“But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15).
In the verse above, Peter explained that each Christian needs to be ready to give an answer for what he believes. In order for us to be ready to give an answer, we need two things:
- A firm understanding of what we believe. This necessarily requires study on our part.
- An idea of what kinds of questions may be asked. This enables us to prepare as best we can.
Giving a defense for the hope in us requires the ability to articulate the basics of our faith. Peter’s challenge for us is not about being able to answer every possible question that may be posed to us at the drop of a hat. Some things in the Scriptures are “hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:16) – although not impossible. There are difficult questions that require further study and we should not be afraid or ashamed to admit this when such questions are presented to us.
However, we should have a foundation of basic Bible knowledge and principles that we understand and can articulate to others. After all, if we have faith in Christ, believe that the Bible is His word, and are striving to follow Him, we ought to be able to explain why when others are interested in learning about that.
So in this series, we are going to discuss some basic questions that may arise. The questions we will be considering are the following:
- Who is God?
- What is the Bible?
- What is the meaning of life?
- Who is Jesus?
- What is the gospel?
- What is the church?
- What is the plan of salvation?
- What is Bible authority?
- What is worship?
- Who is the Holy Spirit?
- What is the work of the church?
- What happens when we die?
We will not be covering every topic in depth because the purpose of this series is not to thoroughly examine these subjects from every possible angle. Instead, these lessons are meant to give each one of us some points that we can be ready to share with others who may ask questions like these. At the same time, while we prepare to teach others, we will have the added benefit of reinforcing our own faith as we are reminded of these fundamental truths.
So please follow along in this study. Lord willing, we will be sharing one lesson per week. I hope all of these lessons will be profitable for you.
