Though the reality of God's existence is the most certain of all truths to the Christian, it follows from the nature of the case that a thoroughly satisfactory definition of the idea of God can never be reached. A logical definition requires the use of genus and differentia, which are, of course, absent in the case of God; nor can he be subsumed in the same genus with other things. Nevertheless, the religions of the world have succeeded in reaching quite distinct conceptions of one or more gods without strict definitions. All of them, even the lowest, include in their idea of God that he is a being endowed with power over men and nature. A certain spiritual character is attributed to him by the fact of his invisibility; but the religious conception of God includes especially the idea of a will by which he acts on men. The more developed religions conceive this will as almighty, and refer the original being of all things to its operation. The most important element, however, according to Christian revelation, is the ethical nature of that will as the absolute good, determining the development of the world toward good ends.
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