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Knowing God
Christianity teaches that although God is very different from anything else, some aspects of His nature can be known. In other words, Christians believe they can have some knowledge of what God is like, even if that knowledge is incomplete. This section explores three of these characteristics.
God is Omnipotent
Being omnipotent means that God can do anything — He is all-powerful. This is shown in the angel Gabriel’s words to Mary:
“For nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1)
The Bible gives many examples of God’s power:
Creation: Genesis describes God creating everything from nothing in six days.
Parting of the Red Sea (Exodus): God helped Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt by parting the sea, letting them cross safely, and drowning the Egyptian army. This shows His supreme power.
Jesus’ miracles: In the Gospels, Jesus performs miracles showing divine power — such as turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana (John).
Challenge - philosophical views
René Descartes (17th century) said God’s power is unlimited — He could even do what seems impossible, like creating a four-sided triangle.
St Thomas Aquinas (13th century) argued God can do anything logically possible. A “square circle” isn’t a real thing, so it’s not part of God’s power.
The Book of Hebrews says God cannot lie. Theologians see this not as a limit, but as part of His perfectly good nature.
Because God is all-powerful, Christians believe He can answer prayers - for example, healing the sick.
God is Loving
A second key feature of God is His loving nature, known as omnibenevolence. The Bible teaches this clearly:
“God is love.” (1 John 4:8)
This means God is perfectly good and loving toward everyone. St Paul said we can see God’s goodness in creation:
“God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen… from what has been made.” (Romans 1)
Jesus’ healing and resurrection miracles — such as curing the paralyzed man and raising Jairus’ daughter (Matthew 9) — show His love.
The greatest example is Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, which paid for human sin and restored the relationship between God and humanity. Knowing God is loving gives Christians hope and strength in hard times.
Knowing that God is loving gives Christians hope in times of trouble - feeling loved gives people strength when life is difficult.
Challenge - what kind of love?
Christians believe God’s love is agape — unconditional and self-giving. St Paul taught that God loves humanity even though we are sinners. The sacrifice of Jesus is the ultimate example of agape. Christians are called to show this same selfless love:
“Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13)
Challenge - evil & suffering
Philosophers question how a loving God can allow suffering. J.L. Mackie argued that a loving and powerful God would prevent it, so evil disproves God’s existence. Rowe disagreed, saying evil doesn’t disprove God, but makes His existence less likely.
God is Just
A third key aspect of God is His justice. God is fair and ensures that good and evil are rewarded appropriately. St Paul wrote:
“God will repay each person according to what they have done.” (Romans 2, quoting Psalm 62)
This gives Christians confidence that those who live good lives will go to Heaven, and that God will punish wrongdoing — often understood as Hell.
Challenge - love vs justice
Some philosophers argue there is a tension between God’s justice and love. If God is all-loving, He would forgive everyone, meaning there would be no punishment or Hell. But if He is fully just, sinners must be punished. This raises the question of whether perfect love and perfect justice can truly exist together in God.
Knowing God
Christianity teaches that although God is very different from anything else in existence, some aspects of His nature can be known - in other words, Christians believe that they can have some knowledge about what God is like (even if this knowledge is incomplete). In this section, we will explore three of these characteristics.
God is omnipotent
Being omnipotent means that God can do anything - that he is all-powerful. This is evidenced by this Bible teaching (which is spoken by the angel Gabriel whilst telling Mary that she would bear a son even though she was a virgin):
“For nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1)
The Bible contains many examples that show his power - that are evidence of his omnipotence:
The Creation of the universe. Genesis (the first book of the Bible) describes how God created everything out of nothing in just 6 days.
The Parting of the Red Sea (Exodus). The story describes how Moses, under God’s guidance, led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. As they fled, they were chased by the Egyptian army. Trapped between the approaching soldiers and the Red Sea, the Israelites feared for their lives. Moses, following God’s instructions, stretched out his hand over the sea, and God performed a miracle to part the waters, creating a dry path for the Israelites to cross safely. Once they had crossed, Moses again stretched out his hand, and God caused the waters to return, drowning the Egyptian army and ensuring the Israelites’ escape. This miraculous event is seen as a demonstration of God’s ultimate power.
Jesus' miracles. The miracles contained in the Gospels can also be understood as examples of God's omnipotence. For example, the first miracle that Jesus is reported to have performed - turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana (John's Gospel) - shows Christians Jesus' divine power.
Challenge - philosophers and theologians disagree on how we should think about God's omnipotence.
René Descartes (17th Century philosopher) argued that being omnipotent means that God can do absolutely anything - that his power is unlimited - and that He can even do things that are logically impossible such as making a four-sided triangle (this is logically impossible because a three-sided shape cannot four sides).
St Thomas Aquinas (13th Century theologian) argued that when we say that God can do anything, we mean anything that is logically possible. So, for example, He could not make a square circle. After all, a square circle is not really a thing, so is not in the list of things that an omnipotent God can do.
According to the book of Hebrews (New Testament), God cannot lie. Theologians do not count this as a limit on God's power (although it is something he cannot do) because the reason He cannot lie comes from within God's own perfectly good nature. A perfectly good God could not lie as this would contradict his own nature. It is argued that this does not count against God's omnipotence.
One way this influences Christians is that they pray to God to ask for something (for example to be cured from an illness) because they believe that an all-powerful God is able to answer their prayers.
God is loving
A second key aspect of God is his loving nature. This is referred to as God's omnibenevolence. The Bible teaches that God is omnibenevolent, as shown in the verse 1 John 4:8, which says,
"God is love." (1 John 4)
This means that he is perfectly good and loving towards everyone. St Paul wrote that we can know that God is good by seeing the goodness in the world that God created:
“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, so that people are without excuse.” (Romans 1)
Jesus' healing miracles are evidence for His loving nature - for example, curing the paralysed man (Matthew 9), as are his resurrection miracles - for example, the raising of Jairus' daughter (Matthew 9). For many Christians, the most important act that shows God's loving nature is the sacrifice of Jesus to pay for the sins of humanity, which allowed for the restoration of the God-humanity relationship (see Jesus - Salvation).
Knowing that God is loving gives Christians hope in times of trouble - feeling loved gives people strength when life is difficult.
Challenge - what kind of love?
When Christians say that God loves everyone, they have in mind a particular kind of unconditional love, which is often referred to by its ancient Greek name (and the one used in the New Testament), agape. Agape is the unconditional love that God has for humanity which means that he shows us this love whether we deserve it or not, as shown in St Paul's letter to the Romans, where he wrote that God loves us even though we are sinners.
The most significant sign of God's love for us is the sacrifice of Jesus. Agape is a self-sacrificing form of love, and even if Christians are not expected to lay down their lives for others, there is an expectation of self-sacrifice as it is what God expects of them, as shown in Jesus' New Commandment:
"Love one another as I have loved you." John 13
Challenge - the problem of evil & suffering
Philosophers have challenged belief in the loving nature of God by pointing out the existence of evil & suffering in the world. J.L. Mackie argued that a loving God would not want people to suffer, and an omnipotent God would have the power to prevent suffering, and so the fact of evil and suffering disproves the existence of the Christian God. Rowe disagreed with Mackie's conclusion, and instead believed that the existence of unnecessary suffering makes God's existence less likely (rather than disproven).
God is just
A third key aspect of God is that he is just (fair). This is an especially important characteristic when Christians think about what happens after death. Belief in God's justice reassures them that if they have led a good Christian life, then they will go to Heaven in the afterlife. Quoting Psalm 62, St Paul wrote that,
"God will repay each person according to what they have done.” (Romans 2)
The flip side of this is that due to his just nature, God will punish those who deserve it. Many Christians think of Hell as the punishment for those who sin (go against God's will).
Challenge - omnibenevolence and justice
Some philosophers have argued that there is a tension in God's nature between being loving and being fair. They argue that if God is truly omnibenevolent, then he would forgive anyone's sins, and so there would be no need to have Hell as a punishment. But then his all-loving and not fair (since it is not fair that sinners should go to Heaven).