I Didn’t Know This!

One of the great things about being “maybe retired” is having a lot more time to read.  So it was I came across a book titled “The Rise and Fall of the Complementarian Doctrine of the Trinity” by Kevin Giles (1). I knew what complementarianism was, or so I thought, and have raised my hands (figuratively) in exasperation at what I have always thought was a bit of fig-leaf of a doctrine (for those of you who don’t know what it is, it is the way some parts of the church justify excluding women from leadership in the church) but I didn’t know there was a complementarian doctrine of the Trinity! This may also surprise those of you who think, as I did, that the doctrine of the Trinity had been done and dusted 1600 years ago – there’s a complementarian doctrine of the Trinity!? So it was with a feeling of intrigue that I dived into this book.

It was as good as a thriller, a page turner I couldn’t put down. As I delved into the nefarious doctrinal shenanigans surrounding the development and justification of the complementarian doctrine of the Trinity, open-mouthed astonishment would be a good description of my demeanour. The list of heavy-weight evangelical theologians and pastors nonchalantly strolling across the pages as major players in the development of major heresy – all to provide an irrefutable base for complementarian teaching about women – made me feel fortunate that I am of an age to have escaped their influence during my training!

What these heavy weight theologians and pastors argued was that the Son – the Second Person of the Trinity – is eternally and essentially subordinate to the Father. And, from this position argued that this conclusively demonstrated that women must be subordinate to men (a little oversimplified perhaps, but the essence of the argument). It turns out, that for most of my time as an evangelical Christian, the bulk of the evangelical world has subscribed to a version of the Trinity that was labelled  heretical all the way back at the Council of Constantinople in 381AD. I have been fellowshipping with heretics!

This may seem very obscure if you’re not a Christian, and even ordinary Christians might feel this is a bit dry, but we are taught by the ancient creeds of the church that the Father, Son, and Spirit are the same in divinity, power and authority; the Persons are each fully, and completely God but yet still one God. There are not three gods. It’s a mystery, and hard to get our heads around (who said God had to be simple?), but this has been what the church has professed since the 4^th century. But late 20^th – early 21^st century evangelicals have seemingly deviated from this teaching and have taught a version of the Trinity that leads to the Son being a lesser god than the Father and, with that, the theology of the atonement goes out of the window (how is all of our sin paid for by a lesser god?)!

The worrying thing about all of this is that it appears that foundational doctrine was changed simply to justify the subordination of women to men. Perhaps, the theologians and pastors involved would vehemently deny this, but this is what it looks like. Thankfully, It appears that in the last few years other evangelical theologians have recognised the serious departure from orthodox Christian teaching on the Trinity and have rejected the path taken by these senior theologians and pastors. How long this change of heart will take to percolate through the ranks of ordinary church ministers and local congregations who have been trained in this version of the Trinity is unclear. Complementarian teachers continue to argue their case but the fact that their leaders found it necessary to resort to fundamental heresy surely says all that needs to be said about the soundness of this teaching? It all seems like convoluted mansplaining to me!

1. Kevin Giles, The Rise and Fall of the Complementarian Doctrine of the Trintiy, 2017 Cascade Books.