When God removes a whole people from the face of the land, it is a sign of his wrath. The face of the earth produces abundant food to sustain human life. Even here reference to the face of the ground might sometimes suggest the openness and hospitality of the ground, we might say its friendliness, to human life and society. Interestingly-and suggestively for our present purposes- pānîm can refer to a surface, for example, the surface of the ground or earth (e.g., Gen 1:29 2:6 6:1, 7 7:3, 4, 23 8:8, 9 8:13 11:4, 8, 9 Num 12:3 Deut 6:15 7:6). However, occasionally it refers to the “faces” or heads of animals (e.g., Ezek 1:10) or heavenly beings (e.g., Isa 6:2). Pānîm is most commonly used, as we shall see, of the human face and especially the face of God. On the Hebrew noun pānîm, and in the NT (and LXX) the Greek noun prosōpon which follows the OT usages, see NIDOTTE, 3.637-39 NIDNTT, 1.585-87. Therefore, we should not be surprised how important the face is in Scripture. In the human face of Jesus of Nazareth, the face of God was unveiled. Moreover, in the incarnation, the human face entered theology-the study and knowledge of God-by the front door. The face therefore has enormous theological significance. The face therefore draws us out from isolation, to recognize our natural end in a loving community of persons with equal dignity and worth.īeyond this, the face transcends this world entirely, and directs us to our supernatural end in the vision of God. But often our faces give away more than we intend. Sometimes you or I might mask our true feelings from one another, maintaining distance and reserve in our relationship, for faces conceal as well as reveal. In your eyes, I might lose face, or seek to save face.
I discover if you can countenance my presence, or whether I am faced with disapproval. Sometimes these will be intended often they emerge unbidden. I respond to your emotions, manifest in a smile or frown, a raised eyebrow, a blush, a tear, with emotions and expressions of my own. I meet your gaze boldly with my own, or self-consciously avert my eyes. Rather, we recognize the presence of a person, another subject, one like ourselves.Įncountering another person in her face, I become conscious of myself as also a person. The face of another compels us to recognize the presence not of an object of our attention, a mere body in a world of bodies. A face has force and energy in the social world. Therefore a face reveals the true nature of that person and our relation to him or her.
A face reveals the person who is, so to speak, “behind”-perhaps more accurately, made present in-the face. It has meaning beyond its particular features and the skin, bone, cartilage, and muscle from which it is constructed. Thus, even the ugliest human face is imbued with dignity, suffused with warmth, and radiates beauty.Ī face signifies.
Without faces, we can have neither fellowship nor fellow feeling, because without faces there could be no fellows we could know. The face-and the availability of my face to others, and their faces to me-therefore has a great significance. In face-to-face encounter, a community of persons, a family and society of mutual respect and love, is made possible and real. As the place where a person and their body most clearly intermesh, the face makes known the human soul in society. For in a face, the dignity, and the unique identity and personality, of a human person is made manifest in the world. Nothing in nature is more beautiful, nor more filled with meaning, than the human face.
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