Leader Worksheet: Reading Scripture Without Distorting It

Reading Scripture Without Distorting It

Learn to study a passage carefully before turning it into advice or a sermon.

Learning goal: Every participant can identify a biblical text's speaker, audience, genre, argument and at least one limit on its application.

Limits: This is an educational lesson outline. It is not an official safeguarding policy, clinical advice, supervised ministry, accreditation or ordination. No private disclosures should be recorded on this worksheet.

Prepare the room and your approach

Ask the participants to read Luke 10:25–37 in advance, not just the famous part about the Samaritan. If you use a copyrighted recent translation, ask participants to bring their own authorized copy or link to the publisher rather than printing large portions. You are leading an investigation, not testing who knows the right religious vocabulary. Make it clear that a participant can disagree or ask for clarification without being singled out.

Bible passages

Timed plan

Time	Activity	What the facilitator does
0–10 minutes	Welcome and observe	Read the opening conversation in Luke 10. Ask who is speaking and what the lawyer is trying to establish. Let the group name the question before any member begins interpreting the story.
10–25 minutes	Read the whole passage	Read the parable and Jesus' closing words. List the story's characters, its reversal of social expectations, and the action requested. Ask what would be lost if we started at verse 30 rather than verse 25.
25–40 minutes	Compare a historic source	Open a genuine public-domain commentary or sermon and read a short passage from the full source. Identify which claims appear in the biblical narrative and which are the commentator's application. Name the writer and the edition instead of quoting anonymously.
40–55 minutes	Build a one-paragraph explanation	Ask pairs to write a short explanation for a new reader that distinguishes the original question, Jesus' answer, and one current act of neighbor-love. Check whether the application is realistic rather than a demand that one person solve every social problem.
55–65 minutes	Share and reflect	Invite optional observations. Correct any unsupported fact sensitively, encourage a useful act of care that does not expose a real person's privacy, and offer one passage for further reading.

Time

Activity

What the facilitator does

0–10 minutes

Welcome and observe

Read the opening conversation in Luke 10. Ask who is speaking and what the lawyer is trying to establish. Let the group name the question before any member begins interpreting the story.

10–25 minutes

Read the whole passage

Read the parable and Jesus' closing words. List the story's characters, its reversal of social expectations, and the action requested. Ask what would be lost if we started at verse 30 rather than verse 25.

25–40 minutes

Compare a historic source

Open a genuine public-domain commentary or sermon and read a short passage from the full source. Identify which claims appear in the biblical narrative and which are the commentator's application. Name the writer and the edition instead of quoting anonymously.

40–55 minutes

Build a one-paragraph explanation

Ask pairs to write a short explanation for a new reader that distinguishes the original question, Jesus' answer, and one current act of neighbor-love. Check whether the application is realistic rather than a demand that one person solve every social problem.

55–65 minutes

Share and reflect

Invite optional observations. Correct any unsupported fact sensitively, encourage a useful act of care that does not expose a real person's privacy, and offer one passage for further reading.

Discussion questions

Follow-up exercise

Each participant prepares a short passage card identifying the text, context, main idea, one historical-source observation, one disputed application and one practical action. The card can be checked in the next meeting without making anyone announce private experiences.

Facilitator safeguarding and ethics reminder

Do not use a dramatic illustration that cannot be verified. A commenter from another century may illuminate an idea but is not proof that every element of the sermon is demanded by the passage.