Discussion Questions

The chapter describes the intimate-with-God person as someone who “readily believed” because he already stood “in awe of creation,” and then became an “eager pupil” once he “demonstrated his ability to learn”; what does this imply about how God teaches and how human receptivity (or teachability) relates to faith and growth? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What does this say about how God teaches people who already feel wonder at creation and are willing to learn? How does being teachable connect to faith and spiritual growth?

Micah 4:2 is cited (“the Lord is the one who teaches man knowledge”); how does that claim challenge the way modern Christians treat Bible knowledge, sermons, podcasts, or theological training as the primary source of “knowing,” and what would an early Christian expect “being taught by God” to look like in daily life? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If “the Lord teaches people knowledge,” how does that challenge the way Christians depend on sermons, podcasts, and classes to “know” God? What would “being taught by God” look like in everyday life for early Christians?

The chapter contrasts people who see only the command (“Do not commit adultery,” “Do not kill”) with those who grasp “the spirit of the law”; what concrete “spirit-of-the-law” obedience does the text suggest, and where do you see modern Christianity settling for rule-keeping rather than inner conformity of the soul? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What practical kind of obedience shows the “spirit of the law,” not just the rule itself? Where do you see Christians today stopping at rule-keeping instead of changed hearts?

In the Joseph illustration, Joseph is said to be “bare of sin but clothed with good character,” and the point is that God sees what the Egyptian master cannot; what hidden compromises do Christians justify because “no one will know,” and how does the chapter’s view of God’s scrutiny confront that? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What secret sins or small compromises do Christians excuse because they think no one will find out? How does the idea that God sees everything challenge that thinking?

The chapter claims sickness, misfortune, and even death can become “instruments of salvation,” and that troubles are “distributed according to need” as discipline for those “difficult to reform”; what kind of God is revealed here, and what parts of this view feel hardest to accept or most offensive to modern assumptions about comfort and blessing? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What does it say about God if sickness, loss, and even death can be used to save or correct people? What part of that feels hardest or most offensive in a comfort-and-blessing mindset?

The author says the intimate-with-God person enjoys God’s creatures with thankfulness but uses them only “as a logos determinans and only to the extent he determines”; what do you think he means by that restraint, and what would it require of your use of entertainment, food, possessions, and technology? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What do you think the author means by enjoying God’s gifts with thanks but using them with strict self-control? How would that change your use of entertainment, food, possessions, and technology?

The chapter insists the intimate-with-God person “never cherishes resentment” and even “loves such hateful persons,” praying for them because they share the gift of earthly life and are ignorant; who are the “deserving-to-be-hated” people in your world, and what would change if you treated them as fellow gift-receivers rather than enemies? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Who are the people you think “deserve” hate or resentment? What would change if you prayed for them and treated them as people God has still given life to?

“When the soul is conformed to the gospel in every facet of life, it becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit,” and that person withstands fear, disgrace, poverty, disease, and death; what does this suggest about holiness being measurable in endurance and fearlessness, and how does that compare with common evangelical markers of spirituality? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What does it mean to say holiness shows up in being brave and steady through fear, shame, sickness, poverty, and death? How does that compare with the usual ways evangelicals measure spiritual maturity?

The chapter argues it’s “impossible for contrary things to meet in the same person at the same time,” and describes the “truly godly man” as “without fleshly desires,” having transcended the life of desires; how should a serious Christian interpret that—aspiration, description of maturity, or unrealistic ideal—and what would early Christians likely assume about the attainability of such purity? JumpstartAnother way to ask: When the author says a truly godly person has no fleshly desires, should we read that as a goal, a sign of maturity, or an unrealistic ideal? What do you think early Christians believed about how possible that kind of purity is?

In the discussion of martyrdom, the author distinguishes rational courage from impulsive danger-seeking, and says mature believers obey martyrdom “out of love for God, not for the sake of eternal reward,” while those motivated by glory, fear of punishment, or hope of delights are “blessed” but “children in faith”; what does this expose about your own motives for obedience, and how would it reshape preaching and discipleship if love “for its own sake and for nothing else” became the stated goal? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What do your reasons for obeying God look like—love, reward, fear, or wanting approval? If churches made “loving God for no other reason” the main goal, how would preaching and discipleship change?