Defining Eternal Functional Subordination (EFS)

There's a version of complementarian theology that quietly reshapes the Trinity to make its argument. Most people who hold it don't realize that's what they're doing. Dr. Malcolm Yarnell does — and he wrote the book on why it matters.

Dr. Malcolm Yarnell, professor of Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and author of the Theology for Every Person series, joins Joshua Lewis to work through some of the most contested terrain in Christian doctrine: the person of Christ, the unity of the Trinity, and the debate over eternal functional subordination (EFS).

What We Cover:
- Why the Trinity and Christology are the two doctrines that everything else in systematic theology depends on
- The three senses of "Word of God" in scripture: the personal Word (Jesus), the written Word (scripture), and the proclaimed Word
- What eternal functional subordination is, where it came from, and why Dr. Yarnell considers it a grave theological error
- How EFS was crafted primarily to answer feminism — not to answer a theological question — and why that origin matters
- The unified will of the Trinity, and why the garden of Gethsemane is about the submission of Christ's human will, not an eternal subordination within the Godhead
- A close reading of 1 Corinthians 15:28: what is actually being subjected — humanity, not deity
- The Athanasian scope of scripture: limitations in the text refer to Christ's humanity; perfections refer to his deity
- Why you don't need to reconfigure the Trinity to be a complementarian

0:00 – Introduction
2:08 – Theology for Every Person
5:38 – Christ's Deity and Humanity
10:42 – Word: Person vs. Scripture
15:23 – Eternal Functional Subordination
26:32 – Doctrine and Cultural Moments
33:43 – The Divine Will
54:46 – 1 Corinthians 15:28
1:00:46 – Closing Thoughts

INTRO TO CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY:
https://www.theremnantradio.com/intro-to-christian-theology-course

ABOUT THE GUEST:
📖Word (Theology for Every Person, Vol. 2) https://a.co/d/0ddyCS4F
📖God (Theology for Every Person, Vol. 1) https://a.co/d/0ibY6QQ1
📖God the Trinity https://a.co/d/05bCwH0d
📖The Formation of Christian Doctrine https://a.co/d/0dwRSFQH

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