Author: violinstudio

John 1:35-51—Jesus’ First Disciples Called

/ violinstudio / Leave a comment

The next day, who was John standing with?

Who did he see? (He is named.)

What did John call Him then?

What was the direct result of this statement?

When Jesus saw them following Him, what did He ask them?

How did Jesus answer?

Who was one of the two of John’s disciples who followed Jesus?

Who did this man go to find? What did he say to him?

When he brought him to Jesus, what did Jesus say to him?

Where did Jesus go the next day?

Who did He find?

What did He tell him to do?

What town were Philip, Andrew, and Peter all from?

Who did Philip go find? What did he tell him?

What was Nathanael’s response?

How did Philip answer his question?

What did Jesus say when He saw Nathanael approaching?

When did Jesus first see Nathanael?

What was Nathanael’s response when Jesus told him that?

What did Jesus say that they would see in the future?

Thought Questions:

Do you think John was jealous or upset that several of his disciples left to follow Jesus?

What does this section of the chapter tell you about how to win disciples for Christ? Did the first disciples preach lengthy theological sermons to convince each other to follow Him? What did they do?

How much do we know about Andrew or the work that he did later? Yet, what important role did he play in this chapter? Can you even summarize Peter’s work in establishing the Christian church? What does that tell you about how important even your smallest efforts in witnessing might become?

Would you feel happy or scared if Jesus told you that He knew you before you even saw Him? What do you have to hide?

What does verse 50-51 give you as a motivation to follow Christ?

My prayer is:

that I would be able to find others and tell them, “See what I have found”;

that even my humblest acts of witnessing for Christ would be blessed for His work;

and that I would live daily with the hope of seeing more of God in Christ in the future.

John 1:1-36—Who are Jesus and John?

/ violinstudio / Leave a comment

What was in the beginning?

Who was the Word with in the beginning?

Who was the Word?

What all did the Word make?

What was in the Word?

What was that life?

Therefore, now, what John was calling “the Word” he also calls “the–?”

Where does the light shine? How does the darkness respond? (Note that there could be two answers for this, depending on the translator’s take on the meaning of the Greek word which can mean “to grasp”–either with physical force (“to conquer, overtake”) or grasp with mental understanding (“to comprehend”)

What was the name of the man sent by God?

What did he come to do?

What was he not?

What does the true Light light up?

Where was the Light?

What did the Light make?

How did the world receive the Light?

But for those who did receive Him, what did He give them power (or right) to do?

How were these “born”?

The Word was made —? Where did He dwell?

What did John say about Him?

Who is he law was given by? Who are grace and truth are given by? (Now He is named)

How often has man seen God?

So how is God revealed?

The following part is the story (record) of –?

Who asked John a question?

What was the question?

Who did John say he was not?

When they asked again who he was, how did he answer?

Who had sent those messengers to ask the questions?

The messengers’ next question was, why are you — if you are not any of those people?

What was John’s answer?

Where did these things take place?

The next day, who did John see coming?

What did he say when he saw him?

Did John know him?

What was the sign John said told him that this man was the one he had been talking about and looking for?

Thought Questions:

What are the different things John calls Jesus in this chapter? Why do you think he calls Him all of these things instead of just naming Him Jesus?

What do each of the following things tell you personally about who Jesus is: the Word, the Light, Life, the Lamb of God?

How could you use verses 1-3 and 14 to tell people who Jesus was?

Think about verse 5, how do you understand it? How does it explain to you why the world is as evil as it is?

What was John’s purpose and ministry? How can we share his job?

Read verse 10-13 again. How can we expect to be received by the world if we believe on Christ’s name? What hope do we have if we do, though?

What changed when Christ came into the world? How can we see God better now?

How would you respond if earthly religious authorities questioned you about your ministry?

Based on John’s words in this chapter, what do you think the one purpose of your life’s ministry should be? (Hint: verse 34)

My prayer is:

that I would be able to understand the Word of God and see Him through the Word and Light of Christ in Scripture;

that I would have courage to face the darkness of the world by the light of God;

that I would bear witness of the Light as John did.

Welcome!

/ violinstudio / Leave a comment

_MG_8302   Welcome to my new blog! In it you will find a personal tool for your Bible reading and study–and by personal, I really do mean your own.

A Little History

Once upon a time, long ago, during what has been called the Dark Ages, there were few Bibles to be found. A large portion of the population couldn’t read their own language, and there was no efficient way to print books for them to read and learn anyway. The few carefully handwritten volumes were kept private and safe in the confines of remote monasteries, hidden to the eyes of the people, and written in ancient languages. It was the responsibility of only the highest bishops and the Pope to interpret the Bible for the people. In fact, most of the monks themselves never read the actual Bible at all. It wasn’t until well into his career as a monk, devoted to the service of God, that Martin Luther even discovered and read the Bible! But then–what a revolution it was!

The Bible was translated into the peoples’ own languages and printed, and with the advent of the printing press, literacy in the general population expanded as well. But, unfortunately, the devil keeps busy. If he can’t keep the Word of God from the people, he can bring confusion to it. Nowadays, Bibles can be found in every corner bookstore, from millions of sources online, and free from sites and apps such as bible.com, blueletterbible.com, and many others (see Resources for more), most of which include all sorts of extras like maps, commentaries, history, and cross references. There’s the Marine’s Bible, Teenage Girl’s Bible, and on and on. Bibles are found in hotel rooms. Bibles are easy to find–this is a wonderful thing. However, along with it, people’s vast amount of ideas are easy to find, too, which is often the unfortunate part. This confusion can cause even the simplest and clearest verse to be “interpreted” in a vast amount of ways. Whatever you want the Bible to mean, you will probably find someone who will, and has, interpreted it that way for you.

In fact, with so many interpretations and commentaries out there, we’re really back to not reading the Bible itself again. Your pastor, the evangelist on TV, a commentary, or the author of a blog or article in a Christian magazine have all studied and interpreted the Bible for you–just like the bishops and priests of the early Christian church did during the Dark Ages. But the problem is–you’d love to know, yourself, what the Bible actually, well, says!

So What’s This Blog For?

The idea of this blog was inspired by those reading-comprehension exercises you did in fourth grade. Not that we’re back to fourth grade again, but the process of learning is the same whether you’re in grade school or getting your PhD in philosophy. Read, ask questions, comprehend. Plus, the Bible is understandable on a grade-school level yet contains themes which we can continue to ponder for eternity. Everyone at any level of literacy or education can explore the Bible.

This blog is just a bunch of questions based on the passage you will read. They are for you and you alone to ponder the answer to. However, the rule is that you must answer the questions according to the passage you just read, not from your own opinions or ideas (or the pastor’s, evangelist’s, or author’s you might have heard). 

Comments?

My aim is to be as unbiased as possible in my questions. If you have any feedback, feel free to leave a comment and I will try to edit it accordingly.

However, the comments section is NOT for discussing your answers to the questions. We want everyone to be able to explore their own answers, and a discussion of them in the comments would be the same as giving away the answers to an essay test. Find a friend or start a small group and discuss them there instead. As I said before, comments about personal interpretations of the Bible are everywhere, and there are plenty of places you can voice your opinion. Therefore, comments are moderated and opinion or interpretation-based comments will not be published.

Happy Studying!