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Introduction
Some Christian teachings suggest that we can understand something about God, using terms such as omnipotent, loving, and just. However, other teachings highlight God’s unknowability, describing Him as infinite or a mystery.
Agree: Reasons Why It Is Impossible to Understand God
A. Christians do not always agree
Christians themselves disagree about what God is like.
Example: Catholics teach that the Trinity is:
“the most fundamental and essential teaching” (Catechism)
While Unitarians reject the Trinity and deny that Jesus is God incarnate.
The Trinity is logically difficult: Jesus = God, the Father = God, but Jesus ≠ the Father. Catholics call this a mystery:
“The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith” (Catechism).
B. God Is Transcendent
God is beyond space and time, existing in a way humans cannot fully grasp.
St Thomas Aquinas argued that humans can know something about God, but not His full nature.
Analogy: A goldfish can only understand life in its pond; we, like the fish, cannot fully understand life outside the universe (God).
C. The Problem of Evil and Suffering
God created the world, yet suffering exists—natural disasters and human wrongdoing affect innocent people.
If God is loving and omnipotent, why does this happen?
Some Christians suggest God has a purpose beyond human understanding, as shown in the Book of Job.
D. Contradictory Qualities
God is both loving (1 John 4:8) and just (Psalm 37).
Example: He forgives sins but also sends unrepentant sinners to hell (Matthew 25).
Reconciling these qualities can be difficult, making God’s nature seem hard to understand.
Disagree: Reasons Why It Is Not Impossible to Understand God
A. Understanding the Trinity through faith
Although the Trinity is complex, the majority of Christians accept it as described in the Nicene Creed.
Humans may not understand it logically, but they can grasp it through faith and experience, not just reason.
B. Understanding God’s Transcendent Nature
Words like “loving” or “just” describe God differently than humans, but they give us a basic understanding of His nature.
Humans can reflect on these attributes to gain insight, even if understanding remains incomplete.
C. God’s Purpose in Suffering
John Hick argued that suffering helps humans develop spiritually and morally.
Hardship allows humans to learn love, compassion, and courage, revealing God’s loving purpose.
D. Symbolic Hell Resolves Contradiction
Some Christians see hell as symbolic: a spiritual consequence for rejecting God, not physical punishment.
God remains loving (He gives humans free choice) and just (humans face consequences for their choices).
And here are three positive reasons for thinking that God can be understood.
E. Creation Reveals God’s Nature
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities… have been clearly seen.” (Romans 1)
Examples:
The beauty of the planet
The order of the universe
Earth’s perfect position for life
The complexity and design suggest God’s intelligence and care.
F. Jesus Reveals God’s Nature
Jesus shows God in a form humans can relate to:
Love: compassion for the poor and sick
Forgiveness: mercy to sinners
Justice: criticism of hypocrisy and exploitation
Self-giving love: His death on the cross (John 3:16)
“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14)
Jesus makes God knowable without fully comprehending Him.
G. The Bible Reveals God
The Bible communicates divine truths (2 Timothy 3:16).
It describes God’s nature, shows His actions (Exodus, covenant with Abraham), and teaches His values (Ten Commandments, love your neighbour).
Stories, psalms, and the Gospels provide repeated insight into God’s love, justice, and mercy.
Conclusion
Whether we can understand God depends on what we mean by “understand.”
Full knowledge? Impossible, because God is infinite and beyond time.
Partial knowledge? Possible, through Creation, Jesus’ life, and the Bible.
Most Christians believe that while God is too great to be fully understood, humans can know enough about Him to follow His teachings and live according to their faith.
Introduction
Some Christian teachings seem to suggest that we can understand what God is like - as we have seen, terms such as omnipotent, loving, and just are used to describe God’s nature. However, there are other ways of thinking about God that point to His unknowability - ‘God is infinite’ or ‘God is a mystery’.
Agree: reasons why it is impossible to understand God
A. Christians do not always agree about God’s nature (e.g., about the Trinity)
A good starting point is that Christians themselves disagree about what God is like - there are rival teachings that are evidence for the unknowability of God. For example, consider these different teachings about the Holy Trinity:
Roman Catholics believe that the Trinity is:
‘the most fundamental and essential teaching’ (Catechism).
Some Protestant denominations that deny the truth of the Trinity - Unitarianism is a branch of Christianity that denies Jesus is the incarnation of God.
This lack of universal agreement might indicate that the truth about the nature of God is difficult to uncover and understand.
The Trinity itself is difficult to understand from a logical perspective - how can God be one being, but three persons? There is an important philosophical point here: normally we say that identity is transitive (if A = B, and B = C, then A = C). But in Christian thinking about the Trinity, this does not hold, for although Jesus = God, and the Father = God, Jesus ≠ the Father. In light of this, Roman Catholics consider the Trinity to be a mystery, as can be seen here:
"The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life.” (Catechism)
B. God is transcendent
One key teaching about God is that he is transcendent - meaning that he is beyond space and time - that he exists in a different way from anything within the universe (which is bounded by space and time). But it is difficult for us humans to understand what a transcendent being could be like, or how our words (including omnipotent, loving, just) could be applied to such a being.
St Thomas Aquinas (13th century theologian and philosopher - given the title of ‘doctor of the church’ for his influence on Christian, and in particular, Catholic thinking) argued that our minds are too limited to be able to fully understand God, and whilst we can know something about Him, we cannot fully understand His nature.
One useful analogy to understand this perspective is the goldfish pond: just as fish in a pond can understand only their life in the pond - they have no understanding of anything outside, for example anything of our human world - how could we have any genuine understanding of anything outside the universe (i.e., God and Heaven)?
This issue of God being very different from us can be seen in this passage from the Old Testament:
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine." (Isaiah 55)
C. The problem of evil and suffering
(For a fuller exploration of this issue, see Problem of Evil & Suffering)
One key obstacle to a Christian understanding of God’s nature is the fact of evil and suffering in the world. One way to think about this is in terms of the following two beliefs:
God created the world.
The world contains suffering - for example when a natural disaster strikes, which kills innocent people.
But why would a loving God (who would not want innocent people to suffer) have created a world where such suffering existed? Given his omnipotence, he could have created a world in which innocent people were not affected by tsunamis, earthquakes or floods. This makes some Christians think that they might not fully understand what God is like, and that maybe these descriptions - loving and omnipotent - might not be true. Or maybe they are true, and God has a purpose for the evil and suffering in the world, but a purpose that is beyond our understanding (as explored in the Book of Job).
D. Contradictory qualities
On the one hand, God is believed to be loving, as expressed here:
‘God is love.’ (1 John 4:8)
And an aspect of his love is his forgiveness of our sins.
But, it is argued, how can we understand this alongside God’s just nature:
‘The Lord loves justice’ (Psalm 37)
One key aspect of God’s just nature is that he will send unrepentant sinners to Hell
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’” (Matthew 25)
So how can God be both loving and just? Either we just cannot understand how he can be both, or else we are wrong that he has both these qualities - either way, it makes it difficult to think that we can understand the nature of God.
Disagree: reasons why it is not impossible to understand God
A. Understanding the Trinity
Although Unitarians argue against the truth of the Trinity, the large majority of Christian denominations in fact agree with the way God is described in the Nicene Creed - in which his trinitarian nature is asserted.
Many Christians argue that even if humans are unable to understand the three-person nature of God logically, they can grasp it through faith - by going beyond logic. This might be like saying that they feel it to be true, rather than discovering its truth through logical analysis. So God can be understood, but not in a logical way.
B. Understanding the transcendent nature of God
Although St Aquinas argued that humans cannot fully understand the nature of God because he is a transcendent and infinite being, he did think that we can use language imperfectly to develop an understanding. So for example despite the fact that we use the word ‘loving’ to describe both a human attitude and God’s attitude towards us, we actually mean something different when we use it describe God. God’s love is like human love (which we can understand because it is essentially human), but much greater (infinite). So we can start to gain a basic understanding of God’s nature by reflecting on the way we describe him, even though our understanding will remain incomplete.
C. God’s purpose for suffering
The philosopher John Hick believed that the fact of evil and suffering does not mean that we cannot understand God. He argued that suffering is essential if we are to grow and develop spiritually and become better people. It is only through suffering that we can properly developing love towards others - which is what God wants us to do. So the existence of evil and suffering reveals God’s loving nature, rather than obscures it.
D. There are no contradictory qualities
The issue was this: how can God prepare a place of just suffering for sinners (i.e., Hell) if he is loving? A way to resolve this issue is to think of Hell in the following symbolic way: Some people choose to reject God, and to live a life without him. Now because God loves them, the door to eternal life is always open, but whether a person wants to walk through that door is up to them (God cannot force anyone to believe in him). Hell should be thought of, not as a punishment for sinners, but rather as the spiritual place that those who reject God find themselves in. So this symbolic Hell is created by sinners, not God. God does not want anyone to experience it (because he is loving), but he cannot force people to believe in him (that would not be just/fair). In this way, God’s love and justice are not contradictory.
The final three points, rather than being responses to one of the arguments in favour of the impossibility of knowing God count as positive arguments for our being able to know him.
E. Jesus reveals God's nature
A central Christian belief is that Jesus, as the Son of God, is the fullest and clearest revelation of God’s nature. This claim is based on the teaching that Jesus is God incarnate – God taking on human form. If this is true, then by looking at Jesus’ life, actions, and teachings, Christians believe they can gain a meaningful understanding of God. This is supported by St Paul:
“The Son is the image of the invisible God.” (Colossians 1)
This suggests that although God’s full nature is beyond human comprehension, Jesus shows God in a form humans can relate to and learn from. For example:
Jesus’ love: His compassion for the poor, the sick, and the marginalised in society reveals God’s loving nature.
Jesus’ forgiveness: His mercy towards sinners – e.g., forgiving the adulterous woman or praying for his executioners – demonstrates God’s forgiving character.
Jesus’ justice: His criticism of hypocrisy and exploitation (such as driving the money changers from the temple) reflects God’s commitment to justice.
Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross: Christians believe this reveals God’s self-giving love for humanity:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.” (John 3:16)
Moreover, Jesus explicitly teaches that knowing him is the same as knowing God:
“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)
So, even though God is transcendent and beyond human comprehension, Christians would argue that God becomes understandable in a human and relatable form through Jesus. Jesus provides not only teachings about God but also a lived example of God’s character. Therefore, Jesus offers Christians a practical and personal way of understanding what God is like.
F. Creation reveals God’s nature
St Paul teaches that we can gain an understanding of God’s nature by considering the world that God created for us.
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.” (Romans 1)
For example, a Christian might think that certain features of the world indicate God’s love for us:
The beauty of the planet
The order and structure of the universe
The position of the Earth in relation to the sun, so as to be perfectly hospitable for life
These features of the universe are also used in the design argument as evidence for the existence of a God who designed the world. And as the design is incredibly complex and intricate, it shows the intelligence of the designer (God). So we can know that God is intelligent by looking at the world he created for us.
G. The Bible reveals God’s nature
Christians also argue that the Bible provides a clear, though not complete, understanding of God. The Bible is considered sacred scripture, inspired by God, as St Paul teaches:
“All Scripture is God-breathed.” (2 Timothy 3)
This means that although human authors wrote it, it ultimately communicates divine truths. Christians believe the Bible gives insight into God’s character in several ways:
Descriptions of God: The Bible uses key terms such as “loving,” “just,” “merciful,” and “omnipotent” to describe His nature. These descriptions help Christians form an understanding of who God is and how He acts.
Narratives showing God’s actions: Stories like the Exodus (where God rescues the Israelites from slavery) reveal God’s power and care for His people. Similarly, God’s covenant with Abraham shows His faithfulness.
Teachings and commandments: The moral teachings found in the Bible offer insight into God’s values. For example, the Ten Commandments and Jesus’ teaching to “love your neighbour as yourself” show the importance God places on morality and compassion.
Psalms: The Psalms express a wide range of human experiences in relation to God—joy, suffering, hope, confusion—helping Christians understand God as a being who listens, cares, and responds.
The Gospels: These accounts of Jesus’ life are especially important because they show God revealed directly in Jesus’ actions, words, and character.
While some Christians acknowledge that the Bible contains difficult passages or uses symbolic language, they still argue that it provides a trustworthy and meaningful picture of what God is like. The Bible offers repeated themes of God’s love, justice, and mercy, allowing Christians to build a coherent understanding of His nature.
Thus, even if humans cannot grasp every aspect of God, Christians believe that the Bible gives enough information for people to know God in a real and personal way.
Conclusion
Whether the nature of God is impossible to understand depends on what we mean by understanding. If we expect to explain everything about God fully, then most Christians would say this is impossible because God is infinite and beyond time. But if understanding means having a partial (incomplete), but meaningful knowledge of God - through Creation, Jesus’ life, and the Bible - then Christians believe this is possible.
Ultimately, most Christians say that while God is too great to be understood completely, humans can still know enough about him to follow his teachings and live according to their faith.