Fall Cycle, Week 4
Start your time with a Check-in (about 15 minutes)
inductive bible study (30-40 minutes)
Open your Bibles and begin with a prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to help you read God's word. Read the passage out loud once together and then silently once more on your own, noting your observations and questions.
Key Scripture: Romans 2:17-29
17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; 18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 26 So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? 27 The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
28 A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.29 No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.
Take a few minutes to share your observations and questions as a group.
You might consider:
- What's happening here?
- What key words are you noticing? What do they mean?
- What's the culture background we need to know to make sense of this text?
- What's the big idea?
Take some time to answer a KEY QUESTION you've raised as a group and think through how the issues you've explored apply to your lives.
DISCUSSION (about 20 minutes):
- In the argument of Romans, Paul is beginning to show how the Jewish code of the law is not enough to make us right with God (ie. make us "Jews" and therefore part of God's family)
- What do you think are some of the "codes" of our culture? (Think about the narratives or the virtues people look to in order to feel like they are righteous)
- What are some of the "codes" Christians are prone to trusting in?
- What "code" are you (personally) prone to live by?
- According to Paul, why is the code of the law (or any other code we try to follow) not enough to make us children of God?
- What does Paul say we really need?
- Discuss the meaning of v. 29. What good news do you see in this verse and how does it apply to our lives?
Close with a time of prayer.
