Discussion Questions

The chapter begins by saying the intimate-with-God person “never holds a grudge” but prays, “Forgive us because we also forgive others” (Matt. 6:12); what does that wording imply about the connection between receiving forgiveness and extending forgiveness, and where does that press against common evangelical ideas of assurance? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What does “forgive us because we forgive others” say about how getting God’s forgiveness is tied to forgiving people? How does that challenge common evangelical confidence that you’re forgiven no matter what?

“God commands us to covet nothing and to hate no one…All men are the creation of the same God”; how does grounding neighbor-love in creation (not just in shared beliefs) reshape how you view enemies, political opponents, and difficult people in the church? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If we love neighbors because God made all people (not just because they agree with us), how should that change how you treat enemies, political opponents, or hard people at church?

The author ties knowing Jesus to being “perfect as his heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48); how would early Christians have heard “perfect” here in terms of actual obedience and moral transformation, and what modern instincts rise up against that expectation? JumpstartAnother way to ask: When Jesus says, “Be perfect,” how do you think early Christians understood that in real-life obedience and character change? What in us today pushes back against expecting that kind of change?

The chapter claims Jesus does not want the intimate-with-God person “to stand in need of help from the angels” but to receive help “directly from himself,” and to ask “boldly”; how does this picture of direct access to Christ compare with how many Christians relate to God through systems, leaders, or techniques? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What does it look like to ask Jesus for help directly and boldly? How is that different from depending on church systems, leaders, or spiritual “methods” to reach God?

When seeing brothers in need, the intimate-with-God person does not ask for wealth to share, but prays that they receive “only what they need,” supplying needs “without his knowledge and without vanity”; what view of pride, recognition, and even “being the hero” is being confronted, and how would this change the way you do charity? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Why would someone pray that others get only what they need, and help them without being noticed? How would that challenge pride, wanting credit, or needing to be the “hero” when you give?

The chapter says God “often sends poverty, disease, and other similar trials…as discipline,” yet the intimate-with-God person can ask God to relieve others from these trials; how do you hold together God’s disciplinary purposes with intercession that asks for removal, and what does that reveal about God’s character? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If God sometimes uses hardship to discipline people, how can we still pray for God to remove those hardships from others? What does that show you about what God is like?

The attributed saying of Matthew is stark: “If a Christian’s neighbor sins, the Christian himself has sinned,” because better conduct would have produced reverence; what do you think is being claimed about responsibility, influence, and scandal, and where does this challenge modern individualistic views of sin? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What could it mean to say, “If my neighbor sins, I have sinned,” because my better life might have helped them respect God more? How does that challenge the idea that sin is only a private, personal thing?

The author uses “Don’t you know you are the temple of God?” (1 Cor. 3:16) and “partakes of divinity” (2 Pet. 1:4) to say the intimate-with-God person is “already holy” and that sin is “foreign to him”; how does that language compare with typical evangelical self-understanding (“simultaneously saint and sinner”), and what do you find compelling—or dangerous—about it? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How does the idea that a close-to-God person is “already holy” and that sin is “foreign” compare to the evangelical view of being both saint and sinner? What seems helpful about this—and what seems risky?

The chapter describes putting away hindrances, “opening the heavens through knowledge,” passing spiritual entities, and “mixing a serpent with a dove” (Matt. 10:16) by combining faith with hope; what do you think he means by “knowledge” here, and how would early Christians have connected spiritual insight with moral purity and a good conscience? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What do you think the author means by “knowledge” that can “open the heavens”? How might early Christians connect spiritual understanding with living чистly and keeping a clear conscience?

The intimate-with-God person is “not agitated,” does not question “divine arrangement,” is not reluctant to die, and believes “it will be better with him” after departure because he is cleansed and has a good conscience; what concrete habits of obedience (“training by the commandments”) would need to change in your life for that kind of calm and readiness to be credible rather than presumptuous? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What daily obedience habits would need to change in your life for you to be calm about God’s plan and not afraid of death? How can that confidence be real and humble, not overconfident?