Whether the Word "Person" Should Be Said of God?
Objection 1: It would seem that the name "person" should not be said
of God. For Dionysius says (Div. Nom.): "No one should ever dare to
say or think anything of the supersubstantial and hidden Divinity,
beyond what has been divinely expressed to us by the oracles." But the
name "person" is not expressed to us in the Old or New Testament.
Therefore "person" is not to be applied to God.
Obj. 2: Further, Boethius says (De Duab. Nat.): "The word person
seems to be taken from those persons who represented men in comedies
and tragedies. For person comes from sounding through [personando],
since a greater volume of sound is produced through the cavity in the
mask. These "persons" or masks the Greeks called _prosopa,_ as they
were placed on the face and covered the features before the eyes."
This, however, can apply to God only in a metaphorical sense.
Therefore the word "person" is only applied to God metaphorically.
Obj. 3: Further, every person is a hypostasis. But the word
"hypostasis" does not apply to God, since, as Boethius says (De Duab.
Nat.), it signifies what is the subject of accidents, which do not
exist in God. Jerome also says (Ep. ad Damas.) that, "in this word
hypostasis, poison lurks in honey." Therefore the word "person"
should not be said of God.
Obj. 4: Further, if a definition is denied of anything, the thing
defined is also denied of it. But the definition of "person," as
given above, does not apply to God. Both because reason implies a
discursive knowledge, which does not apply to God, as we proved above
(Q. 14, A. 12); and thus God cannot be said to have "a rational
nature." And also because God cannot be called an individual
substance, since the principle of individuation is matter; while God
is immaterial: nor is He the subject of accidents, so as to be called
a substance. Therefore the word "person" ought not to be attributed
to God.
_On the contrary,_ In the Creed of Athanasius we say: "One is the person
of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost."
_I answer that,_ "Person" signifies what is most perfect in all
nature--that is, a subsistent individual of a rational nature. Hence,
since everything that is perfect must be attributed to God, forasmuch
as His essence contains every perfection, this name "person" is
fittingly applied to God; not, however, as it is applied to creatures,
but in a more excellent way; as other names also, which, while giving
them to creatures, we attribute to God; as we showed above when
treating of the names of God (Q. 13, A. 2).
Reply Obj. 1: Although the word "person" is not found applied to God
in Scripture, either in the Old or New Testament, nevertheless what
the word signifies is found to be affirmed of God in many places of
Scripture; as that He is the supreme self-subsisting being, and the
most perfectly intelligent being. If we could speak of God only in
the very terms themselves of Scripture, it would follow that no one
could speak about God in any but the original language of the Old or
New Testament. The urgency of confuting heretics made it necessary to
find new words to express the ancient faith about God. Nor is such a
kind of novelty to be shunned; since it is by no means profane, for
it does not lead us astray from the sense of Scripture. The Apostle
warns us to avoid "profane novelties of words" (1 Tim. 6:20).
Reply Obj. 2: Although this name "person" may not belong to God as
regards the origin of the term, nevertheless it excellently belongs
to God in its objective meaning. For as famous men were represented
in comedies and tragedies, the name "person" was given to signify
those who held high dignity. Hence, those who held high rank in the
Church came to be called "persons." Thence by some the definition of
person is given as "hypostasis distinct by reason of dignity." And
because subsistence in a rational nature is of high dignity,
therefore every individual of the rational nature is called a
"person." Now the dignity of the divine nature excels every other
dignity; and thus the name "person" pre-eminently belongs to God.
Reply Obj. 3: The word "hypostasis" does not apply to God as regards
its source of origin, since He does not underlie accidents; but it
applies to Him in its objective sense, for it is imposed to signify
the subsistence. Jerome said that "poison lurks in this word,"
forasmuch as before it was fully understood by the Latins, the
heretics used this term to deceive the simple, to make people profess
many essences as they profess several hypostases, inasmuch as the
word "substance," which corresponds to hypostasis in Greek, is
commonly taken amongst us to mean essence.
Reply Obj. 4: It may be said that God has a rational _nature,_ if
reason be taken to mean, not discursive thought, but in a general
sense, an intelligent nature. But God cannot be called an
"individual" in the sense that His individuality comes from matter;
but only in the sense which implies incommunicability. "Substance"
can be applied to God in the sense of signifying self-subsistence.
There are some, however, who say that the definition of Boethius,
quoted above (A. 1), is not a definition of person in the sense we
use when speaking of persons in God. Therefore Richard of St. Victor
amends this definition by adding that "Person" in God is "the
incommunicable existence of the divine nature."
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