Download discussion questions: James 5:13-20
If you have ever written a lengthy letter, how did you decide how to end it? How would you end a letter that included tender expressions of affection along with harsh criticisms? If you began a letter with the potentially unwelcoming command to “Welcome trouble,” what would be the best way to end? This final discussion looks at how James concluded his letter. Continue reading
Download discussion questions: James 5:7-12
As James comes near to the end of his letter he has several ways of emphasizing his closing remarks. We will see his final words next week (James 5:13-20), and there is much left to cover. However, today’s passage seems to be a high point in his inspired instructions to “the twelve tribes in the Dispersion” (James 1:1). Continue reading
Download discussion questions: James 4:13-5:6
During last week’s discussion we found so much to explore in just two verses (James 4:11-12) that we didn’t have time to get to the end of the chapter as planned. As it turns out, that was a good thing, both for our time together last week, and also for the discussion this week. The two paragraphs in this passage (James 4:13-17 and James 5:1-6) probably are a better combination to study together. Continue reading
Download discussion questions: James 4:11-17
The seven verses of this week’s passage proved too much for our discussion group. We spent the entire time on the first two verses, James 4:11-12. It’s not that we were being lazy but because James packed so much into those three sentences. Continue reading
Download discussion questions: James 4:1-10
After spending some time looking at the passage individually, our group discussion began with the questions, “What part of this passage do you find the most puzzling or confusing?” “What part seems the most difficult to understand or to explain to another person?” The unanimous answer was Continue reading
Download discussion questions: James 3:13-18
This week’s passage of only six verses provided ample material for a great discussion. The text provides a great example of repeated or similar words, comparisons and contrasts, connections with previous themes in James, and other elements that can yield great rewards from diligent work of inductive Bible study. As John Piper says,”Raking is easy, but you get only leaves; digging is hard, but you might find diamonds.”[1] This passage contains some potential diamonds. Continue reading
Download discussion questions: James 3:1-12
Two main observations came out in our discussion of this passage:
Download discussion questions: James 2:14-26
This week’s passage “comes closer than anywhere else in the epistles to directly contradicting Paul.”[1] “This paragraph is the most theologically significant, as well as the most controversial, in the letter of James.”[2]
James 2 can be misunderstood by sincere Christians. The verses can be intentionally misapplied by cults. With those factors as a starting point, the discussion in our group was certain to be interesting! Continue reading
Download discussion questions: James 2:1-13
James began his letter with a positive twist on negative experiences: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2). His reasoning, counter to our natural response to difficulties, is that those difficulties provide opportunities to prove the genuine quality of our faith. That authentication process is intended to be a source of great hope rather than discouragement. Continue reading
Download discussion questions: James 1:19-27
In order to continue looking for continuity and themes in the letter that James wrote, our group discussion began by looking for connections between the previous passage (1:12-18) and today’s text (1:19-27). We focused on observation, intentionally delaying commenting on interpretation questions. Reminders of the distinctive nature of Observation, Interpretation, and Application are important.
“If there is ever a blurring of the process to the extent that the various phases of study become indistinguishable, then eisegesis [reading our ideas into the text – mw] will inevitably result.”[1]