Thoughts about Person as act
Talking about the "person" of Christ has made me rethink what the term "person" means. This is the result of my pondering. It's not a rigorous argument but more like a line of thought, so it probably has a lot of presuppositions that are not explicitly stated.
Christ is fully man and fully God. One person, two natures. So "person" is above "nature" in this system. But God is irreducibly simple, so nature, person, and all other "properties" are all one, are all Him. So when we say Jesus has the Divine nature, something radical is being said which is beyond placing an object called "Divine nature" beside another object called "human nature" in a container called "person"... That's a bit hard to get out of my head, so I'll use the logic of "God's image" to work it out.
Now what is nature? If we use the human nature as understood by St. Gregory as an example, human nature is wrapped up in the statement "...in the image of God". What is the image of God? Well image (or representation, reflection, icon) is one of the titles for Christ, the perfect representation, image, revelation of the Father (Colossians 1:15); He is the Uncreated Logos, the logic, beginning and end, of creation. Therefore Human nature is to be God's image, meaning to be united to Christ, as individuals, and as a body.
So human nature is to be united to God, and as humanity represents all creation, therefore that's the purpose of all creation. Nature isn't a "thing" then, it's an "inclination", it's a teleological purpose, it has a "direction". So in Christ we find the point where this purpose is fulfilled, for man is God in Christ. This unity is achieved in his "person", which then will help us in defining the term "Person".
Now what is "person"? It seems to imply intentionality. We can hold a person "responsible", we can't hold just anything "responsible", only a person, Because we recognize people have "intentions", they are sentient and sapient. They are understood for follow "logic" (logos) in a way very different from other things... I'm having a hard time trying to deduce person from simple experience. Let me try it from Logos then work back down.
So Logos is the plan, the image, the "intention" of God. Where God has invested his very being, in whom is his purposes. Christ is the very word, the very Love, of the Father. The Father has manifested himself in His Logos, His Son, in the Power of His eternal Spirit. He is where Creation starts and ends, it's very calling and direction. Therefore we can define "intention", "intellect", the defining attributes of "person" as the inclination of creation towards it's goal, towards Logos. But then we have to then ask, if all creation has this goal, why doesn't all creation have "intellect", or "intention"? The way I'm seeing it, the answer looks more wonderful than I thought.
I think the answer lies in the idea that creation is one "organism", but with a hierarchy, with humans at the head, and the rest below it... It has been said by more than one religion that in humans, the universe ponders itself... This is certainly true in scripture, the intention of the universe, it's "person" is fully expressed in humanity... Humans are the head called from creation towards the divine, bringing all creation with it, being the very intentionality of creation. "Person" is an act, an act of approaching the Divine, that's why those who turn their back on God are often described as "beasts" (Like Nebuchadnezzar) , they lose that "personhood" that makes them human
So, person is act. Then what does that say about the person of Jesus that Unites Heaven and Earth, God and Man?
The person of Christ therefore, is the very act of this unity. God himself is act, the fullness of act, as he is the fullness of person, of intention, as manifested in His Logos. In Christ, God himself unites with his creation, as pure gift, pure "grace" as we call it. As man's person is his movement towards the divine, God's person in Christ is his "movement" towards us... He himself fulfills our person.
And by "coming down", he brings us up. God is infinite, and Unity will require infinite time from our perspective, non stop "motion" into the never ending fullness of the Divine life of the Trinity. Therefore person, which is act, never ends, but only grows more glorified in it's never ending enjoyment of God. That is a great metaphysical understanding of the Christian Life, non stop union with God in Christ, the fullness of person both in his Divinity and Humanity