PERSON:
in Roman law a person was a legal entity or party to a contract while in Roman
theater a person described the mask worn by the actor to play a specific role. Neither
usage identifies a person as a self-conscious being. CHRISTIAN usage developed from these
Roman ideas with TERTULLIAN who created the formula "three persons in one
Substance" to describe the TRINITY. He argued that GOD was one with respect to his
BEING, NATURE or SUBSTANCE but three with respect to the exercise of his sovereignty.
Jesus Christ was one person having two natures: divine and human. From this theological
origin the term came to be applied to individual IDENTITY and is often associated with the
SOUL. BUDDHISM denies both the EXISTENCE of the individual person and the soul.