Study Guide
Study Guide The aim of this study guide is to help you get to the heart of what John Stott has written and to challenge you to apply what you learn to your own life. The questions have been designed for use both by individuals and also by small groups of Christians meeting, perhaps for an hour or two each week, to study, discuss and pray together.
The guide provides material for each of the five chapters and the conclusion of the book. When used by a group with limited time, the leader should decide beforehand which questions are most appropriate for the group to discuss during the meeting. The rest could perhaps be left for group members to work through by themselves or in smaller groups during the week.
In order to be able to contribute fully and learn from the group meetings, each member of the group needs to read through the chapter or chapters under discussion.
It is important not to let these studies become merely academic exercises. Guard against this by making time to think through and discuss how what you discover works out in practice for you. Make sure you begin and end each study with a time of focusing on God in praise and prayer. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through your discussion together.
Theme 1: The Ambiguity of the Church (1 Corinthians 1:1-17) 1. What is the "paradox at the heart of the church" (p. 17)? Can you illustrate this from your own experience?
2. How does Stott justify what he says about the uniqueness of the authority and ministry of the New Testament apostles? Why is this such an important issue today?
(See pp. 18-19.) 3. As you reflect on your own attitude to the New Testament, would you say that you are "humbly under its authority" (pp. 19-20)? What does this mean in practice?
4. What is so "extraordinary" (pp. 20-21) about the existence of the church in Corinth?
5. In what ways is the "ambiguity of the church" (pp. 21-22) indicated by what Paul
Basic Christian Leadership says in verse 2? Can you think of any dangers that might result from abandoning either side of this tension?
6. What do we know about Paul's relationship with the church at Corinth? Why is it important to bear this in mind when reading what he writes to them? (See p. 22.)
7. How does Paul emphasize the worldwide scope of the Christian community? Why is this important? How is it expressed in the church to which you belong? (See p. 23.)
8. Do you believe that "each local church . . . may expect to be given collectively all the gifts it needs" (p. 24)? How does this apply in your situation?
9. As we look around at the obvious flaws in the church as we know it, how can we have any confidence that it will one day be perfect? (See pp. 24-25.)
10. Why is the unity of the church so important to Paul? (See pp. 25-26.) Is it as important to you?
11. Is there anyone in the church whom you find it difficult to regard as a brother or sister? What do you think Paul would say to you?
12. From what Paul writes here, can we identify any of the causes of disunity in the church at Corinth? (See pp. 26-27.) 13. In what way were the Corinthians "effectively insulting Christ" (pp. 27-28) by their attitudes?
14. What can we learn from the way Paul "lingers on the topic of baptism" (pp. 2829) in verses 14-17?
15. Why is Paul so insistent that his communication of the gospel of Christ was not with words of human wisdom (v. 17; p. 29)?
16. Faced with the ambiguity of the church, do you tend toward being a perfectionist or a defeatist (p. 30)? In what ways do you experience "the painful tension between the 'already' and the 'not yet'" (p. 30)?
Theme 2: Power Through Weakness (1 Corinthians 1:18—2:5) 1. In what ways does a hunger for power reveal itself in the church to which you belong? (See pp. 35-36.)
2. What do people mean when they ask God to give them "power"? How does this match up to what the New Testament tells us the Holy Spirit's power is for? (See pp.
36-38.) 3. In what ways does the church at Corinth demonstrate the principle of God's power working best through weakness? (See pp. 44-45.)
4 What exactly is "the message of the cross" (pp. 39-40)? Why does it provoke such diametrically opposed reactions?
5. What threefold division of humanity does Paul express here? (See pp. 40-41.)
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How do you think this is reflected in today's world? Into which erroneous path are you more likely to stray? Why?
6. Why is the cross "an absolute stumbling block" to those who worship power (pp.
41-42)? How does Stott highlight the main way in which people express this today?
(See pp. 42-43.) 7. Why is the message of the cross so foolish to people? (See p. 43.) What experience have you had of this?
8. In what ways does the cross display the power and wisdom of God? (See p. 43.)
9. Why does God choose "foolish, weak and lowly people" (p. 44)? Are you content to be labeled in this way?
10. What "three great blessings we enjoy in Christ" (p. 44) does Paul identify here?
What do they mean to you?
11. If God's saving power is exhibited in human weakness, where does that leave those who are "clever, wealthy, influential or socially prominent" (pp. 45-46)?
12. If you had met Paul, do you think he would have struck you as being "weak and feeble" (pp. 46-47)? What does he mean?
13. What lessons are there here for the preachers of today? (See p. 48.) 14. What comes to mind when you come across the phrase a demonstration of the Spirit's power (2:4; p. 49)? What does Paul mean by it?
15. What illustrations of the "'power through weakness' principle" (pp. 50-51) can you think of? How might it apply to you, and how might you more effectively put it into practice?
Theme 3: Holy Spirit and Holy Scripture (1 Corinthians 2:6-16) 1. What does Paul mean by a message of wisdom among the mature (2:6; pp. 57-59)?
Is he referring to first-class and second-class Christians?
2. Given that Paul is not abandoning wisdom altogether, how does he qualify what he means by it? (See p. 58.) 3. What exactly is "God's wisdom for the mature" (p. 58)? How does this point to "a legitimate distinction between evangelism and Christian nurture" (p. 59)?
4. How does Paul underline "the necessity of revelation" (pp. 59-60) here? According to what he says here, how exactly does God reveal himself to us? (See p. 61.)
5. What are the Holy Spirit's "unique qualifications" (p. 62) when it comes to revealing God to us? What does this tell us about who the Holy Spirit is? (See pp. 62-63.)
6. What are the "two separate but related gifts" (p. 64) that the apostles received from God? How is Paul such a good example of this? (See p. 64.)
7. How does the Spirit's activity in revealing truth to the apostles filter through to us
Basic Christian Leadership today? (See p. 65.) 8. In what ways is the phrase "verbal inspiration" (pp. 66-67) sometimes misunderstood? What does it actually mean?
9. Why are some Christians today perhaps "embarrassed by, or afraid of, this traditional Christian belief" (pp. 67-68)? How about you?
10. What distinction needs to be made between the Holy Spirit's work of revelation and inspiration on the one hand, and his work of illumination on the other? Why is this so important? (See pp. 68-69.) 11. If, as Paul says, we have the mind of Christ (2:16), why do Christians disagree?
What can we do to put this right? (See pp. 71-72.) 12. What are the practical consequences for you of the assertion that "the Word and the Spirit belong to each other" (pp. 73-74)?
Theme 4: The Church and the Trinity (1 Corinthians 3) 1. What is the "connecting link" between 1 Corinthians 2 and 3? Why is the NIV translation "unfortunate" (p. 79) here?
2. What has persuaded Paul that his readers are carnal and infantile rather than spiritual and mature? (See p. 80.) What do you think he would make of your church?
3. What exactly is the difference between spiritual solid food and spiritual milk? (See pp. 80-81.) How does this apply in practice?
4. What then is "Paul's threefold indictment of the Corinthian Christians" (p. 82)? To what can their failures be attributed?
5. What images of the church does Paul develop here? (See pp. 82-83.) 6. What particular lesson does the metaphor of the field have for us? (See pp. 83-86.)
7. In light of what Paul says here, does your church have a problem with the way it views its leaders?
8. What does Paul say in 3:8-9 that "demonstrates the stupidity of the Corinthians' behavior" (p. 85)?
9. What further point is made by the metaphor of the building? (See pp. 86-87.) How does this apply to you?
10. What do gold, silver, costly stones and wood, hay or straw (3:12) represent in the life of the church? In what way is there a "solemn warning here to all Christian teachers" (p. 88)?
11. What further point does Paul make through his picture of the church as God's temple? (See pp. 89-91.) 12. What is the "climax of the passage" (p. 92) here? How might this apply in your situation?
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13. In what ways is "who belongs to whom in the church . . . still a vital issue today"
(pp. 92-93)?
14. Do you think the leaders in your church tend to think of the congregation as "their" people? (See p. 93.) To what does this lead?
Theme 5: Models of Ministry (1 Corinthians 4) 1. What do you think the church's clergy are for? Do you tend toward clericalism or anticlericalism? Why?
2. What "four essentials of authentic pastoral ministry" (p. 100) does Paul set out here?
3. What does John Stott declare to be "fundamental to all Christian leadership and ministry" (p. 103)? In what ways is this both comforting and challenging? (See pp.
101-3.) 4. In what sense are today's Christian pastors "stewards of God's revelation" (pp. 1034)? What are the "three important facts" (p. 104) that follow from this?
5. What are the "three vivid metaphors" (p. 105) that Paul uses in 4:8-13 to illustrate the nature of true Christian leadership? (See pp. 105-7.) How does what he says apply to you?
6. If you are a Christian leader, what experience have you had of the temptation to be popular at the expense of being faithful? (See p. 108.) How do you handle this?
7. What is it about the gospel that arouses people's opposition? (See pp. 108-9.) Does it do this when you preach or explain it? Why?
8. What is "at first sight perplexing" (p. 110) about Paul's claim to spiritual fatherhood? What point is he seeking to get across?
9. In your experience, do church leaders display paternal authority or paternal affection? Why is this distinction so crucial? (See pp. 110-11.)
Conclusion: Christ or Culture?
1. Do you share Stott's "firm conviction that there is too much autocracy in the leaders of the Christian community" (p. 113)? What can you do about this problem?
2. What is the "common denominator" (p. 114) of all four models of ministry that Paul sets out here? What is its source?