Discussion Questions
The speaker calls modern believers “chronological snobs” who assume we understand the apostles better than those taught near their time; what specific attitudes or arguments have you heard (or used) that match his examples about early Christians “not understanding Greek” or “already leaving the faith,” and what does that reveal about how we view God’s ability to preserve and teach His church? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What are some ways you’ve heard people dismiss early Christians (like saying they didn’t know Greek or quickly fell away)? What does that show about how much we trust God to protect and teach His church over time?
In the “apples and oranges” comparison, the speaker contrasts multi-generational Anabaptist stability with Corinth as a brand-new pagan church plant with no New Testament, no literature, no bishops/deacons, and “prophets” leading; how should that historical reality reshape the way we read Paul’s rebukes in 1 Corinthians—and reshape the way we judge messy young churches today? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How should it change the way we read 1 Corinthians if we remember Corinth was a brand-new church with little teaching and no established leaders? How should that change how we judge messy, young churches today?
The speaker imagines planting a church in “Hamburg” with ten families, leaving after 18 months with no ongoing contact, no New Testament, and no appointed leaders; what do you think would actually happen, and what does your answer expose about your confidence in modern discipleship methods versus the kind of durability God produced in the first century? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If you planted a church with ten families and left after 18 months with no Bible books and no leaders, what do you think would happen? What does your answer show about your trust in modern discipleship methods versus what God did in the first century?
On divisions, he argues Corinth’s “I am of Paul/Apollos” factions still remained one church, while modern towns can’t even identify “the church in Chambersburg”; what do our separations say about our beliefs regarding unity, discipline, and the visibility of Christ’s body, and why do we tolerate divisions that Paul treated as spiritually dangerous? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What do our many separate churches and denominations say about what we believe about unity and being one visible church? Why do we accept divisions that Paul warned were spiritually dangerous?
On sexual immorality, the speaker highlights Corinth’s single notorious case and then points to modern churches normalizing divorce/remarriage and cohabitation without discipline; how should Paul’s command to remove the immoral man—and later to restore him—challenge modern assumptions about grace, love, and what it means to protect the church? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How should Paul’s command to remove the immoral man—and later welcome him back—challenge how churches today handle divorce/remarriage and living together without marriage? What does this teach us about grace, love, and protecting the church?
The speaker argues the Corinthians likely lacked full teaching access (possibly not even Matthew yet) when a brother sued a brother, but modern “born again” communities sue constantly and divorce necessarily involves court; what does that comparison suggest about our actual obedience to Jesus’s teachings, and where have we subtly accepted court-based conflict as normal? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What does it say about us that Corinth may have had less teaching, yet Paul told them not to sue each other, while Christians today often go to court (including in divorce)? In what ways have we started treating court-based conflict as normal?
He describes the love feast problem against the backdrop of Roman banquet culture (Juvenal, silver vs. tin, slaves watching for missing jewels), arguing the rich-poor table fellowship was revolutionary; what present-day church habits might be “normal” to us but equally shaped by our surrounding culture—and what would it look like to practice a truly countercultural table the way early Christians were learning to do? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What church habits today might feel “normal” but are really shaped by our culture, like the rich-poor meal problem in Corinth? What would a truly countercultural shared table look like in our churches now?
In Galatians, the speaker insists the crisis was pressure to accept circumcision and the Mosaic law—not a debate about obeying Jesus—and he criticizes Luther’s (and many modern) reading that turns Galatians into “faith alone vs. obedience”; where have you seen Galatians used to dismiss commands of Christ as “bondage” or “works righteousness,” and what changes if Paul’s target is specifically the Law of Moses? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Where have you seen Galatians used to brush off Jesus’ commands as “bondage” or “works righteousness”? What changes in how we read Galatians if Paul is mainly arguing against circumcision and the Law of Moses?
The speaker says Revelation exposes a “not popular Jesus”: one who “insists on godly works,” rebukes and chastens those He loves, threatens lampstand removal, and repeats “I know your works”; how does that portrait confront common evangelical assurance language (“pre-forgiven,” “imputed righteousness,” “just believe”), and what parts of Jesus’s self-description in the seven letters make you most uncomfortable? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How does Revelation’s picture of Jesus—who keeps saying “I know your works” and warns churches—challenge common sayings like “just believe” or “pre-forgiven”? Which parts of Jesus’ messages to the seven churches make you most uncomfortable, and why?
He notes that none of the seven churches’ problems were framed as theological departures but as failures in works (lost first love expressed as “first works,” tolerating Nicolaitans/Jezebel, lukewarm works), and he argues the early churches corrected issues quickly and endured into the next century; what would it require for our congregations to respond to correction with that kind of speed and seriousness—and what “Nicolaitan-like” teachings or tolerated practices (he mentions meat sacrificed to idols as a “permanent command” and modern “wife swapping” via divorce/remarriage) might Jesus tell us to put out today? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What would it take for our churches to accept correction quickly and seriously like the early churches did? What teachings or tolerated sins today might Jesus tell us to remove, like the Nicolaitans/Jezebel or the issue of meat sacrificed to idols?