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

Trinity Journal, Spring 1999 by Keener, Craig S

1Those who would call any claims of submission within the Trinity heretical (as even some of my complementarian friends have) would need to consider a large number of historically orthodox theologians "heretical"; see, e.g., the summary in Stephen D. Kovach, "Egalitarians Revamp Doctrine of the Trinity," CBMW News 2 (1996) 3 n. 3.

Curiously, Kovach claims (without citing any page numbers) that "Craig S. Keener . . . always refers to subordination in terms of oppression" ("Trinity," 3 n. 9, which also curiously lumps me among those who deny the Son's subordination), yet this charge actually contradicts the book to which it is attributed (e.g., Paul, Women & Wives [Peabody: Hendrickson, 1992]133-5, 229-30), as a more careful reading might have suggested (cf. e.g., Vaughn Crowe Tipton, "Paul, Women and Wives Surveyed," Baptists Today [Sept. 30,1993] 12, who notes that some who advocate gender equality will struggle with my "idea of Christian 'submission' not being a 'dirty word' [226]"). This might constitute one example of assuming that all proponents of a particular "side" of the debate hold a specific set of views.

3Interpretations of the title "Jews" vary considerably, but I argue in my forthcoming John commentary, parts of which I have adapted for this article, that John uses the title ironically rather than ethnically (see for now Craig S. Keener, "The Function of Johannine Pneumatology in the Context of Late First Century Judaism" [Ph.D. dissertation, Duke University, 1991] 330-49).

40n this misunderstanding as part of the larger pattern in the gospel, see D. A. Lee, The Symbolic Narratives of the Fourth Gospel: The Interplay of Form and Meaning JSNTSup 95; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994) 12-3,113.

5Despite the term's broad semantic range, the gospel employs it only six times, so the three times it appears in conjunction with the law are most significant. The LXX is not helpful here; "loosed the law" in 1 Esdr 9:46 means "opened the [book of] the law."

6Exegetes have long noted this Jewish teaching; see, e.g., J. A. Robinson, The Historical Character of St John's Gospel (2d ed.; New York: Longmans, Green & Company 1929) 38-9.

E.g., Pes. Rab. 23:8; 41:3; see further H. Odeberg, The Fourth Gospel (Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksells, 1929) 202. Though Ep,(...), "work," is a common term, it is significant here that it can apply to God's act of creation (Gen 2:2-3 LXX; Wis 13:1; Sib. Or. 1.22). Less likely is the proposal of F. Manns that Jesus carries out Jewish tradition's "works of mercy" ("Les oeuvres de mis*ricorde dans le quatrieme Pvangile," BibOr 27 [1985] 215-21).

oOn the daily renewing, see J. Bonsirven, Palestinian Judaism in the Time of Jesus Christ (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1964) 12 (citing the popular morning Shema's first benediction); on the miracles, see the third-century Palestinian Amora in Gen. Rab. 63:5.

9Pes. Rab. Kah. 2:4; 23:8; b. Sanh. 22a; Gen. Rab. 68:4; Num. Rab. 3:6; Pes. Rab. Kah. 2:4; cf. Lev. Rab. 8:1.

1Purportedly late first or early second-century tradition in Exod. Rab. 30:9, thou*h it may actually be later.