There has been no shortage of ink spilled over [the eternal relations of authority and submission within the Trinity], and I have already responded to some of Strachan’s comments before. Additionally, many theologians of much greater abilities and knowledge than I possess have addressed the unorthodox view of the eternal subordination of the Son with clarity and precision, and so retreading the same arguments of why ERAS should be considered outside the bounds of orthodoxy is not really necessary.
Instead, however, I want to make a brief case that ERAS is indeed a first-tier issue. Afterall, it has been asserted by proponents of ERAS that “there is no Holy Trinity without the order of authority and submission.”[i] Thus, I aim to show its first-tier importance by demonstrating that it strikes at the very heart of the Christian faith in three key areas: theology proper, Christology, and soteriology. Due to space, I can only aim to catalogue some of underlying the issues rather than give full explanations of how ERAS violates each theological loci. As we will see, each category is inseparably tied to the others. I encourage readers unfamiliar with this topic to engage in the mountain of literature already published.
To begin, ERAS strikes at the vitals of theology proper because it teaches an unbiblical hierarchy of the divine persons.
ERAS demands that the Son (and the Spirit) be ontologically inferior to the Father. For example, Bruce Ware states that the Father is “supreme among the persons of the Godhead,”[ii] and “has absolute and uncontested supremacy, including authority over the Son.”[iii] One may contest that this authority is in function only. Yet, to quote Ware again, the Father has “ontological primacy” over the Son and Spirt.[iv] In order for this type of hierarchy among the persons ad-intra to be true, it would require at least these four elements: (1) a redefinition of what a divine person is, (2) a denial that the divine persons are identical with the divine essence (3) a rejection of the classical doctrine of simplicity, and (4) individual wills within the Godhead. As you can see, these four elements also have great bearing on the doctrine of Christ. Ultimately, The classical doctrine of God must be entirely rewritten in order to affirm eternal subordination. Read more»
Derek Brite | “Trinity and Theological Triage” | January 30, 2026
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