Eternal Functional Subordination (EFS) and Divine Simplicity
This article on divine simplicity and EFS, You Need One to Count to the Trinity, was published at Credo Magazine.
By reading a human structure of authority and submission back into the Father and Son, EFS raises the question of whether other human characteristics, like differences in age or wisdom should also be inferred by the names of Father and Son. And if not, then why are authority and submission to be implied by the divine fatherhood and sonship?
It is divine simplicity that distinguishes God as our ineffable God and “makes the Trinity such a profound mystery.” Christian worship and teaching does “not desire to lay hold of the Trinity but only to behold God as triune.” Surely Fred Sanders is on the right track to suggest that “What passes between them [Father, Son, and Spirit] in their eternal life together is something high and exalted, something we probably do not have a name for.”