This is a “keeper” quote on the Trinity by Robert Bowman, in his book “Why You Should Believe in the Trinity
Finally, something needs to be said about the question of the submission of the Son to the Father. No trinitarian questions that when Christ was on earth he lived in submission to God the Father. The Father in heaven was exalted while the Son was humble; the Father was greater than Christ (Jn.14:28). Christ’s human nature was not itself divine; the manhood of Christ was created, and therefore Christ as man had to honor the Father as his God. Thus, the Athanasian Creed states that Christ is ‘equal to the Father as touching his Godhead and inferior to the Father as touching his manhood.’ There is no question from a trinitarian perspective that, as man, Christ was in submission to the Father.
Yet this submission evidently transcends the historical life of Jesus on earth. He was sent by the Father into the world (I John 4:9), implying that in some sense Christ was in submission to the Father before becoming a man. yet, implying that he was not in that master-servant relationship with the Father before becoming a man. After his resurrection and ascension, Jesus continued to refer to the Father as his God and to regard the Father God as his ‘head.’ (I Cor.11:3)
Trinitarians have somewhat different ways of explaining these facts, but they all agree on these conclusions.
First, the Son has always been distinct from the Father, and he always will be.
Second, in his human nature, Christ will always honor the Father as his God. (Trinitarians believe that Jesus rose from the dead as an exalted man, not as an immaterial spirit, as the JWs teach.)
Third, even before becoming man Christ gladly represented the Father to men and sought to honor the Father.
Fourth, in his divine nature, Christ has always been and always will be fully God, equal to the Father in essential nature or attributes.
Fifth, in his humanity, Christ stands in a relationship to God different than he did before becoming a man. Thus, Christ in his divine nature is essentially equal to the Father, though relationally (or functionally) subordinate or submissive to the Father, especially since becoming a man.”
gracethoughts 