Romans 2:25-29 Discussion Questions

INTRODUCTION
Paul answers the objection that circumcision, being a sign of the covenant, could spare believing Jews from the coming judgment. In doing so, he points out the fact that we are saved through faith alone apart from our works.

Discussion Questions

•    Why is is important that Abraham received circumcision after God called him out of Ur?

•    Why do you believe it was so easy for the Jews to falsely assume that circumcision would save them?

•    What modern parallels to circumcision do you believe Christians may struggle with in regard to earning salvation (e.g., baptism, communion, membership, etc.)?

What Does This Say About God?

•    God covenants with his people in relationship

•    God sets his people apart for the purpose of representing him to the world

•    God replaces hearts of stone with hearts of flesh

What Does This Say About Humanity?

•    We are prone to rely on our own self-righteousness

•    We are dependent on God to replace our hearts of stone

What Will You Do About It?


For more insight to this passage listen to One More Thing – where our teaching pastors discuss the passage in greater detail using these discussion questions.

Romans 2:12-16 Discussion Questions

INTRODUCTION
Is God just in judging those who have never heard the gospel? Paul answers this age-old question.

Discussion Questions

•    Is is just that God would judge people without hearing the gospel? Why or why not?

•    Can people who do not believe in God cultivate moral lives? Why or why not?

•    Discuss the following statement: Ignorance does not mean innocence.

•    In what ways can our conscience become seared? Can we “unsear” our conscience?

 

What Does This Say About God?
•    God is an impartial, perfectly fair judge.

•    God has placed a moral compass in the soul of every human being.

•    Christ will come to judge all sin, even the hidden sin.

What Does This Say About Humanity?

•    All people have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

•    There is no such thing as an “anonymous Christian.”

•    The one we need saving from is the one who can save us.

What Will You Do About It?


For more insight to this passage listen to One More Thing – where our teaching pastors discuss the passage in greater detail using these discussion questions.

Romans 2:6-11 Discussion Questions

INTRODUCTION
God shows no partiality concerning race, ethnicity, tribe, or gender when it comes to his judgment. By his grace alone, neither does he show partiality in the forgiveness of sin.

Discussion Questions
1. The Jews in Rome believed they had special standing before God that exempted them from judgment. Can you think of an example in which people today believe they are exempt from his judgment?

2. What does it mean to seek glory, honor, and immortality in patience?

3. When Paul states that God “will render each on according to his works,” is he describing karma? Why or why not?

 

What Does This Say About God?   

• God is an impartial, perfectly fair judge
• God cannot allow unrighteousness to go unpunished
• God is not into karma: he gives all what they deserve, but some he gives what they do not deserve

What Does This Say About Humanity?

• Like God, we should show no partiality in our interactions with people.
• We may pursue after God’s glory, honor, and immortality through Christ.
• Our perseverance is fueled by the Holy Spirit with an eternal perspective on life.
  

What Will You Do About It?


For more insight to this passage listen to One More Thing – where our teaching pastors discuss the passage in greater detail using these discussion questions.

Romans 2:1-5 Discussion Questions

INTRODUCTION
Paul shifts his attention from them to you, those who would wag their finger and judge without recognizing that they also break the law. The solution for all sinners is a new heart.

Discussion Questions

• Paul says that both believers and unbelievers have ‘no excuse’ for their sin. What does he mean?
• Discuss the following: “The sins of the Jews and Gentiles were different, but the sin of them both is the same.”
• What difference is there between judging and discerning?

 

What Does This Say About God?

• God shows no partiality when it comes to judgment of sin.
• God is a just god who must pour out his wrath on sin.
• God is a good god who has provided away to avoid condemnation through judgment.

What Does This Say About Humanity?

• All are guilty of sin, regardless of who they are, where they live, or when they were born.
• All of humanity falls under an objective standard morality. Morals are not subjective, but objective.

 

What Will You Do About It?


For more insight to this passage listen to One More Thing – where our teaching pastors discuss the passage in greater detail using these discussion questions.

Romans 1:28-32 Discussion Questions

INTRODUCTION
Paul shows us the fallenness and depravity of humanity and what the consequence of humanity’s rebellion against God is.

Discussion Questions

•    Discuss the following quote from John Piper: “every sin is rooted in our preferring something else to God; and every sin gets worse as God takes away his restraints and gives us up to sink in the swamp we have chosen.”
What does this mean about the decisions we make?

•    Read Matthew 7:3-5. What is Jesus saying in this passage about dealing with our own sin and the sin of others? What are some ways we often approach others about the sin in their lives?

•    Judas’ betrayal led him to regret and remorse. Peter’s betrayal led him to brokenness.  What’s the difference?  Why do we see Judas die for himself while Peter dies for Christ?

What Does This Say About God?

•    God hates sin.  Solomon says that the most detestable sins are the ones we commit against one another. (Proverbs 6:16-19)

What Does This Say About Humanity?

•    Godless thinking gives way to ungodly behavior.

•    The more disconnected from one another we become the more evil we become.

What Will You Do About It?


For more insight to this passage listen to One More Thing – where our teaching pastors discuss the passage in greater detail using these discussion questions.

Romans 1:26-28 Part Two Discussion Questions

INTRODUCTION
Continuing the conversation from the week before… how does the church respond to those struggling with Same Sex Attraction in our own communities?

Discussion Questions

•    In the recent past, has the church (universally) been a source of grace and love when it come to Homosexuality and Same Sex Attraction (SSA)?

•    How should the church respond if a homosexual couple visits Mars Hill for the first time?

•    Why do we often stigmatize homosexuality as though it is the most grievous of sins? What is the danger in doing this?

 

What Does This Say About God?

•    God does not identify those who are in Christ by their sin but rather by the righteousness of Christ.

What Does This Say About Humanity?

•    Humanity is broken, sinful, and hopeless if left to themselves.

•    “Human nature is like a drunkard riding a horse” – Martin Luther

 

What Will You Do About It?


For more insight to this passage listen to One More Thing – where our teaching pastors discuss the passage in greater detail using these discussion questions.

Romans 1:26-28 Discussion Questions

INTRODUCTION
Paul uses same-sex relations as a case-study of God’s created order being upturned, from natural to “contrary to nature,” because of sin. Yet, before we think we are without excuse, Paul immediately follows up with a whole host of sins so that we are without excuse.

Discussion Questions

•    Why do you believe Paul placed same-sex relations atop a long list of sin?

•    How do same-sex relations alter the picture of the gospel in marriage (Gen 2:24; Eph 5:31-32)?

•    How do you believe the Church (in general) has reacted to the cultural shift toward affirming LGBT sexuality? How should the Church react?

What Does This Say About God?

•    God has created the natural order in a specific way; however, sin has upended it.

What Does This Say About Humanity?

•    Humanity was once changed with ruling over God’s created order as his image-bearers; however, it now is acting to upend and destroy God’s created order.

•    Human sexuality has been severely twisted by sin; anything outside of heterosexual marriage works against God’s design.

What Will You Do About It?


For more insight to this passage listen to One More Thing – where our teaching pastors discuss the passage in greater detail using these discussion questions.

Romans 1:18-32 Discussion Questions

INTRODUCTION
The global Christian church has for two millennia celebrated Resurrection Day in remembrance of Christ’s resurrection from death on the third day. Paul reminds us that this was predicted by the Scriptures long ago (1Co 15:4).

Discussion Questions

• What does it mean for you that the Bible predicted and foreshadowed the resurrection on the third day?
• Jesus said that they only sign the Pharisees would receive was that of Jonah (Matt 12:39). What correlations can you find between Jonah and Jesus?

What Does This Say About God?

• God is sovereign over all. Nothing scatches him off guard.
• Like Abraham, God sometimes asks us to have faith in him even when we do not fully understand.
• God heard Jonah repent in the belly of the great fish. He is always willing to listen to our cries for help and pleas of repentance.

What Does This Say About Humanity?

• God used many people in the Old Testament to foreshadow the resurrection. He invites us along in his plan of salvation to be used for his glory.
• All of humanity has fallen and is in need of redemption. There are no exceptions.
• Christ is the first fruits of a universal resurrection. Each person who has ever lived will one day be resurrected to eternal life or eternal death.

What Will You Do About It?


For more insight to this passage listen to One More Thing – where our teaching pastors discuss the passage in greater detail using these discussion questions.

Romans 1:24-25 Discussion Questions

INTRODUCTION
Paul displays God’s passive wrath as the consequence for humanity’s persistent denial of their Creator’s good gifts. As a result, they have exchanged the truth for a lie and worship the created rather than the Creator.

Discussion Questions

•    God’s passive wrath is his allowance of sinful consequences to come of our action. What examples of God’s passive wrath do you see in Scripture? In life?


•    What does it mean that humanity exchanged the truth for a lie? Can this become reversed? If so, how?

What Does This Say About God?

•    God loves his creation, yet will not abide in its rebellious nature forever.


•    The very things that God created for humanity to rule over (creation) has become its focus of worship.


•    God alone is worthy of being blessed forever. 

What Does This Say About Humanity?

•  Humanity’s ultimate focus of worship was once God, but has devolved to the “creeping things,” or the enemy himself.

• Our descent into the destruction of sin is a slow and steady event.

• Our only hope to exchange a lie for the truth is found in the Last Adam.

What Will You Do About It?


For more insight to this passage listen to One More Thing – where our teaching pastors discuss the passage in greater detail using these discussion questions.

Romans 1:21-23 Discussion Questions

INTRODUCTION
In these passages Paul is revealing to us the consequences of those who reject God and the truth of who God is.

Discussion Questions

• Without God has the source in which we measure things by, is it possible to have a standard of morality?  Can a culture, society, or individual define morality?  Does morality change/evolve over time?  Discuss your answers.
• Discuss the following quote from James Dunn: 
“Paul is obviously thinking more in terms of thanksgiving as characteristic of a whole life, as the appropriate response of one whose daily experience is shaped by the recognition that he stands in debt to God, that his very life and experience of living is a gift from God.”

  In light of Dunn’s quote, what should a life of gratitude and responding with honor to God look like for those who follow Christ?

• How does understanding the inconsistency caused by truth-suppression help us to speak to nonbelievers about the Christian faith?

 

What Does This Say About God?

 

What Does This Say About Humanity?

 

What Will You Do About It?


For more insight to this passage listen to One More Thing – where our teaching pastors discuss the passage in greater detail using these discussion questions.