Scholars love to use words that are complicated instead of words that are easy, but there are times when the complicated word is just about the only word that makes sense, and that’s the case with this word: hypostasis. It’s very hard to describe what a hypostasis is because we don’t have any other word for.
A hypostasis is a kind of personification of a divine attribute. So when you speak of a hypostasis you’re talking about a divine attribute that is understood to have become a person itself. We have difficulty understanding this concept today, but the basic idea is that there are certain characteristics of God that could not exist apart from Him, yet since they are His own characteristics they are like Him—God.
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Author: Bart D. Ehrman
Keywords: hypostasis, hypostases, Philo, Philo logos, logos, wisdom, wisdom personified, personification, personified, personify, God's word personified, logos personified, word personified, word made flesh, attributes of God
Bible reference(s): Proverbs 8, John 1:1-3
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.