The Trinity & Egalitarianism

Now in the confession of the Trinity we hear the heartbeat of the Christian religion: every error results from, or upon deeper reflection is traceable to, a departure in the doctrine of the Trinity (Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 2, God and Creation, 2:288).

What a remarkable and fascinating statement penned by Herman Bavinck! Though it may be an overstatement in some ways, I think he is right. Any doctrinal or ecclesiastical issue can ultimately be traced back to an unbiblical and unorthodox understanding of the persons, roles, and relationships between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

One example of theological and practical error seen today in the home and the church is the practice of egalitarianism in church roles and marriages. Many vehemently oppose the idea that women are subordinate to men concerning roles in the church and in marriage. The argument is that if women are subordinate in roles, if women are to be submissive to their husbands and church leadership, then men are superior to women as human persons. Yet, they argue that because the Bible says that men are not superior humans to women, then all roles should be equal! And so we see women usurping roles within the church that have been ordained by God to be fulfilled by men alone (e.g.- elder), and we see women refusing to be submissive within their marriage to their husbands.

Yet, this isn’t a cultural reaction and issue as much as it is a blatant rejection of the Biblical and orthodox understanding of the Trinity! Egalitarianism is a perfect example of Bavinck’s summation mentioned above. The fruit of egalitarianism can be traced back to the root of rejecting the orthodox understanding of the Triune God. For, we see time and time again from the Scriptures that though the Father, Son, and Spirit are all the same in substance and equal in power and glory (WSC, 6), the Son is subordinate to the Father in their roles and relationships.

We see this reality, for example, in the following verses:

1 Corinthians 15:25-28:

For he [Christ] must reign until he [God] has put all his enemies under his [Christ] feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God [the Father] has put all things in subjection under his [Christ's] feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he [God] is excepted who put all things in subjection under him [Christ]. When all things are subjected to him [Christ], then the Son himself will also be subjected to him [God] who put all things in subjection under him [Christ], that God may be all in all.

John 5:19, 26-27, 30

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise…For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man…“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

John 17:4

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

Therefore, Egalitarianism should not be seen as a secondary issue, because it strikes at the locus of the Christian confession by holding to a radically unbiblical understanding of the Trinity!