It comes from theology but not the Bible. While one would not pick
people up for a word (see Is. 29: 21), we should exercise great care
in speaking of the Godhead. The real danger in unscriptural
expressions is not so much in the expressions themselves, as when
teachings are built upon them. We have a revelation of God in the
Scriptures and as far as possible it is wise to stick to the
language that the Holy Spirit uses there. Theology speaks of the
Persons of the Godhead, the Person of the Father, the Person of the
Son and the Person of the Holy Spirit. Collectively they are
referred to as divine Persons. This kind of language leads Moslems
to accuse Christians of having three gods (as the writer can attest
through personal experience). Does the Moslem have a valid point?
Yes he has!
That there is plurality and unity in the Godhead is indicated by
the opening words of the Bible: “In the beginning God created …”
(Gen. 1: 1) where we have a Hebrew plural in
Elohim (God)
and a singular verb created. Furthermore, the plural here
means three or more—the Hebrew language has a dual when exactly two
are in question. In a strict grammatical sense the structure is
incorrect, but theologically it is exact. However, the
revelation of
distinctiveness in the
Godhead really awaited the coming of the Son. Then we read “in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt:
29: 19) where the word name is in the singular.
Now Scripture, unlike theology, never speaks of the Person of the
Father, or
the Person of the Son or the Person of the Holy Spirit. Nor do we
ever read of the Person of God (for that would immediately destroy
the idea of plurality in the Godhead). We should guard against going
beyond what God has been pleased to make known. In describing
the Godhead, the
Bible uses terminology that is both sufficient for its purpose and
that all
men can understand.
What do we mean when we speak of the person of anyone? What is the
idea conveyed to our minds by this terminology? The word
person
denotes a distinct individual. The English word is from the Latin
per meaning
through, and
sonare meaning to
sound. The Latin word
persona
was
the mask through which an actor’s voice sounded, as he represented a
particular person or character in a play. Hence the usage of the
word always refers to individuality or to an
individual.
In 2 Cor. 2: 10 we read of “[the] person of Christ”. However,
Christ is the name or title of the Lord as a man (see 1 Cor. 11: 3)
and not in the setting of the Godhead. As a man the Lord was an
individual and distinct from all other men. He “became flesh” (John
1: 14) and entered into limited conditions as man, although ever
remaining who He ever was and always will be in the Godhead. The
Christ is the man who ate and drank, who wept and sorrowed and who
was tired and slept. It is to this man that the word
person
in 2 Cor. 2: 10 refers. It is of great importance in regard to the
Lord Jesus to distinguish between what He is as God and what he
became as man. Christ can be spoken of as a person, for He was God
“manifested in flesh” (1 Tim. 3: 16), had entered into conditions of
limitation and could therefore be
taken account of
as an individual. Hence, He can be spoken of as localised now, that
is identified with a particular place—such as sitting on the
Father’s throne (see Rev. 3: 21) and hereafter, at His second
advent, as sitting “down upon his throne of glory” (Matt. 25: 31).
There are, as far as the writer understands things, two thoughts
presented in Scripture in relation to the unity of the Godhead: one
is identity and the other is distinction. Thus when the Lord said “I
and the Father are one” (John 10: 30), then that is identity.
Similarly, “He that has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14: 9).
By contrast, when I read “the Father has sent the Son” (1 John 4:
14), then that is distinction. It is the Father who sent the Son and
no one else. In the same way, when the Son said of the Father “for
thou lovedst me before [the] foundation of [the] world” (John 17:
24), it is clearly distinction again.
Distinctiveness
and identity are seen together in the Scripture in
Matt. 28: 19
already referred to. The words
“of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” demonstrate distinction,
while the singularity of the word name rather than
names
preserves the thought of identity. Those who continually use the
term divine persons take the thought of distinction beyond
the revelation of Scripture, for God is one (see 1 Tim. 2: 5). While
the use of the expression may be without much thought, it is
nonetheless a serious blunder and, if taken to its logical
conclusion, makes three gods (or tritheism)—and the Moslem listener
is justifiably appalled.
