Before You Meet

Before you get together, have everyone bring a passage that they either (a) want to know more about, or (b) absolutely love. They will eventually be going through the below process for that passage and it should be something that particularly interests them so they can have that immediate application piece. 

Also if this is a newer group, please make sure that you share out times and locations.

When You Meet

When you come together, start off with some fellowship. If the conversation and fellowship come naturally, allow some time (roughly up to 20 minutes) for this. If it is still a newer group with a more awkward atmosphere, try doing an ice breaker like Bible or Not. Once you are ready to begin the lesson: have everyone settle down and pray as a group.

Sample prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us all to be able to come together at this time. May Your Spirit guide us through this lesson and may these principles guide our study of Your word, not just tonight but for the rest of our lives.

Start the lesson with some direct instruction on the process. See the handout for exact wordings you all will have to know, but provided below is the general content of what you should be saying.

The two ways to interpret scripture: Eisegesis and Exegesis

Eisegesis is putting our worldview into scripture. This should be avoided at all costs.

Exegesis is applying scripture to our worldview, this is what it means to properly interpret scripture.

Core principles of Exegesis

1. Scripture alone is the highest authority

2. Scripture is inerrant (there are no errors)

3. What we have is a translation that is at least 2,000 years old. We need tools to help bridge the gap between us and the original audience.

4. We have to accept what Scripture says, even if it goes against our culture or our views

Steps of Exegesis

1. 1. The “plain” reading of the text

      • Make basic observations of what is said

   2. Read around the text

      • What is the context for what’s being said

   3. Consult a scholar

      • Read a commentary

   4. Draw conclusions

      • What does this text mean?

   5. Test your conclusions against scripture

      • Do these conclusions line up with the rest of scripture? If it doesn’t then you need to reexamine the text.

   6. Apply the conclusions to your life

      • Studying scripture does you no good if you don’t apply it

Next you are to move into some group analysis of a passage. You can opt to do your own passage here, but I have also provided for this process on Rev 3:15-16.

Step 1: The Plain Read

Read through the following

‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.

Revelation 3:15-16 (NASB)

Pose this question to your group: Just taking these verses what can we observe and what could it mean?

Step 2: Read Around The Text

Next read through the verses 14-22

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”

Now Pose this question to your group: Now that we’ve read the section, what do we think verses 15-16 are talking about?

Next direct your group to skip a few chapter back and a few chapters forward. Tell them that this is to try and garner to context for this section. Have them answer these questions:

1. Who is speaking?

2. Who is He speaking to?

3. What’s the occasion (when and why)?

Then ask your group this to end this step: Based on just the text what could these verses mean?

Step 3: Consult a Scholar

Now this step is going to be highly dependent on your group and what resources your group has access to. I had mine download the Logos Bible App. You can make a free account with them for some free resources, and I highly recommend investing some money into this because it is a very valuable resource and it does sync across devices and offers a much of bible study tools for all levels of study from the new Christian all the way up to biblical scholarship.

Two commentaries I really love but are not free on Logos are the Holman Commentary Series, the Cornerstone Commentary Series, and the Tyndale Commentary Series. These are more scholarly level commentaries and meet me where I’m at. I recommend you take time and explore around for commentaries that meet you where you’re at. For this exercise I assumed that participants only had the free version of Logos and so used two commentaries that are freely available: the Concise Matthew Henry and the Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. 

For this step have your students pull up these two commentaries on the Logos app and read the associated commentary for verses 15-16. This will be a much more individualized phase of this so allow time for exploration and reading. Then when everyone is ready, have them share their findings and how it might alter their view on this passage.

Step 4: Draw Conclusions

This step is going to be very discussion based. You should allow your students to lead this conversation as you come to conclusions as a group. Try to pinpoint what this verse is trying to convey. I have included two possible conclusions for you to consider and put in as well.

Traditional Conclusion: Jesus is telling the people of Laodicea to be passionate about their faith. To not fully commit is worse than not committing at all.

My personal view (based on the Tyndale Commentary Series): This city had piped in cold water and hot spring water. Cold water is refreshing to drink. Hot water (especially hot springs) is healing for the body. Yet due to distance traveled the cold water can grow warm and hot water can grow cold. When this happens both naturally awesome sources of water loose their value. When water ceases to be cold it is no longer refreshing, when it ceases to be hot it ceases to be healing to body (and really the soul after a long day). This church was neither refreshing nor healing so what use are they? This is a church without fruit!

Step 5: Test Your Conclusions Against Scripture

The next step can be a bit challenging for a group of newer Christians and may need your assistance some as needed. If your group is made up of some more seasoned Christians then this will be much easier. This step is quite simple. If your conclusions go against other parts of scripture then your conclusions need to change to align with scripture. If your conclusion is that we need to live either a freezer or an oven then you should probably redo the previous steps.

Ultimately this is a fairly famous passage, one your people have likely heard expounded on once or twice. Thus your group is not necessarily likely to come up with conclusions that are unbiblical, yet there are many passages that your people will come across in their lifetimes that will have more issues here. A perfect example would be reading through Joshua and coming to the conclusion that we need to push out and destroy everything that isn’t explicitly Christian, including the people that are supposed to be my mission. 

Step 6: Apply The Conclusions To Your Life

This last step is more of a parting encouragement. Whatever conclusions your group comes to, discuss how you all can apply it to your lives. Beyond this expect your people to implement this change and stick to it!