Does the context precede the Persons?

Q #47: Does the-relational-context precede the Persons or do the Persons themselves ground and give rise to that relational context so that neither the context nor the Persons is ontologically prior?

Answer

In the Self-Standing Givenness Ontology, the relational horizon is not a separate, external framework that dictates the identity of the Persons, nor is it simply a product of the Persons in isolation. Rather, SSGO insists on a mutual or co-inherent relationship: the relational horizon is the dynamic self-givenness of the Father, Son, and Spirit, each fully possessing the same divine essence but from a distinct origin (unbegotten, begotten, or proceeding). In other words, the Persons and their relational context arise together.

If the horizon were truly prior in a way that “came before” or was independent of the divine Persons, it would introduce two problems. First, it would make the Persons dependent on an external structure for their identity, contradicting divine simplicity by implying a composition of God’s being. Second, it would cast the horizon itself as an external principle that shapes how the Persons subsist, thereby challenging God’s pure actuality and aseity.

SSGO avoids these pitfalls by affirming that the context does not stand above or outside God but is intrinsic to the divine essence as it subsists in three distinct, co-equal “vantages” or modes. Each Person is wholly the one essence in a unique relational stance, and the horizon emerges precisely from this threefold self-gift. Thus, neither the context nor the Persons is ontologically prior; they co-inhere in the single divine act of being. Because this co-inherence rules out external determination or internal fragmentation, SSGO preserves both divine simplicity (no parts or additives to God’s essence) and the real distinction of Persons–fully consistent with Catholic orthodoxy.