Category Archives: Spiritual Formation

Resources to help you grow in your faith.

BIBLE STUDY | MAKING YOUR FINAL OBSERVATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

This concludes our brief journey through Mark 12:13-17.  We hope that you have benefited from what we have shared.  At this point each of you should be able to draw some conclusions about the text.  These conclusions should now be able to shape your journey of faith.

Below are the major takeaways that our group came up with.

Final Observations And Conclusions

  1. When reading through the entire book of Mark and the other gospel accounts, we find that the Pharisees confronted Jesus on several occasions.  The method of operation was to confront Him publicly with a trick question in hopes that He would disparage His reputation with either the Jewish people or the Roman government.  But Jesus always proved too crafty for such foolish deceptions.  He always answered is such a way that reframed the question and directed His audience to greater spiritual truths.
  2. The Pharisees and Herodians did not have much common ground.  In spite of this, they managed to come together and find unity around ensnaring Jesus.  Jesus was upsetting the balance of power for both of these groups and they preferred things stay the same.  The easiest way to maintain the status quo was to eliminate Jesus from the equation.
  3. The Pharisees were correct in their assessment that Jesus did not show partiality.  This seems to be one of the reasons they plotted against Him.  It was their partiality in society that they valued.  They were treated differently because of their position as religious leaders.  Jesus challenged their character and motives just as He would anyone else, even going so far as calling them hypocrites and vipers for the way they dishonored God’s truth.
  4. The Pharisees were amazed that Jesus did not entangle Himself in their carefully constructed web of deceit.  This would eventually lead to frustration and desperation, as they would abandon trying to trap Jesus in public and resort to seizing Him in secret.
  5. No matter our motives, Jesus is always pointing us towards a right understanding of God and a right relationship with God.
  6. The heart of what Jesus was communicating dealt with ownership.  Whether we accept or reject Jesus, we are all created in the image of God, and God wants us to willing give ourselves to Him.  First to be reconciled and then to live in obedience.  To do so, expresses an attitude of love towards our Heavenly Father and it keeps us from the consequences of sin.

Continue reading →

BIBLE STUDY | COMPILING YOUR RESEARCH

Below is the text that we have been working with over the past few weeks.

13 Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement. 14 They came and said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? 15 Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at.” 16 They brought one. And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” 17 And Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were amazed at Him.

– Mark 12:13-17

Early on we discussed the importance of learning to ask questions in these two posts:  Part 1 & Part 2.  Then we talked about evaluating key words and phrases.  If you completed both of those exercises your work should look similar to what is below.

As we said in the beginning, not every question you answer will directly contribute to drawing conclusions about this passage of Scripture, but can and will lead to a deeper understanding of other Scriptures.  Your effort in study will not be wasted.

Work through the questions below.  Does this look similar to your work?  Are the answers in line with yours?

Look at your key words and phrases.  How do they inform the passage?  How do they add clarity or provoke questions?  Continue reading →

BIBLE STUDY | EXPLORING INDIVIDUAL WORDS AND SENTENCE STRUCTURE

Formatting The Text

During this part of the process, I usually copy and paste the text into a Word document so that I can begin to mark it up.  I still have some folks in my church, believe it or not, that do not use a computer.  As they were working through this process, they wrote the verse out on a separate sheet of paper.

When I copy and paste I usually format the the text to use double or triple spacing so that I have enough room to make any notations that are needed.  I format custom margins so that the top and bottom are set to 0.5″ and the left and right margins are set to 2.0″.  This gives me the necessary white space on the page to work with.  I also Insert the chapter and verse in the header.  Finally, I use the justify format so that my margins are even and the page looks crisp and clean. Continue reading →

BIBLE STUDY | LEARNING TO ASK QUESTIONS: PART 2

If all went well, you have between 15-20 questions that you have put together for Mark 12:13-17.  Below is the passage and a list of questions compiled by a group of students I recently helped walk through this exercise.

13 Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement. 14 They came and said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? 15 Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at.” 16 They brought one. And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” 17 And Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they [d]were amazed at Him.

Mark 12:13-17  (NASB)

Continue reading →

BIBLE STUDY | LEARNING TO ASK QUESTIONS: PART 1

Learning to ask questions about a text is one of a few basic skills you can develop, that will help you achieve great strides towards depth of understanding, as you study the bible.

As a reminder, the verse that we have chosen to explore is Mark 12:13-17.

At this point we are trying to remove any bias we may have towards the Scripture.  We want to make as few assumptions as possible.  Our primary concern is to ask questions, to be answered later.  Therefore, do not get hung up on what you think you know or how a question sounds.  Just jot your questions down as quickly as you can. Continue reading →