Discussion Questions

The teacher lingered on Hebrews 2:16 and Chrysostom’s point that Christ “taketh hold of” us like someone chasing down a runaway; how does that image challenge the way you instinctively imagine God relating to humans who are actively fleeing Him? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Chrysostom says Jesus “takes hold of” us like someone chasing a runaway. How does that picture change the way you imagine God treating people who are running from Him?

Hebrews 2:16 says Christ “does give aid to the seed of Abraham,” and the teacher argued Paul used that phrase to “exalt the Hebrews” as a “great and honorable race”; what assumptions about covenant identity and honor would early Jewish Christians have heard in that wording, and how should Gentile believers read it without flattening it? JumpstartAnother way to ask: When Hebrews says Jesus helps the “seed of Abraham,” what would early Jewish Christians hear about their special covenant identity and honor? How should Gentile Christians read this without ignoring what it meant to Jews?

In Hebrews 2:17 the teacher defined “in all things…made like His brethren” as Christ being born, growing, suffering, and dying; which parts of Christ’s real humanity are most resisted or minimized in modern Christianity, and what gets lost if those parts are treated as merely symbolic? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Hebrews says Jesus was made like us in every way—born, growing up, suffering, and dying. Which parts of Jesus’ real humanity do Christians today tend to downplay, and what do we lose if we treat them like symbols?

The teacher said he was surprised to find Hebrews “riddled” with God’s “passion for man,” “zeal for humankind,” and “tender care,” then asked, “What did we do to deserve all of this?”—how should Christians talk about God’s compassion without slipping into the idea that humans earned it or that God is merely sentimental? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How can Christians talk about God’s deep compassion without acting like we earned it or like God is just being sentimental?

The lesson contrasted earthly high priests—who deal gently because they are “subject to weakness” and must sacrifice for their own sins—with Jesus who was tempted “in all points…yet without sin”; how does that difference reshape what “sympathy” and “gentleness” mean in pastoral care and confession? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Earthly priests are gentle because they are weak and sinful, but Jesus was tempted and never sinned. How should that change what “sympathy” and “gentleness” look like when pastors care for people or hear confession?

The teacher quoted 1 John 2 (“we have an advocate…Jesus Christ the righteous”) and pushed back against the claim “Jesus doesn’t know what it’s like” because He never sinned, using C.S. Lewis’s argument that only those who resist know temptation’s full strength; where do you see that modern objection functioning as an excuse, and what repentance would it demand if it’s really “a lie”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Some people say, “Jesus doesn’t know what it’s like,” because He never sinned, but Lewis says only those who resist feel temptation’s full force. Where do you see that excuse being used today, and what repentance would it require if it’s really a lie?

In Hebrews 3:1–6 the teacher highlighted the “if” clause: “whose house we are, if we hold fast…firm to the end”; how does that conditional statement sit with common evangelical language of assurance, and what kind of “confidence” is the text actually calling believers to hold? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Hebrews says we are God’s house “if we hold fast…to the end.” How does that fit with common evangelical talk about being assured you’re saved, and what kind of confidence does the passage tell believers to keep?

The teacher’s “house/builder/bricks” illustration shifted so that believers become the “bricks” (members) and God (possibly the whole Trinity) becomes the builder of the church; how does viewing yourself as raw material in a building project confront modern individualism and “self-made” Christian identity? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If Christians are like bricks and God is the builder of the church, how does that challenge an individualistic, “self-made” way of thinking about being a Christian?

The teacher narrated God’s anger in the wilderness as not rash but the outcome of “40 years” of tested patience, listing plagues, the Red Sea, manna, water from the rock, and more; what does that retelling reveal about God’s expectations after repeated grace, and how might it confront a modern habit of treating past mercies as irrelevant to present obedience? JumpstartAnother way to ask: God’s anger in the wilderness came after 40 years of repeated grace and patience. What does that teach about what God expects after He has helped us over and over, and how does it challenge the idea that past mercies don’t matter for obeying today?

The teacher raised the frightening idea of people being alive yet having “lost all hope” of entering God’s rest, then argued Hebrews answers with “Today…exhort one another daily,” concluding, “as long as a man is alive, he should not despair”; what would “exhort one another daily” look like in a real church (specific practices, relationships, and conversations), and what sins or fears keep believers isolated from that kind of daily, hope-preserving confrontation? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What would it really look like for a church to “encourage each other daily” in real habits and conversations? What sins or fears keep people from that kind of close, hope-giving honesty?