DEFINE IT

Scripture: Ephesians 2:1–10

Time: 20–25 minutes

Workpage: Define It (optional)

Prompt: You've probably heard the word grace.

Pretend you have to explain it without using another church word.

Directions: Write your first definition. Then read Ephesians 2:1–10 and collect clues around Paul's use of grace. Afterward, check a reliable Bible dictionary or study resource and rewrite your definition.

Take It to the Margin: What does Paul contrast with grace in verses 8–9? What comes afterward in verse 10?

For the Grown-Up: Let the student's first definition stand until after reading. If they struggle, ask what people receive, what God does, and what people don't earn in the passage.

Scripture: Mark 1:14–15; Luke 15:7

Time: 20–25 minutes

Workpage: Define It (optional)

Prompt: Does repent simply mean “feel really bad”?

Investigate it.

Directions: Write your current definition. Examine how the word appears in both passages. Use a reliable study resource to investigate further.

Take It to the Margin: Does your final definition include more than emotion? What did you have to change?

For the Grown-Up: If your student equates repentance entirely with guilt, don't immediately correct them. Ask whether the passages describe repentance as merely a feeling or as something involving response/change.

Scripture: Luke 9:23–26

Time: 15–20 minutes

Workpage: Define It (optional)

Prompt: “Disciple” sounds extremely biblical.

What does following Jesus look like in this passage?

Directions: Find every action Jesus connects with following Him. Use those observations to create a working definition of disciple.

Take It to the Margin: Which part of Jesus' description is harder than simply saying “a disciple follows Jesus”?

For the Grown-Up: Let Jesus' language complicate an overly simple definition. Help define phrases such as “take up your cross” without turning the entire study into an abstract theological lecture.

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:13–21

Time: 20–25 minutes

Workpage: Define It (optional)

Prompt: Holy doesn't just mean “really, really good.”

Look at how Peter uses it.

Directions: Find the word holy and examine the instructions surrounding it. Write what kind of life Peter connects with holiness.

Take It to the Margin: Which behaviors or attitudes around the word help you understand what Peter means?

For the Grown-Up: If your student immediately defines holy as “perfect,” ask them to investigate the surrounding commands before deciding whether that definition is sufficient.

Scripture: Hebrews 11:1–16

Time: 25–30 minutes

Workpage: Define It (optional)

Prompt: Hebrews gives you a statement about faith—and then gives you people.

Use both.

Directions: Read the opening description of faith. Then list what Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah do because of faith.

Take It to the Margin: Based on the examples, is faith presented only as something someone thinks, or does it affect what people do?

For the Grown-Up: If the student struggles with Hebrews' language, focus on the repeated phrase “by faith” and ask what action follows it.