christ in that

their words are completely human and completely divine. They are completely

human and yet without sin or deception. They are completely divine, yet they

explain and disclose the infinite, transcendent God through finite immanent means.

There are, of course, other ways in which God speaks and acts in our world,

providing inspiration and insight to many inside and outside of Christ.24 Only

through Christ, though, do we obtain ultimate understanding of these

communications and the God behind them. In the same way, it is only through

Christ that we ultimately understand the Old Testament prophecies and teachings

about God, law, grace, salvation, and so on.25 Christ Jesus is the lens through which

all things become clear and understood. He is our wisdom and the wisdom of God

in that he is the frame of reference that provides the perspective that makes sense

of all things.

When someone asks, Does God reveal himself today? the answer is Yes.

But only in and through Christ is Yahweh-God fully revealed. This Christ is

exclusively the Jesus Christ found in the canon of Scripture, which is complete and

therefore closed.

When someone asks, Does God still work miracles and give all his gifts of

the Spirit to the Church? the answer is again found in Christ who established the

New Covenant in his blood until he comes again.26 Just as the Old Covenant was in

force from Moses until Christ, so the New Covenant remains in force and

unchanged until Christs return. Just as there were periods of spiritual draught and

absences of spiritual signs and wonders, and then periods of supernatural opulence

during Old Testament times, so too we should expect famines and feasts of

supernatural manifestations between Christs advents. As we look toward Christs

return, we expect to see his Spirit at work more and more as the day draws nearer.27We live in the end times, which Jesus and the apostles promised would be filled

with signs and wonders. Our times are also New Testament times, for we live

under the New Covenant as we will until he comes.

Meanwhile, Christ reveals God as compassionate, merciful, and powerful.

Those who come to him will in no way be cast aside.28 We have boldness therefore


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to pray expectantly to the one who bore our griefs and by whose stripes we are

healed.29 God is never obligated to show mercy.30 Nor is he obligated to answer our

prayers the way we think they should be answered.31 Jesus does teach us, however,

to persist in prayer believing, making all our requests known to God.32 His throne

is the mercy seat. Therefore, miracles will happen.33


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Just as there is no proper theology outside of Christology, so there is nosoteriology outside of or apart from Christology. Christology rightly entails a

discussion of election, atonement, justification, salvation, sanctification, and

glorification.

ElectionSoteriology begins with Gods Elect, Jesus Christ, who was foreknown

from the beginning. That Jesus was foreknown as slain before the foundation of the

world34 shows Gods perfect foreknowledge, even of humanitys sin. That God

created the world with foreknowledge implies he predestined all he foreknew.35

With Yahwehs provision for sin foreknown and established at the founding

of the world, God had this knowledge when he acted in Christ on behalf of those

whose names have been written in the book of life since the foundation of the

world.36 As Augustine put it, Christs death was sufficient for the entire world but

efficient only to the electthose whom God chose, those who believe.

The question of free will is also answered in Christs human prayer: Not my

will, but yours be done.37 Two totally free wills cannot coexist in the same

universesooner or later one will infringe upon the other. Jesus demonstrates, as

the humanpar excellence, that human beings have wills (volition), but that

however free they may be, they are limited by the limitless, totally free will of

God. It is Gods will, therefore, which always prevails.38

AtonementIt has been suggested that this word is a picture of what Christ

purchased for us: at-one-ment. That at-one-ment took place in Christ is true in his

person as well as his action. In Christs Person, God and humanity are united

(reconciled). For Jesus is at once fully God and fully human. He is the new

humanity, one with God. All who are in Christ, then, share in the new humanity,united with God, at one with him.

In his passion, death and resurrection, Jesus became victorious over sin,

death, the devil, the Law and the wrath of God. He does this as our substitute and

representative. When Jesus died, the new humanity died. When Christ arose, the

new humanity arose.39 When Christ sat down in the heavens, the new humanity sat


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in heavenly places.40

Christs two natures are the reason why he alone could accomplish

permanent atonement. Humanity had sinned and needed to pay for this sin.41 Being

sinful, however, humanity could offer nothing to a holy God.42 Jesus, being both

human and sinless is able to offer on behalf of humanity the perfect sacrifice toGod as satisfaction (propitiation) for all humanitys sin.43 Because Jesus is God in

the flesh, God meets us in Christ at the cross and demonstrates his love and

forgiveness.44 There all humanity was reconciled to God.45 It remains, however, for

individuals to enter into that reconciliation.46 This can happen only by faith.47

JustificationAll who place their faith in the atoning Christ are counted righteous

by God,48 and have Christs righteousness imputed to them.49 This is our only hope.

No human effort or merit could ever suffice for eternal life. All who strive on their

own to earn or retain their salvation deny the freely-given love of God in Christ.50

SalvationBeing literally rescued from hell and from a life without God is what

we call being saved. The saved life consists in knowing God through Jesus

Christ.51 Because Jesus is the self-revelation of God, all who receive him encounter

Yahweh, know him, and are reconciled to their God. Because Gods objective

revelation, in Christ, does not occur without his subjective revelation, in the

Spirit,52 the work of salvation cannot be divorced from the Spirit and the Spirits

work.53 The subjective aspect of salvation in Christ is called regeneration, or

rebirth.54 The believer is baptized, sealed, and infused with the Holy Spirit at

conversion.55

Like good works and human merit, faith, cleansing, and regenerationare not the cause or result of salvation; they are the actual experience of salvation

itself.

Christs sacrifice effected Gods reconciliation to us while we were yet

sinners and demonstrates that salvation is totally by grace. Christs teaching

demonstrates that it is accessed solely by faith, which itself is also a work of God.56

Salvation, then, begins with conversion and is a state of being, the outworking of

which we call sanctification.

SanctificationLike salvation, there is no holiness outside of Christ. Even theholiness of the Law is but a shadow of Christ, who is the substance and

consummation of the Law.57

Like salvation, sanctification is not a human work and cannot be judged by

human standards or legalisms.58 The principle present in justification by faith

applies to the whole Christian life, not just to conversion. Sanctification is both a


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once-for-all act by God in Christ whereby we are set apart,59 and also the

practical working out of salvation by Godthe Spirit in and through the believer.60

In Jesus example we see that the saved life is the sanctified life and that having the

faith that justifies is to have the faithfulness which obeys.

GlorificationThe Christian life is a continuous process in which we becometransformed into the image of Christ, the exact representation of Yahweh.

Glorification is the consummation of that goal. This will occur at Christs return.

Jesus, then, is the Creator, Redeemer and Consummator of our existence.


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3. The Spirit of Christ is God (Pneumatology)

We know the Holy Spirit because the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ.Therefore we confess that Yahweh is the Spirit.61 This is why the Western Church

historically confesses the Spirit as proceeding from the Father and the Son.62

The more we focus on the Holy Spirit, the more we shall see, learn of, and

glorify Jesus.63 The Spirit is the incorporeal presence of Jesus and the Father in the

believer, the Church, and the world today.64

This third Person of the Trinity applies the work of Christ to the believer inhis subjective revelatory work. It is he who regenerates and sanctifies, cleanses and

comforts, convicts and empowers, illumines and guides the believer in a daily life

of prayer and obedience. He is the divine author of Scripture. He is rightly called

the Lord65 as the object of prayer and worship, although he is also the inspiration,

facilitator and intercessor in these things.

While the Spirit of Christ seals and indwells every believer, so that we can

say Christ lives in us, he remains distinct from the believers spirit, preserving our

identity and his own. The Holy Spirits influence over the believer is not to take

control but to give self-control.66 He produces blessed fruit in each believers life

and sovereignly gives supernatural gifts to the Church as he wills.67

Although there is one baptism in the Spirit (at conversion), the believer may

experience many special empowerings and overflowings.68 These are not second

blessings required for salvation or for the completeness of sanctification. They are

the normal outcome of a faithful life with God, who commands Christ followers to

walk in the Spirit and to be filled by him.69


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Although we treated the doctrine of the Scriptures under God-in-Christ-ology, it also belongs under this heading. For the words of Scripture are at once

human and divine. The Scriptures belong to God, but they also belong to the

Church, whom he entrusted with the gospel. Because of this, the Church is the

context in which Christ is revealed.70 Christ reveals himself through the Church

because she preaches and lives out his words and truth. She does this by preaching

and living out the content of the biblical message.

For it is precisely the gospel teaching of the apostles and prophets, who are

the foundation upon which the Church is built,71 which the Scriptures preserve for

us. The Bible is therefore the only prophetic and apostolic authority that remains

for the Church, which is created and preserved by the preaching of the Word. In

preserving and proclaiming the Bibles message, the Church participates in the

apostolic witness. The Bible message, then, is foundational and essential to the

Churchs existence.

The first responsibility of the Church is to bear Christ, to proclaim his

message, and to be the physical extension of his presence on earth, just as the Spiritis his spiritual presence. In this sense she incarnates him, which is one reason she

is called Christs body.72 She is composed of all those dead and alive who have

sincerely called upon the name of the Lord in faith. The apostles proclaimed the

need for everyone to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus to be saved, quoting Old

Testament passages promising salvation to all who call upon the name of Yahweh.

And they further referred to the believing church community as those who had

called upon the name of Jesus.73 The local church has a responsibility to reflect this

fact by baptizing and admitting to membership believers only. She also has a

responsibility to deal graciously with Christ followers of other churches and

denominations who hold a biblical faith.

Much fuss has been made about distinguishing the Church from Israel by

a once popular hermeneutic called Dispensationalism. This view claimed that God

has two brides, Israel and the Church, and that the Church is just a kind of

parenthesis in Gods overall plan for Israel. Limited space precludes extensive

refutation of this view here. But Paul does quite well in Romans 11 to show that


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Gentiles who believe in Christ are grafted into the same tree as Israel. While there

certainly are distinctions between the Church and natural Israel, Paul teaches us

there is one body, not two, one people of God, not two. 74

The OrdinancesOne way the Church lives out the biblical revelation of Christ is

through her use of the symbols he ordainedbaptism and holy communion. Therehas been a trend among Evangelicals rooted in Zwinglian, Baptistic, and

Calvinistic theologies that rightly points out there is nothing magical about the

ordinances, tends to refrain from using the word sacraments because of

undesirable connotations, and calls them merely symbols. While well

intentioned, the phrase, merely symbols, is over-reactionary and therefore a great

misnomer. There is nothing mere about these symbols! They are very powerful

emblems that allow us to participate in spiritual realities.75 The early church

believed Christ was made known in the breaking of bread.76

By combining a Zwinglian view of the ordinances (rejected by Calvin and

Luther) with a post-Enlightenment cosmology, many fundamentalists today have

reduced their understanding of symbol to that of sign and implicitly reject the

supernaturalistic cosmological framework of the biblical writers. Biblically

speaking, symbols by definition, participate in the reality they represent;77 while

signs merely point to a greater reality.

By obediently observing Christs ordinances, we find that God the Spirit,

who is grace, meets us therenot in the elements, but in their use. Communion is

a blessed time of intimate interaction with God as well as with his people. Baptismis an act of God in which he meets us and allows us to be vicariously identified

with Christ in the likeness of his death and resurrection.

Do these symbols save us? Do they impart some special grace to us? No

more so than lifting a hand at a revivalists invitation, or walking the aisle at an

altar call can do these things. Their use is an outward expression of inward realities

and is empty apart from faith. But when that faith is present, the God who honors

the obedience of faith meets us and blesses us.

Yahweh is revealed in Christ through the ordinances in so far as they arefaithful representations of Christs gospel. As words are symbols that proclaim the

biblical message and, though human, become the Word of God, so the ordinances

are Christ-appointed symbols that proclaim the same divine message and have the

same effect, as both human and divine actions.

The ordinances are commemorative, or memorial, in nature precisely


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because they re-enact the Christ event, allowing the believer to rehearse the cosmic

drama of salvation history, and in so doing to become vicariously identified with

Christ.78 Because of the depth and seriousness of these potent symbols, much care

should be taken in administering them. Because they are symbolic representations

of the gospel, to compromise their symbolism in representation is to compromise

the gospel message. The proclamation side of both ordinances illustrates the

importance of celebrating them often and openly before unbelievers, even though

both are for believers only.

Church GovernmentThe Church of Jesus Christ is built upon that rock of

apostolic confession: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.79 Her nature

is defined by her confession of Christ, for there is no ecclesiology apart from

Christology, just as there is no bride without a groom.

By confessing Christ alone as her head, the Church commits herself to

operate in organic unity with him and to renounce worldly principles of authority.

The Church is not an army, city state, or business corporation. It ought therefore to

beware of adopting their methods, techniques or paradigms. The Church is a body,

of which Christ is the head; she is family, of which God, and no man, is the Father;

she is Christs bride and the household of God.80

Jesus said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and

their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever

wants to become great among you must be your servant....81 This Not so with

you is the basis for rejecting authoritarian and hierarchical forms of leadership,both in the church and in the Christian family. No believer, pastor, elder, spouse, or

group of believers is given authority over another believer anywhere in Scripture

unless it is mutual, for the Lord alone is our Master; to him only are we ultimately

accountable.82 There is no principle of headship operative between Church

leaders and members. Christ is the only head of the Church.83

Because every believer is directly accountable to God and has direct access

to God, the Church is to be a democratic or consensus-guided society with deep

egalitarian commitments. Because the only authority over the believer is the Spirit

and the Word of God, the influence of church leaders is limited to the Word ofGod, whom they serve. It is significant that of all the apostolic lists which urge

Christ followers to submit to authorities, church leaders are never included in these

lists. Discussions about church leaders are always treated separately. Their

authority is of a completely different sort, being earned and persuasive in

nature.84 They may command, discipline, and instruct only what Gods Word

commands, reproves, and instructs. The pastor, elder, deacon, and church board


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have no divine authority by virtue of their office. Their authority depends solely

on whether or not they have proven themselves and stand upon Scripture.

In fact, the idea of Church leaders holding an office is foreign to the New

Testament and exists in some versions only by eisegesis of the translators (compare

1Tm 3:1 NASB to NIV and to the Greek). Instead, New Testament leadership callsfor the mature and exemplary to be recognized and set apart for certain tasks or

functions. For it is primarily by example that church leaders are to lead and teach.85

New Testament leadership, then, is dynamic, not static. Titles are descriptive, not

honorific.

There is of course a practical authority granted and agreed upon by the local

congregation that allows leaders to make a variety of decisions without consulting

the congregation. This is imparted to the leaders from the congregation, though,

and is distinguished from divinely appointed authority. For this reason the scope

and roles of leaders authority may vary in content from church to church.

Church leaders watch over the flock to ensure it grazes upon Gods Word

and to guard it from danger. They are guides and resources for individual and

corporate life in submission to the Good Shepherd, to whom the flock belongs.86

When Christian liberty and the priesthood of all believers are taken

seriously, traditional clericalism breaks down. This is why those in baptistic,

anabaptist, and radical reformation traditions historically recognize that the

ordinances can and should be administered by all believers, not just clergy.

Likewise, the doctrines of Christian liberty and the priesthood of all believers hits a

shattering blow to the hermeneutically unsound but ever-popular sexist view of

leadership, causing Paul to exclaim that in Christ there is no longer slave or free,

Jew or Gentile, male or female.87

While the New Testament offers no one model of church government, it

does discuss the following leadership roles for men and women: elder, deacon,

teacher, and prophet.88 A mature church should and will produce and be led by all

of these. Likewise, apostles (missionaries) and evangelists may be part of a

churchs founding and are vital to the extension, outreach and growth of a church.There appears to be no biblical distinction between elder, pastor, bishop, or

overseer. These are synonyms.89

The details of local church structure are arbitrary as far as the New

Testament is concerned. What the New Testament stresses is the quality of leader.90


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Because our Messiah is the supreme and final self-revelation of the Word ofGod, truly incarnated in the likeness of sinful flesh,91 Christology is also the

Christ followers basis for anthropology, harmartiology, and eschatology. Only in

and through Jesus do we see what humanity was meant to be, what we are and are

not, and what we will become. Only in him do we have the assurance that some

day, all will be right with the world and that justice will prevail.

AnthropologyBecause Jesus is God, he alone is the full and perfect image of

God.92 Although none of us is less than human, Jesus alone can claim to be fully

human. Because of the Fall and our own sin, we are all less then God intended us

to be.93 Jesus alone, then, is the standard of humanity. Because Jesus is fully human

and therefore fully Gods image, he alone is fully suited to reveal God to us.

Because Jesus is fully human, he alone is fully suited to reveal humanity to us.

Christianity then, is the only true humanism.

In Jesus alone we see what it means to be human and how humanity was

meant to relate to God.94 Christ changes not only our view of and relationship to

God, but our view of and relationship to other humans. Christology is Godsanthropology, and there is no true anthropology apart from Christology.

Because Jesus became one of us, we know that humanity has retained the

image of God.95 Because we continue to retain this image, even unbelievers and

sinners cannot help but reflect Gods character to greater and lesser degrees. This

character is reflected in humanitys innate creativity, ingenuity, sense of morality,

justice, love, compassion, wisdom, knowledge (science) and in various expressions

of culture, such as art, music, and literature. That Christ came as a first-century

Aramaic-speaking Hebrew who took part in his culture and social system shows

that God does not reject or mean to abolish human culture but wants rather toincarnate himself in it, redeem it, and work through it.96 For this reason the gospel

and the church are emptied of power unless they are contextualized for the cultures

they address.

HarmartiologyWe know that we are all less than we were created to be97

because we are all less than Jesus is in his humanity. Our standard of righteousness


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is Jesus, not the Law, because Jesus is the fulfillment, embodiment, and therefore

the final interpretation of the Law. Only by seeing how far short we fall from being

like Jesus do we see how far short we fall from the glory of God, which is the

biblical definition of sin. Only by looking to his cross do we see the ultimate

judgment of God on sin. Only by looking to his victory and resurrection do we

understand our only possible emancipation from sins power and its

consequences.98

EschatologyOnly by looking to Jesus do we have the answer to: What happens

to people after death? Only in him do we have trustworthy assurance concerning

our species fate. In his resurrection and ascension Jesus has become already what

we yet will be when he soon returns.99 At that time there will be a resurrection of

all humanity unto judgment, starting with the household of God.100

Yahwehs judgment will take place in human history but also in eternity.

Because eternity is a non-temporal term, there is a sense in which judgment day

has taken, and is already taking, place (in eternity but not yet in time). Because

Jesus is the nexus of time and eternity, the judgment is in him. Therefore he can

say that he who believes not is judged already,101 although we all have yet to stand

before his judgment seat. The question of what happens to a soul between death

and resurrection is immediately solved when we realize eternity is not a temporal

term. For the soul at death is transported out of time and into eternity where there

is no time. Judgment and resurrection are, from the souls point of view,

immediate.102 The so-called reunion of the soul with the body in the resurrection

will be the reunion of the soul with time when eternity and time meet on judgmentday, as they can only meet in Christ, who is our judgment and our Judge.

Eternal life begins for the believer at conversion and is not interrupted by

death. Eternal death and the experience of Gods wrath are a current reality for the

unbeliever103 and are not initiated nor relieved by physical death.

The Bible proclaims a new heaven and new earth in which righteousness

shall dwell.104 In this new kingdom Jesus shall reign forever and ever. This

historical confession of the Church is that His Kingdom shall have no end.105

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament proclaim Christs throneestablished forever.106

As to time tables and eschatological charts, the Bible gives us none. In fact,

Jesus discourages us from trying to discern such things.107 Instead, we are to set our

hope on the fact that Jesus may return at any moment.108


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It is the responsibility and privilege of the Christ follower to spread the

gospel through evangelism and missions,109 as well as to work against

contemporary social injustice and toward societal emulation of that kingdom,110 for

this is what Jesus did. Because the kingdom is both future and present for the

Church, it is for us to model kingdom principles and Christs rule in every sphere

of life.


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Glossary

Please note: There is no substitute for a good dictionary! The definitions beloware only supplemental.

Anthropologythe study of humanity, or human nature.

Calvina Protestant reformer and father of the Reformed faith. He

taught that the ordinances are a testimony, sign and seal of the Holy Spirit

and the New Covenant. See also Luther and Zwinglian.

Christologythe study of Christ.

Contextualizeto express in a way that is culturally relevant,

meaningful within a contemporary context. Ecclesiologythe study of the Church.

Eisegesisto read into a text meaning, rather than to extract only what is

intrinsic to the intended meaning, as in exegesis.

Eschatologythe study of the end times.

Fundamentalistone (like myself) who believes in the fundamental

tenets of Christian faith as expressed in the early creeds. Unfortunately,

this term like many other great descriptors of devoted Christ followers,

has been hijacked by extremists and ought not be understood in this paper

as referring to aberrant factions that have commandeered this term. General Revelationalso called natural revelation, refers to Gods clear

but partial disclosure of himself in nature.

Godheadall that is God.

Harmartiologythe study of sin.

Hermeneuticany method of interpreting literature.

Heterodoxone who holds beliefs which are questionable or wrong

from an orthodox perspective.

Incarnateto become flesh.

Lutherthe father of the Reformation. He taught that Christ is present

with the elements of the ordinances as fire is present in an iron pokerpassed through a flame (consubstantiation) as opposed to the Catholic

view that the elements are changed in substance (transubstantiation). See

also Calvin and Zwinglian.)

Non-creedalto be bound by no creed, but only to the content of

Scripture.

Objectivepertaining to an object, as opposed to a subject. God in


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himself exists prior to the subject/object split, just as he is prior to

male/female differentiation. Yet both aspects reveal aspects of God to us.

That which is objective to us is outside ourselves. That which is

subjective is within.

Pneumatologythe study of the Holy Spirit.

Sacramentfrom the Latin word for mystery, used by the Church to

refer to things regarded as sacred vehicles of Gods grace. (Christ alone is

the true sacrament.)

Scholasticsa Medieval movement among Catholic theologians to

systematize the thought and writings of previous scholars and

theologians, later revived among Protestants who added to their subject

matter the content and tradition of 16th century Protestant thought and

theology.

Soteriologythe study of salvation.

Subjective pertaining to an subject, as opposed to a object. That whichis subjective is within us or from within our own frame of reference or

perspective.

Subsistencethat which exists within and of the same essence.

Theologythe study of God.

Yahwehthe primary, unique, and sacred name of God in Hebrew and

Aramaic, traditionally rendered LORD in many English translations, and

sometimes as Jehovah. Many passages in the Old and New Testament

speak of the importance of hallowing this name and making it widely

known and revered among the nations.

Zwinglianof the theology of Ulrich Zwingli, a Protestant reformer

who taught that baptism and the Lords Supper have no mystical or

spiritual qualities in themselves. See also Calvin and Luther.


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Endnotes

1. Jn 14:6b

2. Jn 12:44a, note context3. Jn 14:9

4. Heb 1:1-3f, Nicene Creed

5. Is 9:6

6. Jn 3:16

7. Heb 1:3

8. Heb 13:8

9. Jn 4:19; see also Jn 7:40

10. Jn 1:3

11. Col 1:17

12. 2Co 5:1713. 1Tm 1:9-10

14. Mt 3:13-4:1

15. e.g., Jn 17:1

16. e.g., Jn 14:16,17; 16:7,13-15

17. e.g., Jn 10:30

18. Heb 1:1-3

19. Col 1:15

20. Jn 16:13-15

21. Jn 7:37-39; 14:17; Ro 8:9-1122. Mt 28:20b

23. 2Tm 3:16

24. e.g., Ps 19:1-4: Ro 1:18-25; 10:17-18; 2Co 4:6

25. Lk 24:25-27

26. cf. 1Co 1:7

27. Ac 2:16-21

28. Jn 6:37

29. Heb 4:14-16; 1Pe 2:24

30. Ro 9:15

31. e.g., Gn 17:18-21

32. Mt 7:7-11; Lk 18:1 ff; Php 4:6

33. Jn 14:12; 15:7,8; Heb 4:14-16; 8:6

34. 1Pe 1:20; Rv 13:8

35. Ro 8:28; Eph 1:11,12

36. Rv 13:8; 17:8


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37. Lk 22:42

38. Eph 1:11

39. Ro 6:1-10

40. Eph 2:6

41. Ro 3:23; 6:23a

42. Is 64:6

43. Ro 8:3; 1Jn 2:2

44. Ro 5:8,9

45. 2Co 5:18-19

46. 2Co 5:20

47. Eph 2:8,9

48. Ro 4:22-25

49. 2Co 5:21

50. Ga 5:4

51. Jn 17:352. e.g., Jn 14:16-17

53. Ti 3:4-7

54. Jn 3:3-7

55. Ro 8:9-11; 1Co 12:13; Eph 1:13

56. 2Co 5:19-20; Jn 6:29,44; Eph 2:8,9

57. Col 2:17; Heb 10:1; Ro 8:3

58. Ga 3:3; Col 2:20-23

59. Heb 10:10

60. Ga 3:3; Php 2:12,13

61. Ro 8:8,9; 2Co 3:18

62. cf. Jn 15:5-7

63. Jn 16:14

64. Jn 14:23; 16:8

65. 2Co 3:18

66. Ga 5:22,23

67. 1Co 12:11

68. cf Acts 2:4; 4:31; Eph 4:4

69. Ga 5:16ff; Eph 5:18

70. Jn 15:8,26,27; 17:6-8,20-23,2671. Eph 2:19,20

72. 1Co 12:12,13

73. Ro 10:9-13; 1Co 1:2; cf Joe 2:32

74. Eph 2:11-16; 4:4

75. 1Co 10:16, Ro 6:3,4

76. Lk 24:30-31


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77. 1Co 10:16

78. e.g., Ro 6:3,4

79. Mt 16:15-18

80. Eph 5:29-30; Heb 3:6

81. Mt 20:25,26 ff

82. 1Co 7:4-5. Ro 14:4

83. Col 1:18

84. Heb 13:7,17

85. 1Pe 5:3

86. Heb 13:17

87. Ga 3:28

88. cf: Ac 18:2,18,26; 1Co 11:7; 16:19; Ro 16:1,2,3,6,7,12,15; Php 4:2,3;

1Tm 3:11;

Ti 1:5-9; 2:2-5

89. cf. Eph 4:11; 1Tm 3:1 ff; Ti 1:5-790. cf 1Tm 3:1-13; Ti 1:6-9; 1Pe 5:1-4

91. Ro 8:3

92. Gn 1:27

93. Ro 3:23

94. 2Co 5:16

95. Jas 3:9, cf. Jn 1:14; Ro 8:3; Heb 2:14

96. cf. Rv 21:24-27

97. Ro 3:23

98. Ac 4:12

99. 1 Jn 3:2

100. 1Pe 4:17

101. Jn 3:18

102. Heb 9:27,28

103. Ro 1:18

104. Rv 21:1

105. See the Constantinopolitan Creed, A.D. 381.

106. e.g., 1Ch 17:12; Heb 1:8

107. Ac 1:7

108. Mt 24:36-51; 1Jn 3:2,3109. Mt 28:19,20

110. Am 5:23,24; Mt 6:10


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Section II:

EXCURSUS OVER QUESTIONS OF DIVINITY

But the errors of heretics and blasphemers force us to deal

with unlawful matters, to scale perilous heights, to speak

unutterable words, to trespass on forbidden ground. Faith ought

in silence to fulfill the commandments, worshiping the Father,

reverencing with Him the Son, abounding in the Holy Spirit,

but we must strain the poor resources of our language to

express thoughts too great for words. The error of others

compels us to err in daring to embody in human terms truthswhich ought to be hidden in the silent veneration of the heart.

Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity


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Chapter 1: Is The Evangelical Jesus

As Divine As He Used To Be?

If you asked an Evangelical Christian, in as late as the mid-1970s, if JesusChrist is equal to the Father in all respects, or if he was somehow less or

subordinate to the Father in authority or rank, the unanimous reply would have

been that each member of the Trinity is equal in all respects, and that any

suggestion of hierarchy or subordination within the Trinity is an error likened to

Arianism and Jehovah Witness teaching.

But something has happened under the big tent of Evangelicalism. And

that answer is no longer unanimous. Today there are well-known and widely

respected Evangelical Bible teachers asserting that Jesus is eternally subject to the

Father.

I cut my theological teeth in the late 1970s studying the orthodox view of the

Trinity as a reply to the cults. Resources like Walter Martin'sKingdom of the

Cults and the Spiritual Counterfeits Project Newsletterhelped me shape my early

understanding of Jesus' full and complete deity. My studies since then, as a

theology student, pastor, and Christ-follower have spanned the history of doctrine

from biblical studies through the history of doctrine and dogma. The result hasbeen a deepened love in the deepest reaches of my soul for the Trinity doctrine.

Since the late 1970s a segment of Evangelical Christians has arisen with a

social agenda that has broken our previous unanimity on this doctrine, however.

Bent on imposing gender-based hierarchy in the family, church, and society, these

divergent voices have found it convenient and expeditious to harvest examples

from church history that cast some doubt on the certainty we Evangelicals once

had with regards to the total non-hierarchic and equal status of each Person in the

Trinity. They call themselves complementarians. But their ideas bear less

resemblance to complementarity than they do to Arians. These complement-

Arians do not see complementarity in terms of symmetry or parity but rather of

hierarchy and subjugation: ruler/ruled, leader/led, authority/submission. Their

more honest and proper classification might therefore be hierarchists,

patriarchalists, or subordinationists.


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The idea of subordination within the Trinity is a controversy with roots in

the early church and the writings of some church fathers. Yet very early it was

rejected as unorthodox during the great Christological and Trinitarian debates.

This was articulated in some of the great ecumenical creeds before any formalized

denominations divided the Church. Augustine and Athanasius strongly opposed

any form of subordinationism, as did later confessions of the Protestant

Reformation.

The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology defines subordinationism as: A

doctrine that assigns an inferiority of being, status, or role to the Son or Holy Spirit

within the Trinity. This doctrine was condemned by numerous church councils,

though it has continued in one form or another throughout the history of the

church.

We are seeing such a resurgence today among complementarianEvangelicals who naively view this as part of what it means to be conservative and

orthodox.

But the basis for opposing subordinationism is grounded in a truth expressed

by the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325, which declared that Jesus Christ is:

from the essence of the Father,

God from God,

Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten not created,

of the same essence as the Father.

The council was adamant that same means same, to the degree that the Nicene

Creed anathematizes those who say ... the Son of God is of a different nature or

essence, allowing for no variation.

Explanations by later councils and creeds clarified that this sameness of

nature means both the Father and the Son are equal in all respects and that there isno subordination within the Trinity. Consider:

Such as the Father is, such is the Son, such also the Holy Spirit. The Father

is uncreated, the Son uncreated, the Holy Spirit uncreated. The Father is

infinite, the Son infinite, the Holy Spirit infinite. The Father is eternal, the

Son eternal, the Holy Spirit eternal.... And in this Trinity there is nothing


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before or after, nothing greater or less, but all three persons are co-eternal

with each other and co-equal. Thus in all things, as has been stated above,both Trinity and unity and unity in Trinity must be worshiped. So he who

desires to be saved should think thus of the Trinity. (Athanasian Creed, c.

500)

Thus there are not three gods, but three persons, consubstantial, co-eternal;

distinct with respect to hypostases, and with respect to order, the one

preceding the otheryet without any inequality. For according to the nature

or essence they are so joined together that they are one God, and the divine

nature is common to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (5.017)

HERESIES. Therefore we condemn ... all heresies and heretics who teach ...

that there is something created andsubservient, or subordinate to another inthe Trinity, and that there is something unequalin it, a greater or a less....

(5.019) (The Second Helvetic Confession, 16th Century Reformed)

The Son of God, the second Person in the Trinity, being very and eternal

God, of one substance, and equalwith the Father.... (The Westminster

Confession, VIII, 2; 1647, Presbyterian)

We believe that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three

persons, that these are equal in every divine perfection.... (An Affirmation ofFaith, Article 2; adopted by the Baptist General Conference in 1951)

A question naturally arises due to statements in the gospels that indicate

that Jesus was in submission to the Father during his earthly ministry (cf. Matthew

11:27, John 5:26-27; 6:38; 8:28; 14:28). But such statements must be understood

first as within the temporal context of Jesus' mission and his voluntary choice to

humble and empty himself of divine rights in order to save humanity; in his

exaltation, Jesus returned to the equality he'd known in eternity (Philippians 2:6-

11; cf. John 1:1, 5:17-23; 10:15, 30; Titus 2:13; Romans 9:5; 1 John 5:7).

In Philippians 2:6-7, Paul marvels that although Jesus was equal to, and the

same as God, he voluntarily chose to submit himself to servitude. Hebrews 5:8tells us that Jesus' incarnation required him to learn obedience as a Son; apparently

it was not something native to his pre-incarnate relationship to the other members

of the Trinity.

Therefore, passages that seem to indicate that Jesus was subordinate to the

Father must be understood in the context of Jesus setting us a human example to


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submit to God and to one another. When Jesus knelt down and washed his

disciples' feet he repudiated the idea of his followers holding rank over one another

and urged them to imitate him in serving and submitting to each other (John 13:13-

17). He made the application himself that this example was a model he set for us

to follow, rather than acting as bosses or authorities over each other (Luke 22:24-

27).

So complete is the unity and equality of the Trinity that Jesus discloses the

amazing truth that the Father is also submitted to the Son. How did Jesus learn

submission? Though we rightly marvel at the degree of submission he gave the

Father, we dare not overlook the fact that in John 5:19 Jesus explained the source

of all his actions being that he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because

whateverthe Father does the Son also does. In other words, Jesus' actions towardthe Father mirrors the Father's own actions toward Jesus. (While unilateral

obedience was new to Jesus, belonging to the nature of his humanity, mutualsubmission was notmutuality being characteristic of the divine relationships

within the Trinity.)

Jesus further illustrates this by saying in John 11:42 that God always hears

himin the sense of respecting his requests (cf. 1 John 5:15). So sure was Jesus

of the Father's willingness to yield and cooperate with the Son, that he even

promised the apostles they would be able come to the Father and make requests in

Jesus' name and the Father would grant them on Jesus' behalf (John 16:23-24).

Furthermore, Jesus says the Father has committed allhe has to the service of theSon (Matthew 11:27). So complete was their mutual submission to one another

that in John 17:10 Jesus describes his relationship to the Father by telling him, All

I have is yours, and all you have is mine. In verses 11-12, Jesus reveals that he

and the Father share the same holy Name. In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus reveals that

this Name is shared by all the Godhead, while he also announces that by

resurrecting, now all authority in heaven and earth is again his. Is it any wonder

that Jesus longed to return the glory he shared with the Father before the world

began? (John 17:5,24) There, Jesus again shares his Father's throne. Yes, there

will be one throne, not two. Not one, slightly higher with the Father sitting on it,

with Jesus on his right on a slightly shorter throne. No, Jesus rightly possesses andsits upon even the Father's throne (Revelation 22:1).

It does not follow, then, that because Jesus chose voluntarily to be humanly

subordinated to the Father for the sake of saving humanity, that this means it is

mandatory for a whole category of people to permanently and unilaterally submitto another category of people based on created biological differences, like race,


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gender, or class. Yet this is the complementarian argument and agenda. To the

contrary, since the Father also submits to the Son, then it follows that submission

between husband and wife, or between Christians of all races, classes, and genders,

should be mutual toward one another. The character of Christ and of the gospel

stand in stark contract to all racism, classism, and sexism. This is how and why

Paul could declare that for the baptized Christ-follower:

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor

female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

This mutual submission/mutual authority is also beautifully illustrated in

Paul's teaching on sex within marriage. Perhaps nothing better depicts the

marriage relationship synecdochically than the act that unites the two into one

flesh. And it is was the creation of humanity as male and female that is said to

depict the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Yet it is here that Paul instructsspouses by way of using sex as a synecdoche for their entire relationship:

The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her

husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his

own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps

by mutualconsent.... (1 Corinthians 7:4-5)

And so the orthodox and biblical view of the Trinity challenges us to

understand submission in a new way, a way of true mutuality. Biblical submission

is demonstrated for us by One who is equal to the One to whom he submitted (cf.

Philippians 2:6-7). His example also explains how it is we are to submit to one

another as God's image bearers (Ephesians 5:21) while none of us is divinely

authorized to hold authority over another (Matthew 20:25-26; 1 Peter 5:1-3).


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Chapter 2: THE COMPLEMENTARIAN

AS ARIAN COMPLEMENT:

A Classic Protestant Response

To An Objection About Jesus' Eternal Status

I first realized complementarians were pulling Evangelicalism from its earlierTrinitarian purity when some noted Evangelicals (some of whom even taught at a

school with the word Trinity in its name) began to use an argument I had only

encountered before in (of all places!) discussions with Jehovah's Witnesses. That

argument is based on 1 Corinthians 15:24-28:

24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father,

after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. 25 For he

must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy

to be destroyed is death. 27 For God has put all things in subjection under

his feet. But when it says, All things are put in subjection, it is plain that

this does not include the one who put all things in subjection under him. 28

When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be

subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God

may be all in all. (NRSV)

The claim made by the complementarian, like that of the JW, is that Christ's

subjection to the Father in this passage indicates a place of eternal subordination to

the Father. The complementarian wants to maintain an eternal equality between

the Father and Son in their essence but not in their roles. In other words, the

complementarian espouses an equality that is in name only, because he insists on

an eternal subordination in terms of roles. Yet, the JWs are more honest in their

Arianism, seeing that an eternal hierarchy negates any real claim to eternal

equality, and therefore to any claim of deity.

So how are we to understand what this passage teaches us about Jesus and

the Father, in light of the clear biblical and historic orthodox position of true

equality and mutuality within the Trinity?

Ironically, many of these subordinationist complementarians claim to be

Reformed. Yet, the father of Reformed theology could not tolerate the thought of


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any subordination, inequality, or imbalance within the Trinity being impliedprima

facie in this text. John Calvin writes in his commentary on this passage:

This statement, however, is at first view at variance with what we read in

various passages of Scripture respecting the eternity of Christ's kingdom.

For how will these things correspondOf his kingdom there will be no end

(Dan vii. 14, 27; Luke i. 33; 2 Peter i. 11), and He himself shall be

subjected? The solution of this question will open up Paul's meaning more

clearly. In the first place, it must be observed, that all power was delivered

over to Christ, inasmuch as he was manifested in the flesh. It is true that

such distinguished majesty would not correspond with a mere man, but,

notwithstanding, the Father has exalted him in the same nature in which he

was abased, and has given him a name, before which every knee must bow,

&c. (Phil. ii. 9, 10). Farther, it must be observed, that he has been

appointed Lord and highest King, so as to be as it were the Father'sVicegerent in the government of the worldnot that he is employed and the

Father unemployed, (for how could that be, inasmuch as he is the wisdom

and counsel of the Father, is of one essence with him, and is therefore

himself God?) But to reason why the Scripture testifies, that Christ now

holds dominion over the heaven and earth in the room of the Father isthat

we may not think that there is any other governor, lord, protector, or judge of

the dead and living, but may fix our contemplation on him alone. We

acknowledge, it is true, God as the ruler, but it is in the face of the man

Christ. But Christ will then restore the kingdom which he has received, that

we may cleave wholly to God. Nor will he in this way resign the kingdom,

but will transfer it in a manner from his humanity to his glorious divinity,

because a way of approach will then be opened up, from which our infirmity

now keeps us back. Thus then Christ will be subjected to the Father,

because the vail being then removed, we shall openly behold God reigning

in his majesty, and Christ's humanity will then no longer be interposed to

keep us back from a closer view of God. (John Pringle's translation)

The translator's footnote on this section in Calvin offers this explanation from

Dick's Theology, vol. iii. pp. 250-251:

The mediatorial kingdom of Christ .... will end when its design is

accomplished; he will cease to exercise an authority which has no longer an

object. When all the elect are converted by the truth, and, being collected

into one body, are presented to the Father .... a new order of things will

commence under which the dependence of men upon the Godhead will be


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immediate [i.e. without mediation]; and Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one in

essence, counsel, and operation, will reign for ever over the inhabitants of

heaven.

In responding to the suggestion that 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 teaches an

eternal subjugation of Jesus to the Father, I offer the responses of these two

classical Protestant sources (Calvin's Commentary and Dick's Theology) to show

how orthodox Protestants properly affirm the eternal equality of the three Persons

of the Trinity.

Now, let's unpack what these commentators said, as there is a lot to learn

from these defenders of orthodoxy:

1. This passage presents a hapax that on the surface appears to conflict with what

is elsewhere clearly taught about Jesus' eternal reign.

Calvin: This statement, however, is at first view at variance with what we

read in various passages of Scripture respecting the eternity of Christ's

kingdom. For how will these things correspondOf his kingdom there will

be no end (Dan vii. 14, 27; Luke i. 33; 2 Peter i. 11), and He himself shall

be subjected? The solution of this question will open up Paul's meaning

more clearly.

The idea that Christ will end his kingdom and become a subject of another

clearly contradicts the clear and consistent biblical teaching elsewhere that Jesus'

kingship is eternal (modern pre- and post-millennialist fancies not withstanding).

Scripture does not contradict itself. So there must be an explanation for why Paul

speaks this way. Calvin will propose a scheme based on biblical distinctions

between Christ's function as a human mediator and his eternal status as true God

from true God. In doing this he alludes to distinguishing between the economic

and ontological Trinity.

2. There is a difference to note between Christ's reign as a human mediatorand

as the Divine Presence.

Calvin: In the first place, it must be observed, that all power was delivered

over to Christ, inasmuch as he was manifested in the flesh. It is true that

such distinguished majesty would not correspond with a mere man, but,

notwithstanding, the Father has exalted him in the same nature in which he


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was abased, and has given him a name, before which every knee must bow,

&c. (Phil. ii. 9, 10).

Calvin's first distinction is that: By becoming human, Christ now needed to

receive the kingdom from God. Though Jesus surely was its King before his

incarnation, yet it is remarkable and significant that he should receive the kingdom

and all power while in the flesh.

3. As a human, Christ now needed to be appointed and identified as the

Father's co-ruler and God's human face.

Calvin: Farther, it must be observed, that he has been appointed Lord and

highest King, so as to be as it were the Father's Vicegerent in the

government of the worldnot that he is employed and the Father

unemployed, (for how could that be, inasmuch as he is the wisdom andcounsel of the Father, is of one essence with him, and is therefore himself

God?) But to reason why the Scripture testifies, that Christ now holds

dominion over the heaven and earth in the room of the Father isthat we

may not think that there is any other governor, lord, protector, or judge of

the dead and living, but may fix our contemplation on him alone. We

acknowledge, it is true, God as the ruler, but it is in the face of the man

Christ.

Christ's appointment was needed because of his humanity, not because ofhis Sonship. Having become a human he became someone who did not

automatically hold title to the kingdom of heaven. Although he was entitled in his

humanity to Israel's earthly throne by lineage, yet it remained for heaven to

recognize and elevate the human that Christ became to the stature he held before

his incarnation.

As to divinity, the Father and Son are Vicegerents (co-rulers) and it is

impossible to ever conceive of them as being anything else, ever, at any time. For

the Father cannot exist without his own wisdom and counsel, which are titles

Scripture gives to Christ. They are of one essence and therefore Christ is God,even while clothed in human flesh. And so, even now, no one should assume that

one rules and the other rests or is unemployed. It will never be so. Rather, the

purpose of the incarnation was to allow us to see God's face in the flesh. Scripture

focuses on Christ's current rule now so that there would be no mistaking that Christ

truly is our Lord, God, Ruler, Protector, Judge, etc. Certainly God is the ruler.


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And Jesus is God. In fact, there is no face of God to be seen without looking upon

Christ's face.

4. Christ's current kingdom is moving toward consummation, which amounts

to the full restoration of what the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit had before God

became flesh. Christ's reign will then be transferred from humanity to his divinity.

Calvin: But Christ will then restore the kingdom which he has received,

that we may cleave wholly to God. Nor will he in this way resign the

kingdom, but will transfer it in a manner from his humanity to his glorious

divinity, because a way of approach will then be opened up, from which our

infirmity now keeps us back.

The kingdom was entrusted to Christ in his humanity for the very purpose

that we should be brought back completely to God, that we would cleave to God.Remember: to speak of God is to speak also of Christ, for there is no God apart

from Christ; the Father, Son, and Spirit are One. It is therefore absurd to speak of

God the Son resigning his rule of the kingdom of God, since doing this would

mean he would cease to be God. What then is he doing by surrendering the

kingdom to God, which is who Jesus is? Calvin answers that Jesus is

transferring it, in a manner of speaking, from the humanity that carried it during

the time of his mediatorship back to his divinity, which will now be accessible to

us in ways previously unknown due to the limitations of our current status in the

progress of salvation history.

5. The veil of Christ's flesh will then be removed so that (Jesus') divinity may

shine in its fullness and unmediated splendorin favor of divine intimacy with

God's people.

Calvin: Thus then Christ will be subjected to the Father, because the vail

being then removed, we shall openly behold God reigning in his majesty,

and Christ's humanity will then no longer be interposed to keep us back from

a closer view of God.

Since this is what will become of Christ's humanity, and the veil of his flesh

will be positioned so as to no longer hide the Triune God from our full access,

therefore one may say in a manner of speaking that Christ will be subjected to the

Father, in that the man we have known will have served his purpose. However,

he is subjected, or deemphasized, not as a divine Person in the Godhead but as a

human mediator, since mediation will no longer be needed. We will now know


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God as he is without the mediation of human flesh. But make no mistake about it:

The God we will get a closer view of is the God whom Christ is now and whom he

now embodies in human flesh.

6. God will be all in all as we see Jesus fully glorified with the Father and

Spirit as One, now united with God's people without a need for a human authority

over God's people.

Dick: The mediatorial kingdom of Christ .... will end when its design is

accomplished; he will cease to exercise an authority which has no longer an

object. When all the elect are converted by the truth, and, being collected

into one body, are presented to the Father .... a new order of things will

commence under which the dependence of men upon the Godhead will be

immediate [i.e. without mediation]; and Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one in

essence, counsel, and operation, will reign for ever over the inhabitants ofheaven.

This is a description of what Paul meant when he said the outcome would be

that God would finally be all in all (v. 28). In other words, Mission

accomplished! Now Jesus takes his rightful place between the Father and the

Paraclete, who had previously stepped back temporarily, to let Jesus represent

them. Now together, side-by-side, they reign as One, and Jesus' divinity shines

more clearly than ever. Divinity now reigns for ever over the inhabitants of

heaven in that God rules within every heart, in and among them. Rather than the

economic division of roles continuing in the Trinity, now they are one not just in

essence and counsel, but they are also one in operation as they reign.

Recapping This Truly Reformed View: It is clear that the orthodox view of the

Trinity being made up of equals compelled commentators like to Calvin and Dick

to understand theprima facie subjection mentioned in this passage as pertaining tothe economic Trinity, but not the ontological Trinity. The economic Trinity refers

to how the Trinity operates within salvation history. The ontologicalTrinity

speaks of its essence and eternal characteristics. Unlike subordinationist

complementarians, classic orthodoxy sees the economy as dynamic and temporal(or temporary) and the ontological as changeless and eternal (without beginning or

end).

The economic and ontological often coincide. But the economic operations

of the Trinity can sometimes reflect exceptions to God's nature that were made as

concessions to human limitations and need. These exceptions reflect divine


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choices and sacrifices for the sake of our redemption by operating within temporal

parameters. The economic Trinity may at times suspend eternal aspects of God's

being, as in Christ's kenosis, when Jesus emptied himself of divinity to become a

human servant (Philippians 2:6-7). But these economic adjustments never

permanently cancel out attributes of the ontological Trinity. Rather, in the end

they reinforce them by evincing the greatness of each divine Person and they

affirm ontological realities, as when Jesus' death and resurrection demonstrate his

eternal power over death.

However, when complementarians classify aspects of the economic Trinityas eternalthey cloud the distinction between the economic and ontological,

thereby calling into question Christ's true equality with the Father. This happens

most egregiously when they assign the Lord of lords and King of kings an eternal

role or position of a subordination.

In contrast to this, because it is inconceivable to orthodox thinkers like

Calvin that Christ could be equally God and yet eternally and unilaterally subject

to the Father, these orthodox theologians chose to interpret this passage within

context of the rest of Scriptureunlike Arians and Subordinationists who take it

out of the broader context of clear biblical doctrine.

Calvin and Dick came to these conclusions not only because of their

theology of the Godhead, but because of the Bible's teachings elsewhere on

Christ's kingdom. If Christ's kingdom truly is forever, then this passage cannot be

interpreted to mean that Christ's divine reign will ever end, especially by the divineJesus becoming an eternal subject himself. Rather, Jesus' subjection is always a

property of his humanity.

These classic Protestant thinkers saw that Christ's humanity would always be

subjected to his divinityof course, since it is humanity! But Christ is not just

human; he is also God. And since the kingdom of heaven was only transferred to

his humanity for a time and purpose to be fulfilled, then the fulfillment of that

kingdom would naturally have implications for Christ's human natureas it does

for all humanity. Once Christ's current human reign in the flesh serves its purpose,his eternal divinity will then shine in its steadand more fully, without the veil,

limitation, or mediation of human flesh. That for which he came to earth in the

first place will finally be accomplished, and the glorified Triune God will be

intimately one with his people.


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Calvin knew that for God to be all in all, Christ's full and equal divinity

needs to be kept centralin order to truly understand this text. And so Calvin didnot yield even for a second to the temptation to conclude, like Arius, that Christ

was or ever would be anything less than an equal with the Father in authority,

majesty, or power. Hurray for Calvin! And shame on all those who call

themselves Reformed and yet risk pouring down the anathemas of Reformed and

orthodox councils, creeds, and confessions on their own headsand the heads of

their followers.

Anyone tempted to respect Arian tendencies or ideas would do well to

consider the inconsistencies of such interpretations. We will look at some of these

inconsistencies in the next chapter, as there is no group better suited to demonstrate

the bankruptcy of the Arian orientation than the Jehovah's Witnesses. Their

doctrine, more than any other group's in history, has pressed out the logical out-

workings of Arianism when it comes to interpreting biblical texts about Jesus. Alook at the inconsistency of their teachings about Christ will give us insights into

his divinity and demonstrate how foolish it is to think Jesus could in any way be

less in stature than Yahweh (Jehovah) himself.


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Chapter 3: Speaking Of Arians....

A RESPONSE TO THE WATCH TOWER'S

LESSER DEITY

If any group today can be called the heirs of Arius, it is the sect that calls itselfJehovah's Witnesses (or the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society). In almost

every point of Christian doctrine they take issue with the orthodox believer. They

have even gone so far as to create their own translation of the Bible, The New

World Translation (NWT), which frequently differs from mainstream translations

if not all other translationson key passages pertaining to fundamental

doctrines. One of its most infamous revisions regards how to understand Jesus inrelation to the Godhead. When Christians encounter this dispute, they often find

themselves arguing about John 1, especially the end of verse 1:

NIV (2010): 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through

him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been

made.

NWT (2010): 1 In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with

God, and the Word was a god. 2 This one was in [the] beginning with God.3 All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even

one thing came into existence.

In most English translations, John 1:1 is rendered to declare that Jesus (the

Word) was with God in the beginning, was God (not a god), and that all things

came into being through him. The NWT, however, depicts Jesus as a god.

Using the NWT, JWs further claim that Jesus served Jehovah-God as a

master workman doing God's bidding, as a secretary might take dictation and dothe actual typing of a letter, although the one who dictated the letter is really the

author and gets the credit for creating the document. They note that a building

may be the work of a certain architect, even though the architect himself may never

have set foot on the actual construction site. The JW claims that as God's master

workman, Jesus was the brawn who did the labor conceived, designed and

directed by Jehovah.


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Where does one begin with this topic? So many have started in the

obvious places, arguing the Greek syntax and grammar of John 1:1, or focusing on

other passages where Jesus' divinity can be established or questioned. And yet

anyone who has participated in such debates can confirm this usually results in a

frustrating and dizzying circle of tail-chasing arguments that go nowhere for either

side.

I would like to propose an exercise that takes a different approach. Let us

briefly assume hypothetically that the NWT assumption is correct,for the sake of

argument, and that John 1:1 will be rendered for the time being as if to say the

Word (Jesus Christ) is a god, not The God. In fact, let's also assume for the same

of argument that the whole NWT will be used as our preferred translation for our

study of this question: Is Jesus God or a god?

Where does that lead us? How does accepting that belief stand up to other

NWT passages about Jesus and Jehovah?

I propose that when we make this assumption and then read even just a few

passages, we quickly stumble upon a cascading tumult of complications that do not

exist in the so-called Trinitarian translations. Let's consider these complications:

1. Isaiah and the CreatorComparing Isaiah 42:5; 43:111; 44:24; 45:5-8,12; John 1:1-3; Romans

11:36; Colossians 1:15

If we accept the NWT translation of John 1:1-3, quoted above, and its

rendering of Isaiah chapters 42 through 45, then we are faced with a major

contradiction between John's message and Isaiah's. Consider:

Isaiah John

42:5 - This is what the [true] God,Jehovah, has said, the Creator of the

heavens and the Grand One stretching

them out; the One laying out the earth andits produce, the One giving breath to the

people on it, and spirit to those walking in

it:

1:1 In [the] beginning the Word was, andthe Word was with God, and the Word

was a god. 2 This one was in [the]

beginning with God. 3 All things cameinto existence through him, and apart

from him not even one thing came into

existence.


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Isaiah John

44:24 - This is what Jehovah has said, your

Repurchaser and the Former of you from

the belly: I, Jehovah, am doing

everything, stretching out the heavensby myself, laying out the earth. Who

was with me?

[The implied contextual answer is: no one.

See the next chapter....]

1:1 In [the] beginning the Word was, and

the Word was with God, and the Word

was a god. 2 This one was in [the]

beginning with God. 3 All things cameinto existence through him, and apart

from him not even

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