Does a relationship of authority and submission really exist eternally among the persons of the Godhead?  We know that while Jesus Christ walked the earth he was fully submitted to the Father, while remaining fully equal as God. But has he and will he forever be God, yet also ever in a relationship of submission to the Father? 

It's a very important question. While the commands of Scripture in Ephesians 5:22 for instance, referring to the distinct roles between men and women under God's design are clear— they, as God's Holy Word, need no further defense to be obeyed. Still, what beauty, what wonder, what glory remains to be seen as we peer into the relationship between God the Father and God the Son that the Scriptural authors open to us?

A question that arises out of the above debate is how does the relationship of the Godhead inform our relationships between the sexes? If equality of essence and distinction of roles exist eternally in the trinity, what a strong paradigm that provides for human relations between the genders.

Four evangelical scholars will consider the important question on the nature of the triune Godhead next month in a theological debate set for 7 p.m., Oct. 9 in the chapel at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in Deerfield, Ill.

Defending the non-subordination view will be Tom McCall, Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at TEDS and Keith Yandell, who serves as Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Noted scholars Wayne Grudem and Bruce Ware will represent the complementarian position which affirms that a structure of authority and submission will exist for eternity in the Godhead. Both Grudem and Ware are well-known across the evangelical world and both have published extensively on the gender issue.

Grudem is the author of numerous books, including Evangelical Feminism: The New Path to Liberalism? and Evangelical Feminism & Biblical Truth: An Analysis of More than 100 Disputed Questions. He also co-authored with John Piper the seminal complementarian work, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism. Grudem formerly served as President of The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. He presently serves as Research Professor of Bible and Theology at Phoenix Seminary in Phoenix, Ariz.

Ware has also authored several books, including Father, Son and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles and Relevance, a work which, in part, argues the case for the eternal structure of authority and submission within the Godhead. Ware has also authored numerous important articles "Tampering With the Trinity." Ware presently serves as Professor of Christian Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and is the incoming president of the Evangelical Theological Society. Ware has been actively involved in the ministry of CBMW for many years.

The debate is sponsored by the Henry Center at TEDS. For more information, please see www.henrycenter.org/trinitydebates.php.

This promises to be an important theological event illuminating well the contours of both sides in a complex matter. Join us as we pray, "Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name" (Psalm 86:11, ESV).

As the dialogue continues about Governor Sarah Palin, it seems increasingly clear how God is using this discussion to build up the church.  One perceptive egalitarian friend eloquently captured this thought:

Personally, I am thankful for the discussion I hear all over the place, amongst my friends, family, and community members, as well as in the blogosphere. Underlying currents of belief are being forced into the open, and we all have to deal with our own culturally- derived, personally-derived and Biblically derived presuppositions--- more often, a messy mix of all three--- and examine them carefully in the light of day and in the flesh and blood realities of life on planet earth.

Another friend wrote in with another dilemma presented by this situation:

I'm honestly struggling with the Sarah Palin thing.  If I was counseling a woman who had young children (one with special needs) and a daughter who was pregnant, I would not encourage her to go take a job that would pull her away from her family and diminish her role as a wife and mother.  Actually I would not encourage a man to take a new, more demanding job under the circumstances.  I don't think my dilemma has to do with being a complementarian, but with wisdom according to Titus 2 and Proverbs 31.

I feel the weight of these questions and agree that this discussion would be more straightforward if the vice presidential nominee were a sage-like woman in her sixties with no children at home.  Nevertheless, we are forced to think clearly and biblically once again.

The key point to this discussion, however, is to focus on the actual question being presented to voters in the United States.  Whether or not it is wise to run for public office in this situation is a question for Sarah Palin, her husband, and her pastor before God.  

Christian voters are only presented with the question of who is likely to rule the country in a way that is just and most consistent with the Word of God. I don't believe that voters will be complicit in tempting her to work outside the home, since this decision apparently has already been made.  In essence, it was made when she became governor of the state of Alaska.

Let me be clear: I am not arguing that this was a wise choice, only that it conceivably could be a godly decision and that it would not  necessarily be wrong to vote for Governor Palin.   At this point, no  one is asking voters whether or not this was wise, but which candidate will rule most consistently with biblical values. While specific cases appear to be biblically permissible, we must always keep in mind that humble male leadership has been the clear norm throughout the Bible and history.

"Abraham had in his tent a house of God and a church, just as today any godly and pious head of a household instructs his children in...godliness. Therefore such a house is actually a school and church and the head of the household is a bishop and priest in his house." - Martin Luther

So the title page of a new children's book begins. Pastor, Daddy, by Lindsey Blair and Bobby Gilles, deftly imparts a vision for ‘every father a pastor in his home.' Its stated aim is to teach preschool children the Christian doctrine of the home as a "little church" where the father teaches his family God's commands and leads them to worship the one true God through his Son Jesus Christ.

This grand truth seems so far removed from the common Christian worldview that a book like this is necessary not just to introduce 3-year-olds to the idea, but their dads as well. Over the last generation or so, the pastorate has become increasingly professionalized. To that degree, it has also been somewhat isolated from the person in the pew. Because of this clergy/laity gap, most dads have been willing to leave religion to the professionals. 

It's no wonder that many young dads today don't posses a clear vision in their minds for their own role as the pastor of their homes.  Perhaps they did not have a viable example of such a role from their own fathers?

This is the unfortunate need that Blair and Gilles so ably assuage in their book Pastor Daddy. The writers employ the winsome format of poetry.

My family goes to Sunday church. We see the pastor there.

He teaches us the Word of God and leads us all in prayer.

We pray and praise God at our house

He makes our family glad

Our is like a little church

The pastor is my dad.

And on it goes for twelve delightful pages.

Little toddlers might find the idea of daddy being a pastor in the home rather charming. What little child wouldn't be giddy with the joy of daddy and mommy together praying over her?  However, some dads might find this whole idea daunting. Recognizing that understandable disinclination, the Apostle Paul's exhorts dads: "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in discipline and instruction of the Lord' (Ephesians 6:4, ESV).

Dads remember this: it's never too early, nor too late to start teaching these things to your children. God wants you to fully succeed as the pastor of your home. Give yourselves to it with all your might.  Lay hold of your complete dependence on the Spirit of Christ for every step of obedience, including the steps you must take to lead your wife and children in prayer, Bible-reading and song. A great way to begin is by reading them this book.

Life is endlessly interesting and God's Word speaks to every facet of this complex and joyful life.  Lifted suddenly from relative obscurity, Governor Sarah Palin is now being analyzed (and accused) in the media from unprecedented angles.  It is encouraging to see Christians thinking biblically and quickly about this new dimension of the presidential campaign.  Nathan Finn notes, "There may be any number of reasons why Sarah Palin—or any other female—would make a problematic candidate for high political office. But gender should not be one of those reasons.   He also quotes Barrett Duke:

God's design for male headship in the home and the church does not require the exclusion of women from leadership in public life, where spiritual headship is not involved. Such extrapolation carries the biblical teaching about the role of women beyond the Bible's own application.

It is permissible for a woman to serve, and she is not required to imitate a man to attain that position.  The Bible expansively shows that from the beginning men and women were created to be quite different.  Even though a man or a woman could serve in a particular office, it does not extinguish the innate differences between male and female leaders.   J. I. Packer notes, "It is important that the cause of not imposing on women restrictions that Scripture does not impose should not be confused with the quite different goals of minimizing the distinctness of the sexes as created."  Though equal in value and dignity, men and women are created to be complementary in their role and function in the church and home.  These complementary differences will necessarily be expressed in other areas of life.

When placed in leadership, a woman sometimes feels the need to abandon her femininity.  A woman serving as a Vice President is still female, and her womanliness should be expressed as she serves.   Though biblically permissible, if a woman is elected vice president, it will feel peculiar for quite a while.  We will need to resist the urge to typecast the Vice President into a "national mom" or another more familiar form of female leadership.  There will also be an element of personal strain on the people because there are inalienable aspects to the sexes.  Packer says:

By this I mean that, other things being equal, a situation in which a female boss has a male secretary ... will put more strain on the humanity of both parties than if it were the other way around.  This is part of the reality of the creation, a given fact that nothing will change.

This reminds us that male headship in the church and home naturally (though not necessarily) extends into other areas of life.  A woman Vice President is permissible, but humble male leadership is more typical. Even though Esther and Deborah are viewed positively in Scripture, they were the exceptions in a long line of kings and male leaders.

It has been encouraging to have so many asking about how God's design of manhood and womanhood and relates to serving in public office.  In the midst of proliferating questions and commentaries, it seems there is confusion regarding the consistency of the complementarian position.  It manifests itself in questions such as: Can a woman preside over the Senate but not teach a Bible study for men? Do complementarians really believe that a woman could lead a country but not a local church? 

Complementarians only seem to be inconsistent if one overlooks the priority of the church and misses the distinction between the church and and civil government.  This confusion is resolved when one understands that complementarians simultaneously hold a high view of Scripture, a high view of women, and a high view of the church.

The church —the bride of Christ — is eternal, but every government is temporary.   Government has been instituted since the Fall, whereas manhood and womanhood, marriage and family, and the fellowship of all true believers are part of the design of creation. God oversees all governments and the "king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will" (Proverbs 21:1).  God establishes and sustains every legitimate civil authority to restrain evil (Romans 13:1-6). But Christ died for the church; he did not die for any government.  Even more the church is called the body of Christ, with Jesus directly as the head (Ephesians 5:23).

Jesus Christ is preeminent in creation.  All things have been put under his feet (Ephesians 1:22), and he is the head of the church.  Therefore we must put the church at the center of life and push all other things - governments, economies, houses, cars, flat-screen televisions - to the periphery.  As one author states it, "The church is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church.

In this light, even though a man is elected president of the most powerful country in the free world, he is not necessarily qualified to lead a small local church, according to the moral criteria for overseers in 1 Timothy 3.  We hold a high view of women and assert that women are capable of serving as president of the United States (and inevitably will).  It is not a question of ability, but a recognition that the Bible reserves for men the final teaching and ruling authority in the church. I will not pretend to produce a reason to explain this difference in roles (i.e. men tend to be taller, are more warlike, fiddle with mechanical things, etc.), except to note that every case the Scripture defends this difference with an appeal to the original created order.

It seems God had particular things in mind when he originally designed manhood and womanhood.  I tremble at an attempt to represent the vast mind of an omniscient God, but I believe that as God views the world, his gaze is attracted primarily to the local church where faithful pastors are quietly working.  Which political party is controlling the White House or the gender of the person occupying the Oval Office is a secondary concern.

Complementarians hold a consistent view of the role of women in the church, home, and political office by keeping in mind the priority of the church with respect to civil governments.  For the same reason, we encourage you to thank the pastor of your own local church for his humble service.  Even if he did not give a rousing speech in front of a national convention this week, he does labor week after week to preach the gospel and to care for your soul.

Read Part 1, Part 3, Part 4