By Duke Taber
Not every Bible study on faith will actually build yours.
That might sound strange at first. If it’s a Bible study, and it’s about faith, shouldn’t it naturally do the job? But anyone who has sat through a shallow workbook or a group discussion that never left the surface knows the difference between a study that informs and one that truly transforms. Faith is too vital a subject — and the stakes too high — for a mediocre resource to do.
So before you commit your time, your group’s Tuesday nights, or your own quiet mornings to a Bible study on faith, it’s worth knowing what to look for. Because a good study on faith won’t just teach you doctrines. It will press you, stretch you, and leave you trusting God in places where you didn’t before.
What Faith Actually Is — And Why It Matters for Your Study
Any study worth its salt has to begin with a clear, honest definition of faith — and that definition has to be rooted in Scripture, not in Christian-culture assumptions.
The most common confusion people bring to a faith study is the idea that faith is a feeling — a kind of confident emotional state you either have or don’t. But Scripture tells a very different story. The author of Hebrews gives us the anchor:
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” — Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)
Faith here is substance and evidence — not sentiment. It is the present reality of something that hasn’t yet become visible. It is trust in a Person based on what He has said and who He has shown Himself to be.
The Reformers, building on this biblical foundation, described faith as having three essential dimensions: notitia (knowledge of content), assensus (genuine conviction that the content is true), and fiducia (personal trust and reliance). A good Bible study on faith will work through all three, because true faith is never merely intellectual agreement — and it is never merely an emotional leap in the dark. It is both mind and heart fully committed to who God is and what He has promised. (For a rich overview of what the Bible says about faith from the ground up, see this comprehensive guide.)
The Non-Negotiable: Scripture Has to Drive the Study
The single most important thing to look for in any Bible study on faith is this: does it let Scripture do the actual work?
There are plenty of resources that use Bible verses as decorations — dropped in at the end of a point to provide spiritual credibility to what was really a self-help principle. That is not a Bible study. That is a motivational seminar with chapter headings.
A genuinely solid study on faith will take you into the text. It will ask what a passage actually says, what it meant in its original context, and what it demands of you now. It will take you through Hebrews 11 — the hall of faith — and let you sit with Abraham, Moses, and Rahab long enough to feel the weight of what trusting God actually cost each of them. It will make you wrestle with James 2, where the apostle insists that faith without works is dead. It will bring you into the boat with Peter, walking on the water, and refuse to let you leave that story without examining where you tend to look away from Jesus.
As Romans 10:17 tells us:
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” — Romans 10:17 (NKJV)
Faith is not generated by clever writing. It comes through the Word. So a study that keeps you in the Word — actually in it, not just hovering around it — is already doing something right.
Theological Depth Without Theological Walls
I have been in ministry for decades, and one pattern I’ve seen over and over is this: people are not afraid of depth. What they are afraid of is being talked down to, or being made to feel that the deep things of God are only for scholars. A good Bible study on faith should be theologically substantive while remaining accessible to a serious believer who doesn’t have a seminary degree.
What does theological depth look like in practice? It means the study doesn’t skip over the hard passages. It engages with the tension between faith and doubt — the fact that genuine believers struggle, that the disciples themselves asked Jesus to “increase our faith” (Luke 17:5), that Thomas doubted and was met not with rejection but with grace. It doesn’t pretend that faith is something you graduate into; it treats faith as a living, growing relationship with God that requires tending.
It also means the study is honest about what faith is not. Faith is not a technique for getting what you want from God. It is not the force by which you manipulate spiritual outcomes. It is trust placed in a sovereign, good, and utterly faithful God — which means sometimes it looks like waiting, and sometimes like suffering, and sometimes like surrender. A study that presents faith as a kind of spiritual self-confidence has missed the biblical story entirely.
Resources like Ligonier Ministries and The Gospel Coalition have spent years producing theologically grounded material that takes lay believers seriously. Those are good benchmarks for the kind of depth to look for.
Look for Studies That Work Through the Hall of Faith
Hebrews 11 is the great anchor text for any serious study of faith. It is not an accident that the author of Hebrews compiled a sweeping roll call of the faithful — from Abel to Abraham to Rahab — before delivering the capstone passage about running with endurance. This chapter is both a theology of faith and a pastoral encouragement, and a good study will spend real time inside it.
What makes Hebrews 11 so useful is that it shows faith in motion. These are not abstract definitions; these are men and women who trusted God when the evidence was thin, when the wait was long, when the outcome looked impossible. There are powerful examples of unwavering faith throughout Scripture that a good study will draw from, not to inspire hero-worship, but to show what trusting God actually looks like with skin on.
A study that works through Hebrews 11 carefully will help participants see that faith has always been costly, that it has always been forward-looking, and that God has always honored it — even when the fulfillment came on the other side of death.
Honest Engagement with Doubt
Here is one mark of a truly helpful faith study that separates the good resources from the great ones: it makes room for doubt.
Not as a permanent resting place. Not as a spiritual virtue in its own right. But as a real part of the human experience of following God, one that Scripture neither hides nor condemns out of hand. Learning to navigate faith alongside doubt is essential for any believer who wants to be honest before God.
The disciples doubted. Abraham faltered. Elijah wanted to die under a broom tree after one of the greatest miracles in Israel’s history. John the Baptist, from prison, sent messengers to ask Jesus: “Are you the Coming One, or do we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3, NKJV). A faith study that presents doubt as evidence of spiritual failure will leave struggling believers feeling worse — and more isolated — than before they started.
What you want is a study that acknowledges the reality of doubt while firmly pointing toward what overcomes it: not more willpower, not more positive confession, but more of Jesus — more of His Word, more of His presence, more of the sure and tested record of His faithfulness.
Application That Goes Beyond Good Intentions
Every Bible study should produce change, not just knowledge. But the application sections of many faith studies tend toward the vague: “Trust God more this week.” That is not application. That is a sentiment.
Good application is specific, honest, and personal. It asks questions like: Where in your life right now are you trusting in something other than God? What promise of Scripture have you been hearing intellectually but not actually leaning on? What step of obedience is your faith calling you to take that you have been avoiding?
The pattern set by evangelical Bible study at its best is one that doesn’t leave the “so what?” question hanging in the air. Scripture not only conveys knowledge — it calls for action. A faith study that ends every session with concrete, personal application questions, and then returns to those questions the following week to create accountability, is doing what the Spirit intends through the Word.
I’ve found that the studies that changed my own understanding of faith most deeply were the ones that didn’t let me off the hook. They asked me to name something I was afraid of, something I was holding back from God, something I claimed to believe but wasn’t living. That kind of honesty is holy work.
Communal Depth: Why a Faith Study Is Better Together
While personal Bible study on faith is irreplaceable, there is something uniquely powerful about studying faith in community. Proverbs 27:17 says it plainly:
“As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” — Proverbs 27:17 (NKJV)
A good faith study is designed to open up real conversation — not just polished sharing, but the kind of honest exchange where people can say “I’m struggling with this” without fear of judgment. It should have discussion questions that push past surface agreement, creating space for participants to grapple together with the hardest aspects of what it means to actually live by faith.
Group studies on faith also create accountability, which is itself a form of faith in action. When you tell your community what you believe God is calling you to trust Him for, you are doing something vulnerable and brave. When they return the following week and ask you how it went, something happens in your soul that no amount of solo journaling fully replicates. If you are looking for a study to do as a couple or small group, a study done together can catalyze growth in ways personal study alone cannot.
What Good Discussion Questions Look Like
Because this matters practically, here is a quick guide: look for studies whose discussion questions do three things. First, they draw understanding out of the text rather than importing meaning into it. Second, they move from observation to application — from “what does this say?” to “what does this mean for how I live?” Third, they create genuine vulnerability by asking questions that can’t be answered with a tidy Sunday school response.
Questions like “Name a time God kept a promise you were starting to doubt He would keep” or “What is one area where your actions don’t yet match what you say you believe?” — those are the questions that produce growth. Compare those with “What does faith mean to you?” — technically open, but so broad it invites comfortable generalities rather than honest self-examination.
Inductive Bible study methods are worth looking for in a faith resource. The inductive approach — observing the text, interpreting it in context, then applying it to life — keeps the study anchored in Scripture rather than drifting into personal opinion or group consensus.
The Role of the Hall of Faith and the Heroes Who Populate It
One final quality marker: does the study take seriously the stories of people whose faith was tested and refined? The biblical record is not a collection of smooth success stories. Faith, across both Testaments, grows in adversity. Abraham waited twenty-five years for the son God promised. Joseph spent years in a pit and a prison before the dream came to pass. The disciples watched Jesus die and spent three days not knowing what to make of any of it.
The best faith studies will spend time with these stories — not to manufacture inspiration, but to make the theology of faith concrete. When you have sat long enough with Abraham on the mountain in Genesis 22, when you have felt the weight of what it cost him to bind Isaac and lift the knife, the definition of faith in Hebrews 11 is no longer a theological abstraction. It is a living thing.
“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.” — Hebrews 11:17 (NKJV)
A study that gives you that — that makes the stories do real theological and pastoral work — is a study worth your time.
What to Avoid
For balance: there are patterns in faith studies worth being cautious about. Studies that treat faith primarily as a tool for receiving material blessing tend to misrepresent what Scripture actually teaches — and tend to leave people feeling condemned rather than strengthened when God’s answer doesn’t come in the form they expected. Studies that skip over the pain and cost of faith in exchange for a string of testimonies about answered prayer give you half the picture. And studies that pile on Bible references without actually teaching you to read and understand them — turning Scripture into decoration rather than food — will not build you up the way you need.
What you need is Scripture that challenges you, theology that grounds you, application that stretches you, and community that holds you. When all four are present, a faith study stops being something you attend and becomes something that changes you.
A Closing Word
If you are looking for a place to start, AnsweredFaith.com’s series on faith covers these themes across multiple studies — from the foundations of faith in Hebrews 11 to Abraham’s journey to the persistent faith of the Canaanite woman. There are also 13 downloadable Bible study lessons on faith available if you want a structured, session-by-session guide for personal or group use.
Faith is not a destination. It is a daily act of trust in a God who has never failed. And a good Bible study on faith — one built on Scripture, honest about doubt, rich in application, and designed for community — can become one of the most important investments of your spiritual year.
Take your time choosing it. The right study, at the right season, with the right people, can change everything.
Duke Taber has served in pastoral ministry for over 25 years and is the founder of AnsweredFaith.com.
Resources
- AnsweredFaith.com — Bible Study on Faith
- AnsweredFaith.com — 13 Downloadable Faith Bible Study Lessons
- Ligonier Ministries — Faith Defined
- Logos — Evangelical Bible Study Principles
- Study and Obey — Faith Inductive Bible Study
- Bible Study Tools — Accountability in the Christian Life
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