Person, Personality
Person, Personality
pursun, purs’n, pur-un-alti (, nephesh, , ‘sh, , ‘adham, , panm, , prosopon, , hupostasis): The most frequent word for person in the Old Testament is nephesh, soul (Gen 14:21, Give me the persons, and take the goods; Gen 36:6, the King James Version all the persons: Num 5:6 the King James Version that person, etc.): ‘sh a man, an individual, Is also used (Jdg 9:2, threescore and ten persons; 1Sa 16:18, a comely person, etc.); ‘adham, a man, a human being (Num 31:28, of the persons, and of the oxen; Pro 6:12, a worthless person, etc.); ‘enosh, a man, a weak, mortal man, occurs twice (Jdg 9:4, the King James Version vain and light persons; Zep 3:4); baal, owner, lord, is once translated person (Pro 24:8, the King James Version a mischievous person), and methm, men, once (Psa 26:4, the King James Version vain persons); panm face, is frequently translated person when the reference is to the external appearance, as of persons in high places, rich persons who could favor or bribe, etc., chiefly in the phrases regarding the person, accepting the person (Deu 10:17; Mal 1:8).
In the New Testament prosopon, face, countenance, stands in the same connection (Mat 22:16,Thou regardest not the person of men; Gal 2:6, God accepteth not man’s person; Act 10:34, God is no respecter of persons; Rom 2:11, there is no respect of persons with God; Eph 6:9; Col 3:25; Jam 2:1, Jam 2:9); in 2Co 1:11 we have persons (prosopon), absolute as in the later Greek, the gift bestowed … by many persons, the only occurrence in the New Testament; in 2Co 2:10 prosopon may stand for presence, as the Revised Version (British and American) in the presence of Christ, but it might mean as representing Christ; in Heb 1:3, the King James Version hupostasis, that which lies under, substratum, is rendered person, the express image of his person, i.e. of God, which the Revised Version (British and American) renders the very image of his substance, margin the impress of his substance, i.e. the manifestation or expression of the invisible God and Father. Person is also frequently supplied as the substantive implied in various adjectives, etc., e.g. profane, perjured, vile.
In the Apocrypha we have prosopon translated person (Judith 7:15, the Revised Version (British and American) face; Ecclesiasticus 10:5, etc.); the accepting of persons is condemned (The Wisdom of Solomon 6:7; Ecclesiasticus 4:22, 27; 7:6; 20:22, the Revised Version (British and American) by a foolish countenance; 35:13; 42:1; With him (God) is no respect of persons, Ecclesiasticus 35:12).
The Revised Version (British and American) has soul for person (Num 5:6), face (Jer 52:25), man (Mat 27:24); reprobate for vile person (Psa 15:4), the American Standard Revised Version, the English Revised Version margin fool (Isa 32:5, Isa 32:6); the American Standard Revised Version men of falsehood for vain persons (Psa 26:4); for a wicked person, the Revised Version (British and American) has an evil thing (Psa 101:4); back to thee in his own person (auton, different text) for again thou therefore receive him (Phm 1:12); take away life for respect any person (2Sa 14:14); with seven others for the eighth person (2Pe 2:5); false swearers for perjured persons (1Ti 1:10); seven thousand persons for of men seven thousand (Rev 11:13).
Personality is that which constitutes and characterizes a person. The word person (Latin, persona) is derived from the mask through which an actor spoke his part (persona). From being applied to the mask, it came next to be applied to the actor, then to the character acted, then to any assumed character, then to anyone having any character or station; lastly, it came to mean an individual, a feeling, thinking and acting being. For full personality there must be self-consciousness, with the capability of free thought and action – self-determination – hence, we speak of personal character, personal action, etc. A person is thus a responsible being, while an animal is not. Personality is distinctive of man. The personality is the unit of the entire rational being, perhaps most clearly represented by the will; it is that which is deepest in man, belonging, of course, not to the realm of space or the region of the visible, but existing as a spiritual reality in time, with a destiny beyond it. It is the substance (hupostasis) of the being, that which underlies all its manifestations; hence, the rendering the express image of his person in Heb 1:3 the King James Version. Hupostasis was employed by the early Greek Fathers to express what the Latins intended by persona; afterward prosopon was introduced.
Recent psychology has brought into prominence elements in the subconscious realm, the relation of which to the personality is obscure. There seems to be more in each individual than is normally expressed in the personal consciousness and action. The real, responsible personality, however, is something which is always being formed. The phenomenon of double personality is pathological, as truly the result of brain disease as is insanity.
In the Bible man is throughout regarded as personal, although it was only gradually that the full importance of the individual as distinct from the nation was realized. The use of prosopon for person indicates also a more external conception of personality than the modern. With the Hebrews the nephesh was the seat of personality, e.g. Thou wilt not leave my soul (nephesh) to Sheol (Psa 16:10); Thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol (Psa 30:3). God is also always regarded as personal (who has created man in His own image), and although the representations seem often anthropomorphic they are not really such. The divine personality could only be conceived after the analogy of the human, as far as it could be definitely conceived at all; but God was regarded as transcending, not only the whole of Nature, but all that, is human, e.g. God is not a man, that he should lie (Num 23:19; 1Sa 15:29); Canst thou by searching find out God? (Job 11:7; Isa 40:28; compare Ecc 3:11; Ecc 8:17, etc.). In the New Testament the personality of God is, on the warrant of Jesus Himself, conceived after the analogy of human fatherhood, yet as transcending all our human conceptions: How much more? (Mat 7:11); Who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? (Rom 11:34). Man is body, soul and spirit, but God in Himself is Spirit, infinite, perfect, ethical Spirit (Mat 5:48; Joh 4:24). He is forever more than all that is created, For of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things (Rom 11:36). The human personality, being spiritual, survives bodily dissolution and in Christ becomes clothed again with a spiritual body (Phi 3:21; 1Co 15:44).