Is the Trinity Egalitarian or Complementarian?
- Elaine R Kelly
- Oct 2, 2021
- 7 min read
Updated: Oct 12, 2024
The voices teaching that God gave men and women different but complementary roles have grown louder in recent years. In theory, Complementarians say that women and men are equal. In practice, Complementarianism is focused on authority in male patriarchal leadership. It is hierarchal, with women always having subordinate roles while men may have any role. Complementarians also say that only men may speak and lead in families, churches, businesses, and politics. They say that the Holy Trinity models this idea: Jesus is equal to the Father but subordinate, similar to a wife being subordinate to her husband.
It's a heresy quite different from the orthodox teaching of the Holy Trinity. The Trinity is a doctrine to describe God; it was never intended to be a model to describe human families or church or social hierarchies. But if it were, would the Trinity be Egalitarian or Complementarian?
Primacy of the Father in the 4th Century
In the 4th century, some church leaders asserted an interpretation of the Trinity with the primacy of the Father. If they could show the Father having authority over Jesus, it would justify bishops having authority over the church. Arians said Jesus was made of a similar substance but not fully divine of the same substance. Arians taught that Jesus was subordinate to the Father, created by the Father, begotten after the Father and did not always co-exist with the Father.
As early as AD 325, at the Council of Nicaea, representatives of all Christian churches met and agreed on the doctrine of the Trinity: that God is one, in three persons from the beginning, made of the same substance. The Nicene Creed says there is "one Lord Jesus Christ... begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father." I affirm what the church has taught for millennia: Jesus is Lord, and Jesus is God incarnate, not subordinate to God.
Primacy of the Father in the 21st Century
Complementarians assert a re-interpretation of the Trinity with the Father having authority over Jesus and Jesus submitting to the Father. If they can show the Father having authority over Jesus, it could justify men having authority over women. Today some church leaders want to assert the primacy of the Father to justify the submission of women. John MacArthur, a well-known Complementarian Christian, discusses his change in belief from the traditional view of equal persons in the Trinity to the patriarchal view of Jesus as the eternally subordinate Son:
"I have abandoned the doctrine of 'incarnational sonship'.... the relationship between God the Father and Christ th eSon as an eternal Father-Son relationship. I no longer regard Christ's sonship as a role He assumed in his incarnation." John MacArthur in Reexamining the Eternal Sonship of Christ, quoted on page 130, Woman this is War! by Jocelyn Andersen.
Complementarian theologian John Piper states not only that wives should be submissive to their husbands but that all women should be submissive in society, avoiding work that involves them leading or giving direction to men. Piper would steer women away from careers including teacher, preacher, pastor, counsellor, advisor, police officer, sergeant, manager, director, military commander, or corporate or political president.
Like other Complementarians, Tim Challies states that the relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Trinity is a perfect example of submission. Challies states that the Father is the head and Jesus's eternal submission to the Father provides a pattern for how women should submit to men. In addition, Wayne Grudem and Bruce Ware "unapologetically set gender relationships as the frame" for their views on the Trinity. Mike Ovey suggested that there is a difference of will between the Father and the Son and that the Son eternally submits his will to that of his Father.
The Eternal Subordination of the Son is a radical departure from the view of the orthodox teaching that the Trinity is three equal persons made of the same substance, as taught by the Christian Church and confirmed in the Nicene Creed of AD 325. This incorrect view of the Holy Trinity subordinating Jesus as less than God has been used to promote an incorrect view of eternally subordinating women as less than men. Speakers teaching Complementarian viewpoints are well-funded and have a large marketing and distribution network. They deny that their new interpretation of the Trinity is motivated by a human desire to place women in submissive roles.
The Economic Trinity deals with what God does, and how the three persons relate to one another and to the world. It shows different functions and roles suited to the gifts of each of the persons of the Trinity, with each of the equal persons working mutually for the common goal. Some Christians have used the Economic Trinity to teach that the Son is subordinate to the Father, not equal but in submission; not eternal but coming subsequently, and not made of the same substance or essence as the Father. Complementarians refer to it as household management, with the household running more efficiently when roles in the family are assigned by gender. They extrapolate this new view of the Trinity to a human family, with roles assigned by gender and the father as the leader and authority of the family. In this scenario, the homemaker is not equally valued, not financially compensated, does not always have freedom for financial decisions, and is not always free to act of her own will or pursue her own mission or calling in life.
While Complementarians deny that their view changes the doctrine of the Trinity, their re-interpretation of centuries-old Christian doctrine suits their goal of restricting women to submissive and subservient roles. While Complementarians may say that they are reversing decades of worldly feminism, they are in fact reversing centuries of Christian teaching about equality and the Trinity.
Ontological Trinity: Three Equal Persons
Ontology is the study of being and essence. The Ontological Trinity deals with what God is. It states that each of the three persons is equal in their attributes and nature. Each is divine and eternal, omniscient, and omnipresent. Each person of the Trinity is God, whole and entire.
As early as the 5th century, St. Patrick attempted to describe the Trinity using the image of a shamrock: three leaves on a single stem making one plant, like three persons of the Trinity in one God.
Many theologians show how the Eternal Subordination of the Son (ESS) opposes Scripture and Christian church creeds. Liam Goligher of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals pointed out that the church rejected the idea of the Father being first and foremost, and upheld the three persons of the Trinity as equal. Goligher goes on to say that portraying Jesus as subordinate is to move away from Christian doctrine and that it is idolatry to say something about God which is untrue. He points out that using the view of the Trinity to demonstrate submissiveness is a departure from biblical Christianity as expressed in our creeds and confessions from the beginning of the church.
Theologian Mike Bird suggests that if those who use the Trinity as an example of submission are not Arian, they are at least following the belief that God the Son is not of the same substance as God the Father, rejecting the Nicene Creed and centuries of Christian orthodoxy. The Nicene Creed called Arianism and the subordination of the Son a heresy. At the very minimum, it is a new and novel way of talking about the doctrine of the Trinity. He also questions the idea of the Trinity as a model for human marriage.
Who are the Three Persons
The Holy Trinity consists of three persons with three roles: the Father is the creator, the Son is the redeemer, and the Spirit is the sanctifier. The Father and Son have existed eternally and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. They have different roles but they are of the same essence and power. Each is God. All of the roles are equally essential and valued. There is no hierarchy. Each person of the Trinity fulfils a function based on its gifts, mission, and function. The three persons together have the same will and voluntarily work to achieve it. They serve one another mutually, equally, and in partnership. Egalitarians oppose the primacy of the Father and dispute the use of the Trinity as an example of one-way submission.
In the third century, a priest named Sabellius understood the Trinity as one person: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were one being who operated in three modes. This understanding of the Trinity was called Sabellianism or Modalism and it was considered a heresy because it asserted there was only one person in the Godhead. It denies three distinct persons in a relationship in the Trinity. We speak of the three persons of the Trinity having unique roles and can compare it to a human who may have three roles at once: son, father, and uncle. Similarly, H2O can be present as ice, water, or steam. Each of the three modes is of the same essence, yet they are distinct. God can show up in any form or mode. These descriptions are considered heresies because they focus on one God instead of a Triune God.
Some explained the Trinity as an egg, composed of a shell, albumen, and yoke. Here the problem is that each person of the Trinity is whole, not part. The Trinity is not three parts that become God when they are united; the Trinity is three persons, each fully divine.
The Trinity a Relationship of Equal Persons
Jesus himself says "No one takes my life away from me. I give it up of my own free will" (John 10:18). Jesus Christ humbled himself, took the form of a servant, and laid down his life voluntarily, not as a form of submission. Jesus states, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). Teaching that Jesus came after the Father, is not of the same substance as God, and is fully submissive would take away Jesus's deity.
The Trinity is a picture of equals working together: Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Redefining it to show headship power and meek submission promotes a view of human relationships that is more concerned with hierarchy and less concerned with love and service; more concerned with worldly power and less concerned with biblical truth. Redefining the Trinity to fit with a human goal for male hierarchy opposes God's goal for mutuality, serving one another, loving one another, and working together towards joint goals. That is a model of the Trinity I can get behind for marriage and families.
Elaine Ricker Kelly Author is empowering women with Christian fiction about women in the Bible and early church and Christian blogs about women in leadership, church history and doctrine. Her books include:
Forgotten Followers from Broken to Bold, Book 1
The Sword A Fun Way to Engage in Healthy Debate on What the Bible Says About a Woman's Role
Because She Was Called: from Broken to Bold, Book 2, A Novel of the Early Church, imagines Mary Magdalene's trip to testify before the emperor
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