Is subordination within the Trinity really heresy? A study of John 5:18 in context

Trinity Journal, Spring 1999 by Keener, Craig S

nE.g., Epict. Disc. 1.9.32, e* EwauTou, "from myself" (though John consistently prefers arro in this phrase, ano usually functions as roughly equivalent to EK in this period). In John 10:18 it indicates Jesus' independence from those who want him dead, but explicitly not independence from the Father; cf. 18:34. Sifre Deut. 5.1.1;19.1.1; 25.5.1.

29See in this connection Gilbert Bilezikian, "Hermeneutical Bungee-Jumping: Subordination in the Godhead," JETS 40 (1997) 57-68, especially 59-61, whose points are worthy of note.

3Cf. the late parabolic comparison of Torah and prophets to a king's agent in Song Rab. 1:2, 2; cf. also the heavenly agent (in Philo, especially Israel) in P. Borgen, "God's Agent in the Fourth Gospel," in Religions in Antiquity: Essays in Memory of Erwin Ramsdell Goodenough (ed. J. Neusner; Studies in the History of Religions, Supplements to Numen 14; Leiden: Brill, 1968) 144-7; cf. Borgen, "Hellenism," 101-2.

31C. Mercer correctly argues that John's sending motif is incarnational, not docetic ("(...) and(...)in John," NTS 36 [19901 619-24); this Christology reveals the divine love that originates it (M. Waldstein, "Die Sendung Jesu und der Junger im Johannesevangelium," Internationale Katholische Zeitschrift/Communio 19 [1990] 203-21). Jurgen Becker meanwhile emphasizes the sending Christology ("Ich bin die Auferstehung und das Leben. Eine Skizze der johanneischen Christologie," TZ 39 [1983] 138-51). 32B. Ket. 99b-100a; for slaves, b. Git. 23a; cf. p. Git. 2:6, 1.

33Tos. Taan. 3:2 (tr. Neusner 2:274); also m. Ber. 5:5; b. Naz. 12b; cf. p. Git. 1:1, 1. For the sender's responsibility, see m. Meilah 6:1; but reportedly pre-Christian tradition in b. Kid. 43a holds the agent liable even if the sender is liable also.

34E.g., Dion. Hal. 6.88.2; Diod. Sic. 40.1.1; Jos. Life 65, 72-3, 196-8; 2 Macc. 1:20. Cf. Zeno's dispatch of two fellow scholars in his place in Diog. Laert. 7.1.9. 35Moses (Sifra Behuq. pq. 13.277.1.13-14; ARN 1 A, most MSS; Ex. Rab. 6:3; Pes. Rab. Kah. 14:5; cf. Jos. Ant. 4.329; in Samaritan literature, John Bowman, Samaritan Documents Relating to Their History, Religion & Life [POTTS 2; Pittsburgh: Pickwick, 1977] 241, 243; Wayne A. Meeks, The Prophet-King: Moses Traditions and the Johannine Christology [NovTSup 14; Leiden: Brill, 1967] 226-7); Aaron (Sifra Sav Mekhilta DeMiluim 98.9.6); the prophets (Mek. Pisha 1.87, Lauterbach 1:8; ARN 37, 95 B); others who execute God's will (Sifra Sav Mekhilta DeMiluim 98.9.5).

36John S. Holladay, "Assyrian Statecraft and the Prophets of Israel," HTR 63 (1970) 29-51, specifically 31-4; cf. Jdt 2:5; Virgil W. Rabe, "Origins of Prophecy," BASOR 221 (1976) 125-8, specifically 127.

37For OT perspectives on prophets, see W. A. Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy in 1 Corinthians (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1982) 43-54. David Hill observes that Grudem may go too far toward identifying the two, although Grudem does distinguish them (New Testament Prophecy [Atlanta: John Knox, 1979]116-7). Cf. also Otto Betz who thinks that apostleship is modeled "above all on the Old Testament prophet" (What Do We Know About Jesus? [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1968] 105).