For small groups · 10 questions
Romans 12 Bible study questions
Paul urges believers to offer their lives to God, be renewed in mind, use their gifts in one body, love sincerely, and overcome evil with good.
Read the chapter aloud first. Then take the questions in order: what it says, what it means, what to do. About 45 minutes. Skip any question that doesn’t fit your group.
Start here
- What is something you are good at that you enjoy doing for others?
Look: what does it say?
- What does Paul urge us to offer, and what should we not be conformed to?Romans 12:1-2
- What gifts does Paul list?Romans 12:6-8
- What does Paul say to do with enemies?Romans 12:17-21
Understand: what does it mean?
- What does it mean to be a living sacrifice?Romans 12:1
- How does a mind get renewed?Romans 12:2
- Paul says the church is one body with many parts. What happens when a part stays home?Romans 12:4-5
Live it: what will we do?
- Where are you being shaped by the world around you more than by God?Romans 12:2
- Which gift in verses 6 to 8 might be yours? How could you use it this month?Romans 12:6-8
- Verses 9 to 21 are a list. Pick one line to practice this week.Romans 12:9-21
Close in prayer
Pray for one another’s gifts, and for one person each of you finds hard to love.
Romans 12
Lumin Translation. It prints after the questions, so the group has the words in front of them.
1 So I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the compassion of God, to offer your bodies as a sacrifice—living, holy, and pleasing to God. This is your rational worship.
2 Do not take on the pattern of this age. Instead, keep being transformed as your mind is made new, so that you can discern by testing what the will of God is: the good, the pleasing, and the perfect.
3 Because of the grace given to me, I tell each one of you not to have an inflated opinion of yourself beyond what is fitting, but to think in a way that shows good sense, in keeping with the measure of faith God has apportioned to each.
4 For just as each of us has one body with many parts, and those parts do not all do the same thing,
5 so also we, many as we are, form one body in Christ, and each of us is a part belonging to the others.
6 Our gifts vary with the grace that has been given to us. Whoever has prophecy should use it in proportion to faith;
7 whoever serves should devote themselves to serving; the one who teaches, to teaching;
8 the one who encourages, to encouraging. The one who shares should do so with generosity; the one who leads, with eagerness; the one who shows mercy, with gladness.
9 Love must be free of pretense. Loathe what is evil and cling to what is good.
10 In your love for one another as brothers and sisters, be warmly devoted; take the lead in honoring one another.
11 Do not let your eagerness grow slack; be on fire in spirit; serve the Lord.
12 Be glad in hope; hold out under affliction; keep at prayer with persistence.
13 Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
16 Be of one mind toward each other. Do not aim at lofty things, but be at home among the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.
17 Pay no one back with evil for evil. Plan to do what is noble in the sight of all people.
18 If it can be done, be at peace with all people, so far as it is up to you.
19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves; instead make room for wrath, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay,” says the Lord.
20 On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Lumin’s own translation, drafted with AI from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, checked verse by verse against them, and approved by Lumin. Brackets mark verses not found in the earliest manuscripts.