 McIntosh replies that the tradition demands that there are exactly three Persons (Greek: hypostases) which share the divine nature or essence, which is captured by his claim that there are exactly three intrinsicist persons. This account does not claim that God is a fourth hypostasis, a fourth intrinsicist person. Rather, God is a functional person, a person not by his essence, but rather who exists as a person because of the unified functioning of the Father, Son, and Spirit (174).