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According to the Trinity.

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (from Latin trinitas "triad", from trinus "threefold")1 defines God as three consubstantial persons,2 expressions, or hypostases:[3] the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit; "one God in three persons". The three persons are distinct, yet are one "substance, essence or nature".[4] In this context, a "nature" is what one is, while a "person" is who one is.[5][6][7]

According to this central mystery of most Christian faiths,[8] there is only one God in three persons: while distinct from one another in their relations of origin (as the Fourth Lateran Council declared, "it is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds") and in their relations with one another, they are stated to be one in all else, co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial, and "each is God, whole and entire".[9]

Here is the question. In the article by John Frame, the Bible is the Word of God.

I believe that the God exists in three persons. But by the definition of John Frame, could we conclude that the God exists four persons, Father, Son, Spirit and the last one "Bible".

Am I misunderstanding John Frame's idea? Please read his paper first.

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    Can you please edit this? It is hard to make sense of what you've written. Is any of it a quote??
    – curiousdannii
    Jul 26, 2014 at 2:46

2 Answers 2

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I believe you're misunderstanding something here. According to the review,

The category “Word of God” is larger than Scripture because Scripture “does not exhaust the word of God” (p. 47). Therefore Frame defines “word of God” as “God himself, understood as communicator” and “the sum total of his free communications with his creatures” (p. 49).

Thus, the Bible is not (the entirety of) God's Word. Frame's definition of the Word as God recollects John 1:1:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Aquinas describes Christ, the second person of the Trinity, as "the Word". There's a long history, then, of using "the Word of God" as a way of talking about particular aspects of God; God in a particular relation to humans. But this is not (or at least not necessarily) to say that "the Word of God" is in fact, or even in Frame's perspective, anything like a "fourth Person" to the Trinity.

Further than that we can't really go based on the link you gave; this is, after all, only a book review, not a comprehensive summary.

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    So do you agree with LCIII's answer?
    – Love
    Jul 25, 2014 at 19:41
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    Yes, with the caveat that I gave in my last paragraph. Jul 25, 2014 at 19:44
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It's important to understand that the Bible is a man made thing--it's the name for a collection of 66 writings created throughout history that are recognized as the inspired word of God.

John Frame refers to the Bible as the Word of God, but what he really means is that the words contained within the Bible are the inspired words of God.

So the re-frame your question, could we say that God exists as the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and the Word? That would be a misunderstanding as well:

John 1:1,2,14 ESV In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God ... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Those that believe in the Trinitarian nature of God believe that Jesus, the son, is also the Word. So saying that the Trinity is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is true. And saying that the Trinity is the Father, the Word, and Holy Spirit is also true.

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