An honest question
Is there a God?
Key points
- Short answer: Nobody can prove it either way. Christians believe there is a God, and that we see who God is most clearly in Jesus.
- What Jesus did: He never argued that God exists. He talked about God the way you talk about someone you know.
- The Lutheran view: Lutherans say God is partly hidden: you can sense that someone made the world, but not what that someone is like toward you.
The short answer
Nobody can prove it either way. Christians believe there is a God, and that we see who God is most clearly in Jesus.
What Jesus said and did
He never argued that God exists. He talked about God the way you talk about someone you know. God is a Father who notices when a sparrow falls. He knows the number of hairs on your head. “Therefore don’t be afraid,” he said. “You are of more value than many sparrows.”
In his best-known story, that Father sees his runaway son coming home while he is still far off, and runs down the road to meet him.
A little longer
People have pointed to a few things for a very long time. There is a universe at all, rather than nothing. It runs on order that can be written down in mathematics. Almost everyone feels that some things are truly right or wrong, not just useful or harmful. And many people carry a longing that nothing in the world quite satisfies.
None of these proves God. They are reasons many careful people, including many scientists, find belief in God reasonable rather than naive. Other careful people look at the same things and are not persuaded. Both are honest positions.
Christians add something the arguments can’t: a person. They say that if you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. Look at who he ate with, who he healed, what he forgave, and how he died. One of his friends asked him, “Show us the Father.” Jesus answered, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”
So you don’t have to settle the big question before you look. You can read what Jesus did, and decide what you think of him.
Where Christians disagree
Christians disagree about how much the arguments can do. Some think they come close to proof. Others, including most Lutherans, think they can clear the ground but can’t bring anyone to faith on their own.
How Lutherans see it
Lutherans say God is partly hidden: you can sense that someone made the world, but not what that someone is like toward you. That is shown in Jesus, and especially on the cross. Faith, Luther said, is not something we reason our way into. It is trust, and God gives it through the story of Jesus.
Where it is in the Bible
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Psalm 19:1–4 The heavens tell of God’s glory, without words.
Read Psalm 19:1–4
1 The heavens declare the glory of God. The expanse shows his handiwork. 2 Day after day they pour out speech, and night after night they display knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. 4 Their voice has gone out through all the earth, their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
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John 1:18 No one has seen God; Jesus makes him known.
Read John 1:18
18 No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
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John 14:8–9 “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”
Read John 14:8–9
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
What do these words mean?
| The word | It means |
|---|---|
| Faith | Trust in God. Lutherans say it is a gift God gives, not something you work up. |
| The cross | Where Jesus was put to death. Christians see God’s love most clearly there. |
| Psalm | One of the 150 prayers and songs in the Bible’s book of Psalms. |
Tap a word for more. All 228 church words: the glossary, A to Z
Where to go next
Other questions people ask
Written by Digital Lutheran Church, a small, free website from the nonprofit Hope for Americans, in the tradition of the ELCA. Bible passages are from the World English Bible.