Men, Women and the Trinity

At this morning's Systematic Theology class, we found ourselves in chapter 22 of Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology: "Man as Male and Female." We started with a discussion on their "harmonious interpersonal relationship" and then went on to talk about the equality of men and women before God and then their different, yet both important, roles. But after a discussion on being created in the image of God last week, Dad asked a question that I had never considered before. He asked us what the harmonious interpersonal relationship between man and woman was in relation to being created in the image of God. Well, the answer to that question is something that I think makes a huge difference for Christians involved in the man-woman-equality-different-roles-women's-lib-debate. And it is this: the harmonious interpersonal relationship of a man and woman in marriage is a model of the Trinity. Let me explain ...

The Trinity is one God, but three persons in one. There is God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. These three work together as one, but they have very different and distinct roles. You see, God the Father has authority over the Son, and we see this throughout Jesus' earthly ministry when He would submit to the Father's will (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; John 6:38) and recognize that it was the Father who sent Him to earth (John 5:23, 36-37; 6:44; 7:16; 8:18). And the Spirit is also called "the Helper." (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7) So the Father has the authority in the Trinity, just like man has authority over his wife. And Jesus submits to the Father just like the wife is to submit to the husband. And the Spirit is the Helper, just like the wife is the helper of her husband. Yet you wouldn't say that Jesus is unequal to the Father, or that the Holy Spirit is inferior to the Father. Every member of the Trinity, like men and women, are completely equal, yet they simply have different roles.

Isn't that cool? Now the Trinity and biblical marriage are obviously not exactly the same, but there are certainly things we can learn from this example. And with all this stuff going on inside and outside of the church on women having the right to reject their God-given role and men choosing to submit to their wives instead of taking authority, I thought this biblical insight from Mr. Grudem extremely helpful.