What Does "God in Three Persons" Really Mean?

WHAT DOES “GOD IN THREE PERSONS” REALLY MEAN?

There is in the denominational churches an old traditional hymn that begins with the words written by

Reverend Reginald Heber:

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee; holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

This hymn, written over a hundred and fifty years ago, is still sung all over the world today and is a mainstay for many churches in their morning worship.

It is the word “persons” we need to focus upon and look into its historic origin, for the word was popular during ancient times when the Apostolic Christian church was founded by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and His apostles. The original meaning of the word was quite different from what has evolved into the meaning of the word today. All high school senior English teachers who teach the classics introduce the word to students, making it general knowledge for all.

For 37 years I taught English literature in public high school. Most high schools across the nation require the ancient Greek play Oedipus, the King to be taught at the senior level. While introducing the background of the play to my AP seniors, I spoke of the masks the ancient actors wore on stage. The ancient Greek word for “mask” was “prosopon” (πρόσωπον). The actor would play several characters, including female roles, since women were not allowed on stage. When the ancient Romans assimilated the Greek plays into their culture, the ancient Greek word evolved into the Latin word “persona.” The ancient Roman actors continued to perform the tradition of several roles by changing their “personas” or masks. Therefore, ONE actor portrayed several characters or roles in the play’s plot. It is easy to see that the ancient definition for the word “persona” did not mean an “individual”, but the representation, manifestation, and/or role ONE actor could portray of SEVERAL.

In the first and second centuries of church history, the word “persona” could easily have been used by ancient Christian preachers and teachers with the meaning of

one GOD manifesting three “personas” or roles in His nature: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. All first generation Christians knew that when they heard the phrase “God in three persons” or personas, they were accurately interpreting it to mean God manifesting or performing the roles of His three natures. When ancient Jews converted to Christianity, they did not feel they had forsaken the holy Shema, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord!” They saw God the Father manifested as Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Paul, a converted Jew, wrote of this revelation in 1 Timothy 3:16: “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

However, by the fourth and fifth centuries, the word “persona” had taken on a different meaning: an individual, an embodiment of a single being. The Latin became the mother language of several including Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese The word “persona” entered the languages of Germanic origins, where in English “persona” became “person.” The original definition of “persona” was lost in its evolution and translation into the modern languages today.

In the first century of church history,“three persons in God” simply meant to the ancient Christian three manifestations or the three roles of nature in God’s awesome Self - not three individuals or beings - but one Lord and Savior!

The word Trinity is NEVER mentioned in the Bible. Jews and Muslims today find it very difficult to accept the Trinitarian doctrine of three individuals in heaven until they discover our Apostolic doctrine, unchanged since the first generation of Christians. Trinitarians like to accuse us Apostolic Pentecostals of being “Jesus only” where, in fact, we are “Jesus everything!” Therefore, we of the Apostolic faith today can declare without confusion:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord!” DEUTERONOMY 6:4