See Stephen Bedale, “The Meaning of kephal∑in the Pauline Epistles,” Journal
of Theological Studies 5 (1954), 211-215.- Personal letter from P. G. W. Glare to Wayne Grudem, April 14, 1997. Quoted
by permission. Italics added. - See my extended discussion of the meaning of kephalecited in footnote 27
above. - See Craig Keener’s affirmation of an eternal subordination of the Son to the
Father in, “Is Subordination Within the Trinity Really Heresy? A Study of John
5:18 in Context,” Trinity Journal20 NS (1999), 39-51. - For a fuller discussion of egalitarian tampering with the doctrine of the Trinity,
see Bruce Ware, “Tampering with the Trinity: Does the Son Submit to His
Father?” in Wayne Grudem, ed., Biblical Foundations for Manhood and
Womanhood(Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2002). The primary statements by
Bilezikian and Grenz are found in Gilbert Bilezikian, “Hermeneutical Bungee-
Jumping: Subordination in the Godhead,” JETS40/1 (March 1997) 57-68; and
Stanley J. Grenz, “Theological Foundations for Male-Female Relationships,”
JETS41/4 (December 1998), 615-630.
A survey of historical evidence showing affirmation of the eternal subordi-
nation of the Son to the authority of the Father is found in Stephen D. Kovach
and Peter R. Schemm, Jr., “A Defense of the Doctrine of the Eternal
Subordination of the Son,” in JETS42/3 (September 1999), 461-476. See also
Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology(Leicester, England: InterVarsity; and
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1994), 248-252. - See John Gray, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus(New York:
HarperCollins, 1992), and several other books written by Gray on a similar
theme; see also Debra Tannen, You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in
Conversation(New York: Ballantine, 1990). - This is the text of the June 1998 addition to the Southern Baptist Convention’s
statement, “The Baptist Faith and Message”:
XVIII. The Family
God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human
society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage,
blood, or adoption.
Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant com-
mitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between
Christ and His church, and to provide for the man and the woman in
marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of
sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for pro-
creation of the human race.
The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are
created in God’s image. The marriage relationship models the way God
relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the
church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect,
and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant
leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the
86 BUILDINGSTRONGFAMILIES