06440 paniym paw-neem’ pl. (but always as sing.) of an unused noun
AV-before 1137, face 390, presence 76, because 67, sight 40, countenance 30, from 27, person 21, upon 20, of 20, ...me 18, against 17, ...him 16, open 13, for 13, toward 9, misc 195; 2109
1) face
1a) face, faces
1b) presence, person
1c) face (of seraphim or cherubim)
1d) face (of animals)
1e) face, surface (of ground)
1f) as adv of loc/temp
1f1) before and behind, toward, in front of, forward, formerly, from beforetime, before
1g) with prep
1g1) in front of, before, to the front of, in the presence of, in the face of, at the face or front of, from the presence of, from before, from before the face of
(Online Bible Dictionary)...
But while he cannot claim originality for the term, Tertullian was a careful writer mindful of the Latin word's meaning. 'Persona' was a term with legal implications. Legal consequences had built up upon the base of the word's literal foundation of a 'mask' distinguishing a character in a drama, thus, a person:
"persona, a mask, esp. as worn by actors in Greek and Roman drama.
TRANSF., (1) role, part, character, person represented by an actor...(2) in gen., the part which anyone plays...(3) a personality, individuality, character." (Cassell's Latin Dictionary)
These legal implications clustered around the idea that a 'person' is one competent to give legal testimony. Is this implication accurate when talking about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Most emphatically!: Three Witnesses....
Bible-believers dislike using extra-biblical terminology: "If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God..." (1 Peter 4:11). When Hippolytus wrote, in Greek, of 'one God in three persons,' the accusation he was using extra-biblical terminology would have been incomprehensible. As we've seen, the Bible freely applies 'prosopon' to God. 'Prosopon' means what 'person' means...and then some...
There is no one-word English translation for 'prosopon' suited for all instances. English translators are obliged to render this one word by a variety of English words: 'face,' 'presence,' 'person.' So 'one God in three persons' may appear to an English reader as unbiblical. How it appears to readers of Tagalog or Lithuanian I couldn't say; the New Testament, after all, is written in Greek, and the early church argued in Greek. Nevertheless, if one must have an alternative which 'works' in English translation, may I suggest the catch-phrase 'one God in three witnesses'? Father and Son are corroborating witnesses:
"It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me." (John 8:17-18).
The Holy Spirit corroborates their testimony:
"But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father...He will testify of Me." (John 15:26);
"And we are His witnesses to theses things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him." (Acts 5:32)...
It might seem to some readers that this word and its correlate 'prosopon' combine such heterogeneous meanings that no conclusion can be drawn from their use. God does not speak to man by concocting a divine Esperanto, but employs existing human languages. Still, God does not select the words He uses at random, nor are these meanings unconnected by a common thread. Believers are commanded to seek God's face: "...if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face ['paniym'] and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14). To turn one's back is to reject, to turn one's face to enter into relation: "For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise and save us.’" (Jeremiah 2:27). God-seekers pray for God's face to turn their way: "Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face ['paniym'] to shine; and we shall be saved." (Psalm 80:7). If the concept of God's "face" is so ridiculous as to earn the raucous mockery of the 'Oneness' Pentecostals, why then do believers pray for these things?
In Southeast Asia where villagers are menaced by man-eating tigers, they draw a little face on the back of a farmer's shirt. A tiger will not attack a man who is looking at him, whereas a man whose back is turned is easy prey. A crude sketch with two eyes, a nose, and smile is sufficient to convince the tiger, or so the villagers think. Those who thought this is what was in view when the Bible speaks of the face of God wandered into error: "Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things." (Romans 1:22-23). The children of Israel encountered the word of God face to face: "The LORD talked with you face to face ['paniym'] in the mount out of the midst of the fire..." (Deuteronomy 5:4), but not the villagers' smiley-face: "Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:..." (Deuteronomy 4:15).
To be 'in your face' is to be in your presence. The people of God travel in His company: "And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight ['paniym'] with his mighty power out of Egypt;..." (Deuteronomy 4:37). But not only do the people meet God face to face, there are face to face interactions within God: "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence ['prosopon'] of God for us:..." (Hebrews 9:24). There is thus a relation or interface within God, as well as between God and His people. Since the Bible says so, in so many words, what is the problem in believing it?