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12 Great Questions of Christian Faith & Belief Today
12 Great Questions of
Christian Faith & Belief Today
A Scripture-Based Study and Comparative Commentary Guide
Christianity has always invited profound questions about God, creation, suffering, salvation, eternal life, and the purpose of human existence. These questions are asked by believers, seekers, skeptics, and those struggling with doubt.
The following study identifies 12 foundational questions of Christian faith, with biblical answers and perspectives from three widely used Christian teaching resources:
Enduring Word — Verse-by-verse biblical exposition, principally associated with Pastor David Guzik.
BibleProject — Biblical theology emphasizing the literary structure, historical setting, and unified story of Scripture.
GotQuestions.org — Topical biblical answers, generally reflecting conservative evangelical Protestant theology.
These are 12 selected foundational questions, rather than a statistically verified ranking of the most frequently asked questions. Each commentary summary is a synthesis, not a direct quotation.
The 12 questions at a glance
# | Foundational question | Primary Scripture |
|---|---|---|
1 | Does God exist, and how can we know Him? | Romans 1:20 |
2 | Is the Bible truly God's Word? | 2 Timothy 3:16–17 |
3 | Who is Jesus Christ, and is He God? | John 1:1, 14 |
4 | Why did God create humanity? | Genesis 1:26–27 |
5 | What is sin, and why do we need salvation? | Romans 3:23 |
6 | Why does a loving God allow suffering and evil? | Romans 8:28 |
7 | How can a person be saved and assured of eternal life? | Ephesians 2:8–9 |
8 | What is the Holy Spirit's role in a believer's life? | John 14:26 |
9 | Why is prayer important, and does God answer prayer? | Philippians 4:6–7 |
10 | How should Christians live and love others? | Matthew 22:37–39 |
11 | What happens after death? | John 11:25–26 |
12 | Will Jesus Christ return, and how should we prepare? | Acts 1:11 |
1. Does God exist, and how can we know Him?
Key Scripture — Romans 1:20 (KJV)
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Parallel Scriptures: Genesis 1:1; Psalm 19:1; Hebrews 11:6; Jeremiah 29:13; John 14:9.
Biblical answer: Scripture presents God as the eternal, self-existent Creator who reveals Himself through creation, conscience, His Word, and ultimately Jesus Christ. Faith involves responding to that revelation, not merely acknowledging the possibility of a higher power.
Major commentary perspectives
Enduring Word: Romans 1 emphasizes God's revelation through creation and humanity's responsibility to recognize and honor Him. Romans 1 commentary
BibleProject: The biblical story begins with God bringing order, life, and purpose to creation. Human beings are invited to know God and participate in His good purposes. Explore biblical themes
GotQuestions: Presents philosophical arguments from causation, design, morality, and human experience, while acknowledging that God's existence cannot be demonstrated by an argument that compels universal agreement. Does God exist?
Faith application: What evidence of God's character and presence do I recognize in creation, Scripture, and my own life?
2. Is the Bible truly God's Word?
Key Scripture — 2 Timothy 3:16 (KJV)
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Parallel Scriptures: 2 Peter 1:20–21; Psalm 119:105; Hebrews 4:12; John 17:17; Isaiah 40:8.
Biblical answer: Christians regard Scripture as divinely inspired, written through human authors, and authoritative for teaching, correction, and spiritual formation.
Major commentary perspectives
Enduring Word: Emphasizes that Scripture is God-breathed and useful not only for theological knowledge but also for transforming Christian character. 2 Timothy 3 commentary
BibleProject: Explores Scripture as a unified literary collection written by diverse human authors that tells the unfolding story of God, humanity, and redemption through Jesus.
GotQuestions: Defends biblical inspiration and authority, including the doctrine of inerrancy in the original writings. Statement of faith
Faith application: Do I approach Scripture simply for information, or do I allow its teaching to correct and shape my life?
3. Who is Jesus Christ, and is He God?
Key Scripture — John 1:14 (KJV)
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Parallel Scriptures: John 1:1–3; John 10:30; Colossians 1:15–20; Philippians 2:5–11; Hebrews 1:1–3.
Biblical answer: Historic orthodox Christianity teaches that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human, the eternal Son who became incarnate, died for humanity's sins, and rose bodily from the dead.
Major commentary perspectives
Enduring Word: John 1 identifies Jesus as the eternal Word, distinct from the Father yet sharing the divine nature, who entered human history.
BibleProject: Presents Jesus as Israel's promised Messiah, the embodiment of God's presence, and the fulfillment of the biblical story.
GotQuestions: Affirms Christ's deity, humanity, sinless life, substitutionary death, and bodily resurrection. Doctrine of Jesus Christ
Faith application: Is Jesus merely an admired historical teacher to me, or the risen Lord who directs my life?
4. Why did God create humanity, and what is our purpose?
Key Scripture — Genesis 1:27 (KJV)
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Parallel Scriptures: Isaiah 43:7; Micah 6:8; Ecclesiastes 12:13; Ephesians 2:10; Revelation 4:11.
Biblical answer: Humanity was created in God's image, with dignity, moral responsibility, and a calling to love God, care for creation, live in relationship with others, and glorify Him.
Major commentary perspectives
Enduring Word: Genesis 1 describes humanity's unique status as God's image-bearers, entrusted with stewardship and responsibility.
BibleProject: Emphasizes that humans are appointed as God's representatives, called to exercise wise stewardship and cultivate creation.
GotQuestions: Connects life's ultimate purpose to glorifying God, enjoying fellowship with Him, and living according to His will. Life's biggest questions
Faith application: How am I using my abilities, relationships, resources, and remaining years to fulfill God's purpose?
5. What is sin, and why do we need salvation?
Key Scripture — Romans 3:23 (KJV)
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Parallel Scriptures: Genesis 3:1–19; Isaiah 53:6; Romans 6:23; 1 John 1:8–9; 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Biblical answer: Sin is rebellion against God's character and purposes. It damages relationships with God, other people, and creation. Scripture teaches that humanity cannot overcome sin through moral effort alone; redemption comes through Jesus Christ.
Major commentary perspectives
Enduring Word: Romans 3 demonstrates the universal human need for righteousness and God's provision of justification through faith in Christ.
BibleProject: Explores sin as humanity's recurring choice to define good and evil independently of God, producing disorder, violence, and death.
GotQuestions: Teaches humanity's universal sinfulness and the necessity of Christ's atoning death and resurrection for salvation.
Faith application: Do I recognize sin only in obvious wrongdoing, or also in pride, indifference, selfishness, and neglected opportunities to love?
6. Why does a loving God allow suffering and evil?
Key Scripture — Romans 8:28 (KJV)
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Parallel Scriptures: Job 1–2; Psalm 34:18; John 9:1–3; John 16:33; Romans 8:18–23; Revelation 21:4.
Biblical answer: The Bible does not offer one simple explanation for every tragedy. It acknowledges human wrongdoing, a creation subject to suffering, spiritual conflict, and circumstances beyond human understanding. It also teaches that God remains present in suffering and promises ultimate restoration.
Major commentary perspectives
Enduring Word: Romans 8 places suffering within the larger expectation of redemption and future glory. God's promise is not that every event is good, but that He works through circumstances for His purposes.
BibleProject: Examines suffering through Job, Ecclesiastes, the Psalms, and Jesus' suffering, stressing that faithful trust can coexist with lament and unanswered questions.
GotQuestions: Connects suffering with a fallen world, human freedom, and divine sovereignty, while emphasizing Christ's participation in human suffering. Does God cause suffering?
Faith application: Can I continue trusting God's character when I cannot understand His purposes?
7. How can a person be saved and assured of eternal life?
Key Scripture — Ephesians 2:8–9 (KJV)
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Parallel Scriptures: John 3:16–17; Romans 10:9–10; Acts 16:30–31; Titus 3:5; 1 John 5:11–13.
Biblical answer: Salvation originates in God's grace, accomplished through Jesus' death and resurrection. Faith receives God's gift, while repentance, obedience, and transformed living are integral to the Christian response.
Major commentary perspectives
Enduring Word: Ephesians 2 describes salvation as God's undeserved gift, with good works following salvation rather than earning it. Ephesians 2 commentary
BibleProject: Describes salvation as rescue from sin and death and restoration to a new humanity through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
GotQuestions: Emphasizes justification by grace through faith in Christ and teaches the eternal security of genuine believers.
Faith application: Am I trusting Christ's finished work, or attempting to establish my acceptance before God through my accomplishments?
Important distinction: Christian traditions differ on baptism, the relationship between faith and works, and whether salvation can be forfeited. The three selected resources largely represent Protestant evangelical interpretations.
8. What is the Holy Spirit's role in a believer's life?
Key Scripture — John 14:26 (KJV)
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Parallel Scriptures: Acts 1:8; Romans 8:14–16; Galatians 5:22–23; 1 Corinthians 12:4–11; Ephesians 1:13–14.
Biblical answer: The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, who indwells believers, teaches, convicts, comforts, empowers, and develops Christlike character.
Major commentary perspectives
Enduring Word: John 14 describes the Spirit as the continuing presence of God's help, truth, and comfort in believers' lives. John 14 commentary
BibleProject: Traces God's Spirit from creation through Israel's prophets, Jesus' ministry, Pentecost, and the renewal of creation.
GotQuestions: Explains the Spirit's work in regeneration, indwelling, sealing, sanctification, spiritual gifts, and guidance.
Faith application: Am I cultivating the fruit of the Spirit or depending primarily on my own strength?
9. Why is prayer important, and does God answer prayer?
Key Scripture — Philippians 4:6 (KJV)
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Parallel Scriptures: Matthew 6:9–13; Jeremiah 33:3; James 5:16; 1 John 5:14–15; 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
Biblical answer: Prayer is communion with God through worship, confession, thanksgiving, intercession, and petition. God hears prayer, but His answers are not always the outcomes or timing believers desire.
Major commentary perspectives
Enduring Word: Philippians 4 connects prayer, thanksgiving, and trust with the peace of God amid life's anxieties.
BibleProject: Explores prayer as participation in God's purposes, especially through the Psalms and Jesus' teaching about the kingdom.
GotQuestions: Emphasizes praying according to God's will, approaching Him in faith, and recognizing that unanswered requests do not necessarily mean unheard prayers.
Faith application: Is prayer my first response to uncertainty, or something I turn to only after exhausting other possibilities?
10. How should Christians live and love others?
Key Scripture — Matthew 22:37–39 (KJV)
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Parallel Scriptures: Micah 6:8; John 13:34–35; Romans 12:9–18; Galatians 5:13–14; James 2:14–17.
Biblical answer: Christian discipleship is demonstrated through love of God and neighbor, obedience, integrity, forgiveness, generosity, justice, humility, and service.
Major commentary perspectives
Enduring Word: Matthew 22 presents love for God and neighbor as the foundation of the commandments, with practical obedience flowing from genuine devotion.
BibleProject: Explores biblical love as a commitment to seek another person's well-being, modeled supremely by Jesus' sacrificial life.
GotQuestions: Emphasizes that genuine faith produces changed conduct, good works, and love toward others without treating those works as the means of earning salvation.
Faith application: Would those who know me best recognize Christ's love through my attitudes, speech, priorities, and actions?
11. What happens after death?
Key Scripture — John 11:25 (KJV)
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Parallel Scriptures: Luke 23:43; 1 Corinthians 15:20–26; 2 Corinthians 5:1–8; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18; Revelation 21:1–4.
Biblical answer: Christianity teaches that physical death is not the end of human existence. Through Christ's resurrection, believers have hope of resurrection, eternal life, and restored fellowship with God. Scripture also teaches final judgment.
Major commentary perspectives
Enduring Word: John 11 emphasizes that resurrection is grounded in Jesus' identity and power, rather than merely in a future event.
BibleProject: Stresses the biblical hope of bodily resurrection and the renewal of heaven and earth, not simply an eternal disembodied existence. Heaven and Earth
GotQuestions: Teaches conscious existence after death, bodily resurrection, final judgment, and eternal destinies of heaven and hell.
Faith application: How should the promise of resurrection change the way I approach aging, loss, grief, and the legacy I leave?
12. Will Jesus Christ return, and how should we prepare?
Key Scripture — Acts 1:11 (KJV)
Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Parallel Scriptures: John 14:1–3; Matthew 24:36–44; 1 Thessalonians 4:16–18; Titus 2:13; 2 Peter 3:10–13; Revelation 22:20.
Biblical answer: The New Testament promises the personal return of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the dead, final judgment, and God's ultimate restoration of creation. Believers are instructed to remain faithful and watchful without claiming to know the date.
Major commentary perspectives
Enduring Word: Revelation 22 presents Christ's return as the church's great expectation and calls believers to readiness, worship, and obedience. Revelation 22 commentary
BibleProject: Frames Christ's return as the consummation of God's plan to unite heaven and earth, defeat evil, and dwell with His people.
GotQuestions: Affirms Christ's literal return and presents a premillennial, pretribulational interpretation of end-times events. Other Christian traditions understand the sequence differently.
Faith application: If Christ returned today, would He find me actively loving, serving, witnessing, and living in hopeful expectation?
Comparative emphasis of the three commentary resources
Resource | Primary strength | Especially helpful for |
|---|---|---|
Verse-by-verse exposition | Understanding individual passages in context | |
Biblical narrative, themes, and literary design | Seeing how Old and New Testament teachings connect | |
Direct answers to theological questions | Comparing doctrinal claims and finding supporting passages |
These sources agree on many foundational Christian beliefs, particularly the identity of Jesus, the importance of Scripture, and the resurrection. Their emphases differ, and they do not represent the full range of Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant theology.
A 12-session Christian faith study
Suggested study structure: one question per session, with Scripture reading, commentary comparison, discussion, and personal application.
Study progress
0 of 12 completed
Closing Scripture — 1 Peter 3:15 (KJV)
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
This verse expresses the purpose of the entire study: to understand what Christians believe, why they believe it, and how that belief should influence daily living.
For the 12 Questions project, this provides a foundation for a recurring study format built around QUESTION → SCRIPTURE → COMMENTARY → DISCUSSION → APPLICATION → PRAYER.
Source note: Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV). Commentary summaries are paraphrased; linked resources provide fuller treatment. BibleProject material is primarily thematic, so its summaries should not be understood as direct commentary on every individual verse.
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