Suggestions for leading a study:

• Familiarize yourself with the passage in context, including the book itself.  Who wrote it to whom, and why?
• Read through the study guide a couple times to get the “big idea” as well as the flow of the argument
• Have the group read through the passage in it’s entirety before beginning the study.  One of the goals is to try to get your members to learn how to study Scripture methodically, and this is an important step.
• Be prayed up
• Have fun!
  

What is the Bible, Anyway?

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, ¹⁵and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Discussion Questions

-On a scale on 1-10, where would you put yourself in regards to how you view the Bible?

-1 is: It’s probably pretty good for starting fires

-5 is: There’s probably good stuff in there, but I don’t really get into it

-10 is: I’m passionately devoted to knowing and living what is in the bible every day

-Using the same scale, how would you rate your knowledge of the bible?

      -1 is: What’s a bible?

      -5 is: I have a general idea what’s in it, but don’t ask me to explain anything

     -10 is: Ask me anything—go ahead, I dare you       

-Read 2 Timothy 3:14-17

          -According to this, who wrote the bible?

          -According to verse 15, what is the first (and most important) information we get from the bible? 

          -According to verse 16, what else can the bible do for us?   Why are each of these important?

          -According to verse 17, what is the goal of letting the bible train us? 

Leaders' Guide

This lesson reviews some basic information about what the bible is and what it is good for.

-On a scale on 1-10, where would you put yourself in regards to how you view the Bible?

-1 is: It’s probably pretty good for starting fires

-5 is: There’s probably good stuff in there, but I don’t really get into it

-10 is: I’m passionately devoted to knowing and living what is in the bible every day

This, along with the next question, is an opener designed to help you get some idea of where your group is coming from in regards to their understanding of the bible.  You might want to try to get more than just a number, but use the opportunity to probe a little into people’s spiritual journeys.  Do they own a bible?  Did they get it at church?  What is their family situation regarding religion?  Just make sure this is a safe, light-hearted exploration together—not a test.  There are no winners or losers and make sure that nobody feels put down. 

-Using the same scale, how would you rate your knowledge of the bible?

      -1 is: What’s a bible?

      -5 is: I have a general idea what’s in it, but don’t ask me to explain anything

     -10 is: Ask me anything—go ahead, I dare you

See previous comments.       

-Read 2 Timothy 3:14-17

            -According to this, who wrote the bible?

This verse says that the Scriptures are “God breathed.”  That means they were inspired by the Holy Spirit.  So in an ultimate sense God wrote the bible, and that is what we want to emphasize.  This isn’t just any book—it’s the information that God himself wants us to have.  Use this opportunity to also give your group some basic information about where the bible came from:

• It was written by 40 different authors over a period of approximately 1500 years, being completed around the end of the first century.  (God did not actually sit down and type it out—he inspired people to do that for him).  This passage is primarily referring to the Old Testament, of course, since this is part of the New Testament which was still being compiled.  See 2 Peter 2:21 and 3:15,16 regarding the fact that the New Testament was also considered inspired, even while it was being written.  By the beginning of the second century the New Testament was complete and being used by the church just as the Old Testament had been.  At the council of Nicea in 325 the so-called “canon” of Scripture (a term meaning measuring stick) was closed forever.  They did not, however, decide on what would go in the bible, but simply acknowledged what was already known by the church from its early days and made it official.  Issues of canonization, etc. are actually beyond the scope of this lesson and I would avoid getting too deep into that kind of stuff.
• It is not one book, but a collection of 66 different books.  Have them open up and thumb through their bibles to get a feel for what’s in it.  Take a look at the Old and the New Testament.  Let them know that in a couple of weeks we’ll take a closer look at what the difference is.  For now, it will suffice that the Old Testament is everything up to when Jesus showed up, and the New Testament is everything about his life and what happens afterward.

            -According to verse 15, what is the first (and most important) information we get from the bible? 

This is from a letter that the apostle Paul is writing to his disciple, Timothy.  Paul reminds Timothy first of all that the Scriptures were able to make him “wise for salvation through Jesus Christ.”  That’s the most important thing the bible does for us: it tells us how to be saved.  Unless that happens, whatever else we gain from the bible won’t be worth much since we will ultimately be lost ourselves.

            -According to verse 16, what else can the bible do for us?   Why are each of these important?

Teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness are all mentioned.  In other words, there is much more to the Christian life than just getting saved.  God expects us to grow up in our salvation and become the people he desires for us to become, and the bible is the best source of information on how to do that.  Let the group chat for awhile as to why this is important (to please God, so we don’t get hurt or hurt others, etc.) but the real reason is in the next question. 

            -According to verse 17, what is the goal of letting the bible train us? 

The real goal of being saved and then trained is to be equipped for the works that God has for us.  The bottom line is that God has a purpose for each one of us and wants our lives to count for something on this earth, as well as to last into eternity.  Knowing and doing the word of God is the key to both those things and why it is so important to study it.

-What do you think are the best ways we can help you understand the bible? 

Our intention is to alternate between evening when a speaker brings a message and weeks when we do these kinds of bible studies together.  How does the group feel about that?  Also ask about personal, one on one mentoring as well as resources we could provide for their own personal devotions.  We might someday also provide a kind of “Bible school” for people who really want to step up and go deep.  Get whatever ideas they have that they think will actually work for them and they would be willing to commit to.  Let them know that we are very interested in training some of them to lead these studies themselves and will be looking for potential leaders in this group.