Saturday, September 22, 2018

The Biblical Subordination of the Son


"The Christology of the apologies, like that of the New Testament, is essentially subordinationist. The Son is always subordinate to the Father, who is the one God of the Old Testament. . . .What we find in these early authors, then, is not a doctrine of the Trinity.. . .Before Nicaea, Christian theology was almost universally subordinationist." Grant, Robert McQueen (b.1917-d.?). Gods and the One God. 1st ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, c1986), pp. 109, 156, 160. BL785 .G69 1986 / 85-011443.

What does the Bible say about the Son's relationship to the Father:

Isa 11:1,2 "But there shall come forth from a shoot the stock of Jesse, And a sprout from his roots shall bear fruit; And the spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and might, The spirit of knowledge and reverence of Yahweh" Rotherham's Emphasized Bible
Heb 2:7,8 "For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels; and hast crowned him with glory and honor, and hast set him ruler over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet." Lamsa's Translation of the Aramaic Peshitta
1 Cor 11:3 "God is the Head of the Christ" 20th Century NT
Jn 17:3 "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." KJV
Mark 10:18 "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone." NASB
Jn 5:19 "I most solemnly say to you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, except as He sees the Father doing." Williams NT
Jn 6:38 "I came down from heaven, not to do what I want but what He wants who sent Me." Beck
Jn 7:16 "Jesus answered them and said, 'My doctrine is not Mine but His who sent Me"
Matt 20:23 "Truly, you will take of my cup: but to be seated at my right hand and at my left is not for me to give, but it is for those for whom my Father has made it ready. BBE
Luke 22:42 "He prayed saying 'Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done'" Worrell NT
Heb 5:8 "Although a Child, Jesus learned obedience through suffering." Inclusive Version
Rev 1:1 "This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show his servants the things that must happen soon." ISV
Acts 5:31 "Him has God exalted by his right hand as leader and saviour, to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins." Darby
1 Cor 15:27,28 "the Son himself will also be made subordinate to God" NEB
Phil 2:8,9 "and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient [even] unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted him
Jn 14:28 "I go on to the Father, because my Father is greater than I." Young
Mark 13:32 "As for that exact day or minute: no one knows, not even heaven's messengers, nor even the son, no one, except the Father." Funk, Hoover

Jesus has someone who is God to him

Micah 5:1-4 "In the majesty of the name of the LORD, his God." Smith&Goodspeed
Matt 27:46 "Jesus cried out...My God, my God, why have you abandoned me." God's Word
Jn 20:17 "I am going to ascend to My God and your God" New Berkeley Version
Rom 15:6 "So that you may together give glory to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one heart. NJB
2 Cor 1:3 "Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." TEV
2 Cor 11:31 "To God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" Geneva
Eph 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" BLE
Eph 1:17 "The God of our Lord Jesus Christ" Moffatt
Heb 1:7-9 " That is why God, your God, anointed you with [the] oil of exultation more than your partners." NWT
1 Pet 1:3 "Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Lattimore
Rev 1:6 "unto his God and Father" Montgomery
Rev 3:2 "in the sight of my God" Phillips
Rev 3:12 "the temple of my God....the name of my God...out of heaven from my God" Jewish NT

Exactly how many times does scripture have to attest to the subordination of the Son to His God and Father before it is actually believed?
1Cor.8:6 identifies the "one God" as the Father who is the source of creation. Jesus is explicitly excluded when he is next identified as the "Lord" who is simply the agent of the one God. 1Tim.2:5 states there is "one God" but then specifically EXCLUDES Jesus from being that one God by saying he is the "mediator" between GOD and humans. Without equivocation or replacing the word God with father, explain how can Jesus be the same God he is mediator for?
Far from being Almighty, Jesus is said to have a God over him before, during and after he came to earth (Mic.5:4, Rom.15:6, Rev.1:6; 3:2,12). Rather than being equal in power, Jesus is said to be in subjection to God even when he is as high as he ever gets (1Cor.15:27,28, Eph. 1:17; 19-22). Mat.28:18,19 says that when Jesus returned to heaven he had to be "given" all authority (power-KJV). If Jesus were equal to God in power, then why exactly would he need to be "given" any authority? (Mt.28:18; 11:27, Jn. 5:22; 17:2; 3:35; 2Pet.1:17) cf. (Mat.11:26-27, Dan.7:13-14, Phil.2:9).

"I submit that a responsible reading of Philippians 2 finds the doctrine of the eternal subordination of the Son implied in it. AS J.J. Muller has said in commenting on this text: 'The glorification of the Father is the ultimate purpose of all things.'" John V. Dahms, The Subordination of the Son, JETS, September 1994, 351-64

Robert Wilken wrote in _The Myth of Christian Beginnings:
"From the very beginning, the Christian tradition had struggled with the question of JESUS' relation to God . . . Very early Christians tried to account for his extraordinary life and accomplishments and his Resurrection, and it was not long before he was called Son of God--then God. EVEN SO, HE WAS NOT GOD IN THE SENSE IN WHICH THE FATHER WAS GOD--OR WAS HE? Was he creator, was he eternal, should he be addressed in prayer? These and other questions troubled thoughtful Christians for almost three centuries. During these years, MOST CHRISTIANS VAGUELY THOUGHT OF JESUS AS GOD; yet they did not actually think of him IN THE SAME WAY THAT THEY THOUGHT OF GOD THE FATHER. They seldom addressed prayers to him, and thought of him somehow as SECOND TO GOD--DIVINE, YES, BUT NOT FULLY GOD .
. . When the controversy over the relation of Jesus to God the Father broke out in the early fourth century, most Christians were "SUBORDINATIONISTS," i.e. they believed that Christ was God BUT NOT IN PRECISELY THE SAME WAY THAT THE FATHER WAS GOD" (See pp. 177-183).

"With the exception of Athanasius virtually every theologian, East and West, accepted some form of subordinationism at least up the year 355; subordinationism might indeed, until the denouement of the controversy, have been described as accepted orthodoxy." (Hanson, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God, p.xix)

"What, however, is said of his life and functions as the celestial Christ neither means nor implies that in divine status he stands on a par with God Himself and is fully God. On the contrary, in the New Testament picture of his heavenly person and ministry we behold a figure both separate from and subordinate to God" (Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, 1967-68, Vol. 50, pp. 258, 259).

Paul, of course, did not have an explicit doctrine of the Trinity, and he often appears to operate with a subordinationist christology (cf. 15:28)." (Richard Hays, 1 Corinthians, page 192).


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