Ascetic X
Well-Known Member
While theologians have historically locked down the term “3 persons” when referring to God, the term “persons” has no theological advantage over “people”.
In normal usage, we never say “there are four persons over there”, we always say “people”. The term “people” does not diminish the quality of the plurality, as in some among many.
Speaking of 3 people in one God is less awkward than saying 3 persons.
"People" is the standard plural of "person" for general use, referring to a group of individuals.
"Persons" is a formal, often legal term emphasizing generic status, frequently used in official notices, legal documents, or specifically numbered, small groups (e.g., "missing persons report," "maximum 4 persons allowed at this table").
The English word “persons” appears 13 times in the KJV NT, and none of them refers to the Lord.
They all refer to human beings. So to describe God as being in three persons is possibly a bit awkward. God is so far beyond our intellects, He is hard to describe. He is however a godhead, and that word appears 3 times in the NT.
The godhead refers collectively to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Greek word prosopon (πρόσωπον) primarily means "face," "countenance," or "mask," often referring to the front of the head or a person's appearance. It signifies a person's presence, individual identity (similar to "person" or "hypostasis"), and the outward expression of inward thoughts and emotions.
Since technically the 3 beings who are God are possibly other than or more than “persons”, maybe a better way to describe them is 3 entities sharing one divine essence or ousia, and a triune hypostasis, meaning substance.
Hypostasis refers to who someone is, while nature (physis/ousia) refers to what they are. The hypostasis is the subject that bears the ousia, essence, or nature.
Thus, God is 3 distinct substantial entities who are unified with a single essential nature. We can also say either “3 persons in one God” or “3 people in one God”.
At least, this is how the Bible indicates who God is; while the words “Trinity” and “triune” are not found, but are strongly implied, in scripture.
John 4:24 KJV — God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
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Apologetics 315 explains prosopon, the Greek word for “person”.
Terminology Tuesday: PROSOPON
QUOTE
Though retaining the various meanings of non-Christian Greek, the term prosōpon at first became a technical term in trinitarian theology, then in Christology.
The specific trinitarian use, witnessed to for the first time by the treatise C. Noetum (7; 14) and indirectly by Tertullian (Prax.), was explained primarily by three factors: by the scriptural use of prosōpon, esp. 2 Cor 4:6: “the glory of God in the face of Christ,” a meaning that remained important in all patristic literature (Lampe, 1186); by the “prosopic” exegesis prepared by *Philo, in which, against the Jews and monarchians, a distinction was made between the divine persons and their names (see Justin, 1 Apol. 36,1–2); by the method of the Stoics in opposing prosōpon, as individuality, to the generic (see Iren., Haer. III, 11,9).
The term prosōpon, which was very rare in Eastern Christian authors writing before the 4th c., was initially found, as a trinitarian term, primarily in texts that rebuked *Sabellians for speaking of a prosōpon, i.e., one sole divine reality, or to speak of three prosōpa, but in a transitory sense (Lampe, 1187).
END QUOTE
In normal usage, we never say “there are four persons over there”, we always say “people”. The term “people” does not diminish the quality of the plurality, as in some among many.
Speaking of 3 people in one God is less awkward than saying 3 persons.
"People" is the standard plural of "person" for general use, referring to a group of individuals.
"Persons" is a formal, often legal term emphasizing generic status, frequently used in official notices, legal documents, or specifically numbered, small groups (e.g., "missing persons report," "maximum 4 persons allowed at this table").
The English word “persons” appears 13 times in the KJV NT, and none of them refers to the Lord.
They all refer to human beings. So to describe God as being in three persons is possibly a bit awkward. God is so far beyond our intellects, He is hard to describe. He is however a godhead, and that word appears 3 times in the NT.
The godhead refers collectively to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Greek word prosopon (πρόσωπον) primarily means "face," "countenance," or "mask," often referring to the front of the head or a person's appearance. It signifies a person's presence, individual identity (similar to "person" or "hypostasis"), and the outward expression of inward thoughts and emotions.
Since technically the 3 beings who are God are possibly other than or more than “persons”, maybe a better way to describe them is 3 entities sharing one divine essence or ousia, and a triune hypostasis, meaning substance.
Hypostasis refers to who someone is, while nature (physis/ousia) refers to what they are. The hypostasis is the subject that bears the ousia, essence, or nature.
Thus, God is 3 distinct substantial entities who are unified with a single essential nature. We can also say either “3 persons in one God” or “3 people in one God”.
At least, this is how the Bible indicates who God is; while the words “Trinity” and “triune” are not found, but are strongly implied, in scripture.
John 4:24 KJV — God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
————————————————-
Apologetics 315 explains prosopon, the Greek word for “person”.
Terminology Tuesday: PROSOPON
QUOTE
Though retaining the various meanings of non-Christian Greek, the term prosōpon at first became a technical term in trinitarian theology, then in Christology.
The specific trinitarian use, witnessed to for the first time by the treatise C. Noetum (7; 14) and indirectly by Tertullian (Prax.), was explained primarily by three factors: by the scriptural use of prosōpon, esp. 2 Cor 4:6: “the glory of God in the face of Christ,” a meaning that remained important in all patristic literature (Lampe, 1186); by the “prosopic” exegesis prepared by *Philo, in which, against the Jews and monarchians, a distinction was made between the divine persons and their names (see Justin, 1 Apol. 36,1–2); by the method of the Stoics in opposing prosōpon, as individuality, to the generic (see Iren., Haer. III, 11,9).
The term prosōpon, which was very rare in Eastern Christian authors writing before the 4th c., was initially found, as a trinitarian term, primarily in texts that rebuked *Sabellians for speaking of a prosōpon, i.e., one sole divine reality, or to speak of three prosōpa, but in a transitory sense (Lampe, 1187).
END QUOTE
