We’ve already looked at a variety of Biblical images that reveal aspects of the Trinity and push us to imagine our great God with awe and reverence. We’ve looked at father-son imagery, marriage, the body of Christ, and Angelic beings. In this post, I want to look briefly at two non-scriptural examples that help me to contemplate the deep mysteries of God. Since these are not scriptural, I offer them cautiously and with yet another reminder that these are not meant to be perfect metaphors for God
Wave-Particle Duality
Wave-particle duality is one of the most astonishing discoveries of modern physics. At the quantum level, certain entities—like photons (particles of light) or electrons—don’t behave the way our intuition would expect. We’re used to thinking of things as either particles (discrete, localized objects like marbles) or waves (continuous, spread-out phenomena like ripples on a pond). But in quantum mechanics, these fundamental building blocks of nature exhibit the properties of both. These quantum entities are not sometimes waves and sometimes particles depending on how we look—they are always both at once, possessing both sets of properties simultaneously.
Wave-particle duality shows us that reality can transcend our intuitive categories. Just as light can be both wave and particle at the same time—something once thought impossible—the Christian doctrine of the Trinity teaches that God is one being in three persons, which also transcends human categories. Just as quantum mechanics shows that the natural world contains real mysteries beyond our understanding, the Trinity may also reflect a higher-order truth that exceeds the capacity of finite minds.
This analogy may also stretch our understanding of another mystery: how Jesus could be both fully divine and fully human at the same time—not one or the other, but fully both in one person.
Genetic Chimeras
A genetic chimera is an individual organism made up of cells from two different zygotes—effectively two individuals in one body. The resulting organism has distinct genetic identities in different parts of its body, yet it functions as a single, unified whole. A chimera contains two distinct genetic codes—but is not divided into two organisms. The two “identities” interpenetrate and coexist within one body. And the two genetic lineages may be interwoven at the cellular level across different systems of the body.
Looking at the Chimera may help us contemplate another key Trinitarian doctrine, that of Perichoresis (Greek: περιχώρησις). This doctrine refers to the mutual indwelling of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It describes how the three persons of the Trinity are distinct yet fully indwell one another without confusion, division, or separation. Perecoresis explains how the Father, Son, and Spirit work inseparably in creation, redemption, and sanctification, yet retain personal distinction. The Chimera reflects the interpenetration of the persons of the Trinity—not side-by-side, but dwelling in one another in perfect love and unity.
Neither of these two images perfectly reflect the Trinity. But they help to stretch our understanding of both nature and personhood in ways that may reflect the divine mystery of the Trinity. If creation contains mysteries that transcend creation, why shouldn’t the God who created it all likewise be beyond our comprehension? These mysteries should lead us not to demand certainty, but to worship the God who is above all.