RS1Christianity: The Nature of God and the Problem of Evil

• Christianity is the largest religion in Britain. In the 2021 Census, 46.2% of people in England and Wales said they were Christian (the first time below half), and 37.2% said they had no religion.
• In Scotland’s 2022 census, 20.4% said Church of Scotland, 13.3% Roman Catholic and 5.1% another Christian church; 51.1% said no religion.
• AQA calls Christianity the main religious tradition of Great Britain, but Britain’s religious traditions are diverse.
• Catholic: the largest Christian tradition worldwide, led by the Pope. Authority comes from the Bible and the Church’s teaching and tradition. Seven sacraments.
• Orthodox: the Eastern churches, such as the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches. Icons and the Divine Liturgy are central.
• Protestant: churches that came from the 16th-century Reformation, stressing the authority of the Bible. They include Anglican, Methodist, Baptist and Pentecostal churches, and the Quakers.
• The Church of England is the established (state) church in England. It has both Catholic and Protestant features.
• Christians share core beliefs about God and Jesus, but understand some of them differently. This topic and the next two cover those beliefs.
• Last checked 6 November 2026.

Denomination

A distinct group or tradition within Christianity, such as Catholic, Methodist or Baptist.

Catholic

The Christian tradition led by the Pope; also called the Roman Catholic Church.

Orthodox

The Eastern Christian tradition, made up of churches such as the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches.

Protestant

Christian churches from the Reformation onwards in which authority rests mainly on the Bible, e.g. Anglican, Methodist, Baptist.

• Omnipotent means all-powerful. Christians believe nothing is impossible for God.
• Creation: Genesis begins with God creating the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). Many Christians believe God created everything from nothing.
• Miracles: the Bible describes God’s power at work, such as the escape through the Red Sea (Exodus 14) and Jesus’ healings and nature miracles.
• The resurrection: Christians see God raising Jesus from the dead as the greatest sign of his power.
• Jesus taught: “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26, World English Bible, British Edition).
• Many Christians say God can do anything that is in keeping with his nature: God won’t do evil, and can’t do what is logically impossible.
• Influence: Christians pray, trusting God can act; they feel awe in worship; they trust God is in control when life is hard.

Omnipotent

All-powerful: the belief that God has unlimited power.

Miracle

An event that seems to break the laws of nature, which believers see as an act of God.

• Christians believe God is loving, often called omnibenevolent (all-loving). The spec uses the word “loving”.
• The Bible says: “God is love” (1 John 4:8, World English Bible, British Edition).
• In creation: God made a good world and made humans to share in his love.
• In Jesus: John 3:16 says God loved the world so much that he gave his Son, so that those who believe have eternal life.
• On the cross: Christians believe Jesus’ death shows self-giving love, and that God loved people even when they were sinners (Romans 5:8).
• God’s love is often called agape: unconditional, self-giving love that seeks the good of others.
• Influence: Christians try to love God and their neighbour (Luke 10:27), help strangers (the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10), forgive, and find comfort in knowing they are loved.

Loving (omnibenevolent)

All-loving: the belief that God’s love is perfect and is shown to all.

Agape

Unconditional, self-giving love, which Christians believe God shows and which they try to show others.

• Just means fair. Christians believe God treats everyone fairly and judges rightly.
• Abraham asks God: “Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25, World English Bible, British Edition).
• God has no favourites: Paul writes that there is no partiality with God (Romans 2:11).
• God asks people to be just: the prophet Micah says God requires people “to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8, World English Bible, British Edition).
• Justice and mercy together: God judges sin but forgives those who are sorry and confess (1 John 1:9). Many Christians see the cross as the place where God’s justice and love meet.
• Judgement: Christians believe God will judge everyone after death, and that this will put right the injustice of this life.
• A puzzle: if God is just, why do the innocent suffer? Christians often answer that justice will be complete only at the final judgement.
• Influence: Christians try to treat others fairly, campaign against injustice (for example, the Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr in the US civil rights movement), and take moral choices seriously.

Just

Fair; the belief that God treats all people fairly and judges rightly.

Mercy

Showing kindness or forgiveness instead of the punishment someone deserves.

• Christianity is monotheistic: Christians believe in one God. The Shema, which Jesus quoted, says: “Hear, Israel: The LORD is our God. The LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4, World English Bible, British Edition).
• The Trinity: one God in three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
• The Father: creator and sustainer of the universe.
• The Son: Jesus, God incarnate (God in human form).
• The Holy Spirit: God at work in the world and in believers, given to the Church at Pentecost.
• Each Person is fully God. They are not three gods, and not three parts of God. The Persons are distinct, but God is one.
• Bible evidence: at Jesus’ baptism the Spirit comes down like a dove and a voice from heaven speaks (Matthew 3:16-17); Jesus sends his followers to baptise “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19, World English Bible, British Edition).
• Most Christians call the Trinity a mystery: true, but beyond full human understanding. Comparisons (such as one person being a parent, a child and a friend) help, but each has limits.
• A small number of groups outside the mainstream churches, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and Unitarians, don’t accept the Trinity.

The Trinity shield: one God in three Persons

Monotheism

Belief in one God.

Oneness of God

The belief that God is one single divine being.

Trinity

The belief that the one God is three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The Father

The first Person of the Trinity: God as creator and sustainer of the universe.

The Son

The second Person of the Trinity: Jesus, believed to be God incarnate.

The Holy Spirit

The third Person of the Trinity: God present and active in the world and in believers since Pentecost.

• A creed is a short statement of what Christians believe. The word comes from the Latin credo, ‘I believe’.
• The Nicene Creed was agreed at church councils in 325 and 381. It says Christians believe in one God; that the Son shares the same divine nature as the Father; and that the Holy Spirit is the Lord and giver of life.
• It is said at the Eucharist in Catholic, Orthodox and many Anglican churches.
• The Apostles’ Creed is shorter and is used in Western churches at baptisms and in daily prayer. It has three sections: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
• Why creeds matter: they sum up the faith, unite Christians across denominations and centuries, and guard against misunderstandings, such as treating Jesus as less than God.
• Not every church says a creed in worship: Quakers, for example, worship mostly in silence, and some free churches prefer to use the Bible’s own words. Most Christians still accept what the creeds teach about God.

Creed

A statement of Christian belief, such as the Nicene Creed or the Apostles’ Creed.

Nicene Creed

A creed agreed in 325 and 381 setting out belief in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

• Evil: the opposite of good; what is against the will of God. Suffering: pain and hardship, often the result of evil.
• Moral evil: caused by human choices, such as murder, war, theft and cruelty.
• Natural evil: not caused by human choices, such as earthquakes, floods and disease.
• The problem: if God is omnipotent, he could stop evil; if God is loving, he would want to. Yet evil and suffering exist.
• This is sometimes called the inconsistent triad: critics argue that the three statements can’t all be true, so one must go.
• Some people conclude that God isn’t all-powerful, isn’t loving, or doesn’t exist. Suffering can also shake the faith of believers.
• Christians reply that all three are true, and offer reasons why God allows suffering (next section).

Two kinds of evil

The inconsistent triad

Evil

The opposite of good; a cause of suffering that goes against the will of God.

Suffering

Pain and hardship; often an effect of evil.

Moral evil

Evil caused by human choices, such as murder or war.

Natural evil

Evil not caused by human choices, such as earthquakes or disease.

• After losing everything, Job says: “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the LORD’s name” (Job 1:21, World English Bible, British Edition).
• Some Christians believe God limits his own power so that people can be free, and suffers alongside them.
• Most Christians combine these ideas, and many say no single answer is complete.

Free will

The ability to make choices for yourself; Christians believe God gave humans this freedom.

The Fall

Adam and Eve’s disobedience in Genesis 3, which many Christians believe brought sin and suffering into the world.

Soul-making

Irenaeus’s idea that suffering helps people grow in goodness and become more like God.

• God suffers too: many Christians believe God is not distant from suffering, because in Jesus he suffered and died. On the cross Jesus cried out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34, World English Bible, British Edition).
• Hope: Jesus’ resurrection shows Christians that suffering and death don’t have the last word. Revelation 21:4 promises a time with no more death, mourning or pain.
• Prayer: Christians pray for those who suffer and for strength for themselves.
• Helping: Jesus healed the sick and taught the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). In the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, he says that helping those in need is helping him (Matthew 25:40).
• Examples: Christians run food banks, hospices and charities. Cicely Saunders, a Christian doctor, opened St Christopher’s Hospice in London in 1967, starting the modern hospice movement.
• Many Christians say the most important response to suffering is not a theory but compassion: being with people and helping them.

Compassion

Sympathy for the suffering of others that leads to action to help them.

Influence questions (4 marks) ask what Christians think, feel or do because of a belief.

• Each point needs the belief and the influence: ‘Christians believe God is just, so they try to treat everyone fairly, for example by…’