[Gubei]

I looked up two dictionaries for the definition of person. As most of Bible students well aware of, the origin of the English word person is "persona" in Latin and "hypostasis" in the usage of Trinity. However, the one eye-catching explanation is that "A person is a thinking intelligent being." (Webster's 1828) and " a human being as distinguished from an animal or thing" (Merriam-Webster's 2000).

So, a bit more refined definition of person is this. Person – any entity that is able to think (as opposed to animals or plants which usually act according to its instinct) with its own freewill with which it could be judged for reward or punishment (Of course, except God. He doesn't need to be rewarded or punished because He is the final authority in the Universe.) Whether an entity can be called a person or not is regardless of physical existence.
If I follow my self-made definition of person, I seem to be able to think of four categories of persons. God, human beings, angels, Satan and its subordinates. Among them, only human beings are wearing physical body. Human beings are so accustomed to themselves in bodily form (or in the limitation of time and space), so they unconsciously assume as if God, angels, and Satan and its subordinates were in the same limitation of time and space because they even cannot imagine what it is like to be totally free from bodily limitation.

Now my next question is this. Is my God free of this limitation? Of course, He is because He is omnipresent and omniscient. But some expressions in the Bible depict our God as if He is in the limitation of time and space.

Mat 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye. Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. (ASV)

We know that our God is omnipresent and omniscient so we think this verse is not saying He is confined in heaven but depicting of His Highness. But this kind of depicting can give us human being who is under the limitation of time and space a strong feeling. In short, the reality of the spiritual sphere should be translated into expressions of human words in time and space limitation for the convenience of understanding.
If you agree with me, you will soon find how difficult it is to interpret some verses in the Bible.

Eph 2:2 wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience; (ASV)

The air in this verse is physical or spiritual? Clark gave us the following explanation;

[Satan is termed prince of the power of the air, because the air is supposed to be a region in which malicious spirits dwell, all of whom are under the direction and influence of Satan, their chief.]

Do malicious spirits literally dwell in the air? Or Isn't this verse also a kind of paraphrasing with human words for the convenience of understanding?
My point is this. We should be on the same page regarding Biblical language before we scrutinize crucial issues in the Bible. I remember that dispensationalist took the extreme position on this matter – 100% literal interpretation and Bro. Witness Lee took a bit mitigated position - as literal as possible.

My position? I am going to start in the next post. BTW, what is your position?

Webster's 1828

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PERSON, n. per'sn. [L. persona; said to be compounded of per, through or by, and sonus, sound; a Latin word signifying primarily a mask used by actors on the state.]
1. An individual human being consisting of body and soul. We apply the word to living beings only, possessed of a rational nature; the body when dead is not called a person. It is applied alike to a man, woman or child. A person is a thinking intelligent being.
2. A man, woman or child, considered as opposed to things, or distinct from them.
A zeal for persons is far more easy to be perverted, than a zeal for things.
Unquote