Theological glossary · FaithLogic

Subordinationism

Any view that makes the Son or Spirit less than the Father in being, not merely in role or origin.

From 'subordinate'.

Reads 'the Father is greater' (John 14:28), 'the head of Christ is God' (1 Cor 11:3), and 1 Cor 15:28 as statements about nature.

Some pre-Nicene writers used subordinationist-sounding language before the vocabulary was fixed; after Nicaea it is heterodox. Distinguish 'ontological' subordination (rejected) from the eternal 'order' of the persons (the Father as source), which the historic churches keep.

Rejected because the Son and Spirit are of one being with the Father; the texts describe the incarnation (economy) and the relations of origin, not degrees of divinity.

A recent evangelical debate ('eternal functional subordination of the Son') is contested precisely over whether it slides toward ontological subordination.

Open in the glossary for related terms and the doctrines this concept appears in.