We live in a three dimensional world.

Let’s imagine what it would be like in a one dimensional one, taking a brick as an example:

All we would perceive in a one-dimensional world would be a series of lines. We would perceive one going in a certain direction, another going in another direction, and others also in diverse directions. We would, however, not see them in relation to one another; we’d just see the lines. To see them in relation to one another, we’d have to move into a two-dimensional world. Then we’d see the lines on the top of the brick forming an area. Likewise with those forming the sides and the bottom. They would be a series of areas, but we would not perceive their relationship to one another. To perceive that, we’d need to move into the third dimension. Now, at last, we’d see that the areas are related and form an object. We’d see the brick.

However, what if we keep going with this argument? What if there’s a fourth dimension, where objects relating to one another form another entity?

We get hints of this in our world. The spectacular murmuration of swallows as they form ever-changing shapes, the shoals of fish that also form twisting, turning entities as, like the swallows’ murmuration, seem to be controlled by a greater mind. Even two little birds side by side on a branch stirs something within us as we see something more than two separate entities, and a husband and wife are perceived in a way, as an entity. When we see one alone, our natural question is, where is the other one?

I once worked with a cameraman who filmed the Soweto riots. He spoke of what a frightening experience it was, saying, “That mob seemed to take on the form of a massive beast moving on its own accord.” Perhaps he was right.

Taking this into our Christian walk helps us to see the Bible’s talk of the body of Christ not as a metaphor, but as a deep reality. We are an entity in the fourth dimension with Christ being part of that entity as the head, the controller, just as there is something controlling the murmuration of the swallows or the shoal of fish.

Perhaps that is how we could see the Trinity: Three persons in relation to one another forming another entity — God — thoroughly intertwined, yet individuals in their own right. It would help us get over trying to explain them in three-dimensional terms like ice, water and water vapour or eggshell, white and yoke, which are totally inadequate.

It also might give us an alternative explanation of the man of lawlessness described in 2 Thessalonians. Perhaps, because of our being locked into a three-dimensional world, he’s described as a man, but what if a four-dimensional entity is being described? What if it is a group of utterly lawless people who rebel against God and His ways? Does that sound like the path we are on today?