“In a sense it is kind of a last will and testament, a ‘passing on the mantle.’”
The letter of 2 Timothy is generally grouped as part of “the Pastoral Epistles” or the letters to leaders, along with 1 Timothy and Titus. All three provide personal and pastoral guidance to young leaders in early congregations. So perhaps the three brief Biblical books are only intended for pastors? Continue reading
Or, you can send an email to hurry things up for the blog on Hebrews!
Download discussion questions: Mark 10; Acts 2; Acts 4
Again this week our group looked at three passages – one in the gospels and two near the beginning of Luke’s account of the church in the Acts of the Apostles. One feature was a degree of repetitiveness in the passages. Someone told me a long time ago, “If God says something once, it’s important. If He says it more than once, we really better pay attention!” Continue reading
Download discussion questions: Jesus’ Family Values
The first comment in our group after looking at the handout with three passages from the gospels was, “I thought we were going to study Philippians.” I explained that we are on our way to Philippians, but we are taking the scenic route. Starting from Obadiah (last week) there are a few stops in between. Those brief detours will make all the difference in understanding what the Apostle Paul meant as we read his letter to the church in Philippi. Continue reading
Download discussion questions: Obadiah 1:10-14
How did we get here – from a Jewish prophet denouncing another nation to a letter from Paul to a Macedonian church? As we finished the letter that James wrote, the plan for our group was to follow the advice James gave to “look to the prophets” (James 5:10). However, the study of one of those prophets led us into a different direction. Continue reading
Last week our discussion group completed our study of the letter that James wrote. I hope the blog entries have been helpful and have encouraged you in your own study of Scripture.
We are beginning a new study this week. Although the original plan was to spend time in the Minor Prophets, a change of plans has brought us to the book of Philippians. (Some of the details behind that change will be in the next blog entry.)
The study in Philippians was partly inspired by a statement from Joseph H. Hellerman, a pastor and professor with a Ph.D. in history as well as theological training:
Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, intentionally subverts the social values of the dominant culture in the Roman colony at Philippi in order to create a radically different relational environment among the Philippian Christians.[1]
Since we are starting a new study, I wanted to remind you to subscribe to that Philippians blog on the main page of GoodNotSafe. Fill in your name and email address, then mark the box for Philippians. Click “Subscribe” and the blog entries for that study will be sent to you automatically.
[1] Joseph H. Hellerman, Embracing Shared Ministry: Power and Status in the Early Church and Why It Matters Today (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications, 2013), 11.
This is only a test
Download discussion questions: James 5:13-20
If you have ever written a lengthy letter, how did you decide how to end it? How would you end a letter that included tender expressions of affection along with harsh criticisms? If you began a letter with the potentially unwelcoming command to “Welcome trouble,” what would be the best way to end? This final discussion looks at how James concluded his letter. Continue reading
Download discussion questions: James 5:7-12
As James comes near to the end of his letter he has several ways of emphasizing his closing remarks. We will see his final words next week (James 5:13-20), and there is much left to cover. However, today’s passage seems to be a high point in his inspired instructions to “the twelve tribes in the Dispersion” (James 1:1). Continue reading
Download discussion questions: James 4:13-5:6
During last week’s discussion we found so much to explore in just two verses (James 4:11-12) that we didn’t have time to get to the end of the chapter as planned. As it turns out, that was a good thing, both for our time together last week, and also for the discussion this week. The two paragraphs in this passage (James 4:13-17 and James 5:1-6) probably are a better combination to study together. Continue reading