Fall Cycle, Week 5
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. Then take a few minutes to share your observations and questions together.
Key Scripture: Romans 3:9-20
9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”[a]
13 “Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”[b]
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”[c]
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”[d]
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know.”[e]
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”[f]
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
Footnotes
[a] Romans 3:12 Psalms 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Eccles. 7:20
[b] Romans 3:13 Psalm 5:9
[c] Romans 3:13 Psalm 140:3
[d] Romans 3:14 Psalm 10:7 (see Septuagint)
[e] Romans 3:17 Isaiah 59:7,8
[f] Romans 3:18 Psalm 36:1
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):
1) How would you summarize the argument Paul is making? (you can give everyone in the group a few minutes to write down their own answers and then share them together)
2) Take a moment to read together through the Old Testament passages in the footnotes above. Read some of the verses around them as well. What do you see in these verses? Other than the charge against human unfaithfulness and evil, is there anything else you notice?
3) Why do you think it's important that we know and understand the reality of our corruption and sin as we follow Jesus today?
4) How does this verdict (that all humanity is under sin) prepare us for the "really real verdict" that comes in Romans 3:21-26?
5) Keeping the thesis statement of the letter (Rom. 1:16-17) in mind, where do you see Good News in this text?
Close with a time of prayer.
