My attention was drawn to the above video on Twitter<X>, in which Doug Wilson and James White are having a conversation about the doctrine of the Trinity. The Twitter<X> post can be seen in the following screenshot image (click to enlarge):
And here is the transcript:
“For the dozen or so folks left in social media who are actually honest. Here’s my discussion with DW [Doug Wilson] on the Trinity, EFS [Eternal Functional Subordination] etc., wherein I affirm the Son as αυτοθεος, reject EFS (without then attempting to burn all those who hold it at the stake), etc. It is, of course, tiring to have to correct the constant misrepresentation, but, it truly seems many on social media are only concerned about looks, not truth.”
EFS (Eternal Functional Subordination) relates to the question of whether God the Son continues eternally to be subordinate to the Father within the Trinity, in eternity in heaven; or whether that subordination relates only to his earthly ministry, during his mortal experience? I found an article in Wikipedia about it which explains it as follows:
“Eternal functional subordination or Eternal subordination of the Son is a Trinitarian doctrine which proposes a hierarchy within the Trinity, where though the Son is ontologically equal to the Father, He is subordinate in role, obeying the Father in eternity. … Eternal Subordination is contrasted with the view held by Augustine, where the obedience of the Son to the Father is only by virtue of His human nature.
• • •
“Wayne Grudem holds that the Son eternally submits to the Father, arguing that authority is not an attribute of God but of relationship. Grudem however denies that the doctrine of eternal subordination implies three wills in God, instead saying that God has one will but three distinctive expressions of that will. However, its critics have argued that Wayne Grudem’s view of the divine will is contradictory.”
The Greek word αυτοθεος (autotheos) is defined in English lexicons to mean “very God”. It is an expression of the so-called “aseity” (self-existence, self sufficiency) of God. Doug Wilson and James White evidently hold to that view. Here is a quote from that conversation, starting at 11:34 minutes into the video (emphasis added):
Doug:
“Everybody agrees that the Incarnate Son obeyed his Father; everybody agrees that Jesus in his humanity was submissive to the Father; and so a proof text that shows that the Incarnate one obeyed his Father, is neither here nor there in this discussion. The issue is not, Did God the Father send his Son to the cross at Jerusalem; the issue is, Did God the Father send his Son into the world? So the decision for … the Second Person in the Trinity to become incarnate; the question is whether that was a “sending”? So all the “sending” in [within] the human life of Christ is immaterial to the point under discussion. So we are talking about, is there Authority and Submission at any level of any kind within the Godhead, apart from a world even having been created?”
James:
“Right, so in other words, when we talk about the Eternal Covenant Redemption; the idea that the Father, Son, the Spirit—and we don’t say this temporally, but logically at some point in time—chose to create in such a way as to bring maximum glory to to the Godhead; and each of those divine Persons took the roles they took—was there a necessary hierarchy of relationship prior to that, that would have marked the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit in their relationship to one another—so the eternal subordination, not just to a temporal.”
Doug:
“Such that when the Incarnation happened, it was not conceivable that the Father would be the one who would become incarnate.”
James:
“That is one of the issues that comes up, exactly.”
Doug:
“Right, so now the problem—I would go back, and we both used that term for our viewers, talking about God in his essence, apart from the Incarnation, apart from the world. We are talking about the relationships of this Persons of the Trinity odd intra, within himself, without reference to the outside world, you know.”
James:
“And creation, and anything that comes from how he acts in time. This is God considered simply as God.”
Doug:
“Right, the way he is now. So the argument is, the people who are concerned about the economic, the eternal subordination of the Son, will say, this necessitates two wills; because I have never seen a command, and an obedience to that command, that didn’t entail two wills—which you do have in the garden [of Gethsemane]. So Christ says, Nevertheless not my will, but your will; so you have two wills there; but again, that is the Incarnate Christ saying that. So if you say ESS [Eternal Subordination of the Son] requires that you stipulate that the … Godhead has two or three wills, then that would be heretical; that really is heresy proper. But the issue is, how much of this is us trying to get operate above our pay grade; so when we get into the inner workings of the Trinity before the world was created, I like to think of it as junebugs trying to do quantum physics!”
Well I have good news for these folks (or bad news, depending on how they want to look at it!); all of that painful philosophical and hypothetical speculation can be avoided by simply staying close to the word of God. Firstly, the Bible certainly does teach that God the Father sent The Son into the world—contrary to Doug Wilson’s false assumptions and speculations:
John 3:
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
1 John 4:
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:
14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
John 5:
37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
That alone is sufficient to negate Doug Wilson’s argument completely (and James White’s also, who is agreeing with him). But there is more. In the following verses, the Son is made subordinate to the Father in his divinity, not just in his humanity. The Father is God over the Son now, in his divinity, not just in his humanity:
John 20:
17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
Jesus spoke those words after his resurrection and glorification, not in his mortality. In other words, God the Father is God over the Son now in heaven, in their triunity, not just in his mortality.
Matthew 28:
16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
The same here. Jesus spoke these words after his resurrection, glorification, and ascension into heaven. When he says, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth,” it implies that there was someone greater than him, or above him, who gave all of that “power” unto him—after his glorification and ascension into heaven. And the following verses further confirm the above:
Romans 15:
6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:
31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.
Ephesians 1:
2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
• • •
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.
Ephesians 5:
20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Colossians 1:
2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
1 Peter 1:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
These refer to the Deity of the Father over the Son in their current state within the Trinity or the Godhead. Indeed, Inherent in the idea of “father” and “son,” is seniority and subordination. A son is always junior and subordinate to a father. The very fact that concepts of “father” and “son” are employed in the description of the Trinity, necessarily implies seniority and subordination. In his final prayer to the Father Jesus says:
John 17:
5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
That refers to Jesus Christ in his divinity, not humanity. And in case anyone should still have any doubts, the following verses nails it down completely:
1 Corinthians 15:
27 For he [the Father] hath put all things under his [the Son’s] feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he [the Father] is excepted, which did put all things under him.
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him [the Son], then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him [the Father] that put all things under him, that God [the Father] may be all in all.
The Bible teaches that God the Father elevated Jesus Christ “Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church.” (Ephesians 1:21-22) The implication of that is that God the Father is, and continues to be, and will forever remain, higher and greater in dominion and authority over the Son.
But there is still more. Doug Wilson raises a question: are there two “wills” in the Father and the Son, or one will? Do the Father and the Son each have their own independent “wills” (in eternity, in their divine triunity); or do they have one will? The Bible talks about the “unity” of the Father and the Son, that they are “one”. Does that mean that they have one identical “will;” or does it mean that they each have their own independent wills—but voluntarily choose to harmonize their wills, so that they act in perfect harmonious unison with each other? Doug Wilson evidently thinks that they have one identical will. But the Bible says something different:
John 17:
11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
• • •
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
What that tells us is that the “unity” that the Father and the Son have is, or will be identical to the unity of the Saints with them—no difference. It even goes so far as to say that they will have the same identical glory that the Father and the Son have—in order that they may be made “one” with the Father and the Son, as the Father and the Son are one with each other. There will be no difference between the “oneness” of the Father and the Son; and the “oneness” of the Saints with them. So there can only be one conclusion: their Calvinistic or Reformed theology is heretical, unbiblical, and false—from start to finish, from the beginning to the end—and the sooner they ditch it, the better it will be for all concerned.
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