I’m baffled when I read egalitarians who think that functional hierarchy presupposes disunity or the prospect of it.
Take, for example, this statement by Gilbert Bilezikian:
One of the weirdest heresies that has been generated in the last century pertains to the postulation of a hierarchical order within the members of the Trinity—as if there ever could exist a threat of discord or of misconduct that would require the exercise of authority within the oneness of the Godhead.1
Kevin Giles is guilty of this fallacious reasoning as well:
What seems to have happened is that contemporary conservative evangelicals who are opposed to women’s liberation in the church and the home have read back into the Trinity their understanding of the subordination of women: God the Father has become the eternal “head” of Christ, and the differences among the divine persons have been redefined in terms of differing roles or functions. Rather than working as one, the divine persons have been set in opposition—with the Father commanding and the Son obeying.2
[Read more…] about Hierarchy Does Not Necessitate Opposition
- Kevin Giles, Jesus and the Father (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), 1, emphasis mine. [
] - The Trinity and Subordinationism (Downers Grove: IVP, 2002), 16, emphasis mine. []