A Sunday School Lesson On Words

Here is a Sunday school lesson or Bible study about words.

Enticing Words

Proverbs 2:16-17 “So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.”

Who is this “forbidden woman” anyway? Just like the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil, a forbidden woman is one that God commands that we don’t even touch because anyone who goes to “her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed; none who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life” (Prov 2:18-19). Indeed, Job said “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin” (Prov 31:1) so the point is “the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it, but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it” (Prov 2:21-22) which is why Solomon writes, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live” (Prov 4:4).

Who is this “companion of her youth” that is forsaken?

What is “forbidden” today besides actual physical sexual immorality (Matt 5:27-30)?

What did Job mean by making “a covenant with his eyes?”

Life or Death in Words

Proverbs 18:21 “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

Words are not like sticks and stone bruises or cuts which can heal because words go deep into our soul and scar the heart for life. You can take back something, but words you cannot. By words people have soared into a successful life, some have achieved great goals but by words of a different nature, some have sank low into a deep depression from which they never escape. Others choose to end their lives by the destructive words spoken by parents, spouse, or friends. Some have been told they were worthless and meant nothing by parents and those words were death to the child; either literally or in the sense of the way their life was lived. You hold power of good and evil in your tongue just like I do as “we bless our Lord and Father” but we also “curse people who are made in the likeness of God” (James 3:9).

What is the fruit that those who love it eat?

Have you been hurt by the words of others? By who?

How does it feel when words hurt us?

Have you hurt others with your words?

The Words of Life

John 6:67-69 “So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

Jesus asked the Twelve if they too would stop following Him just after “many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66). Jesus had just been saying some very hard things and many of them said “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it” (John 6:6)? Jesus does say some very hard things but He says hard things to soften hearts because soft words harden hearts but hard words can soften or humble hearts. Peter and the other disciples were convinced and knew that only Jesus had the words that led to eternal life. They had been with Him long enough to know that this was the Son of God.

Do you use hard words in witness to the lost?

Should you (Rom 3:10-12, 23; 6:23)?

Is this why most of the world doesn’t follow Christ?

How did the disciples know that Jesus was “the Holy One of God?”

Abiding in the Word

John 15:7 “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

The Greek word used for “abide” means “to remain” or “not depart from” (“menō”) so Jesus is telling the disciples that they must abide in Him by His words abiding in them. Just like Christians today, we need to get in the Word every day so that the Word gets into us or will abide in us because then Christ, Who is the Word of God (John 1:1, 14), will remain in us. God’s Word can only remain in us if we remain in it. If the disciples do abide in Christ’s words, they can pray for whatever they wish and God will hear and answer their prayers. Naturally, those prayers should be aligned with God’s will (Matt 6:10) but we can be certain the disciples knew God’s will. There is also an cleansing that the Word of God has as it says in John 15:3; “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you” and referenced by Paul as he wrote about “the washing of water with the word” (Eph 5:26) and at the foot washing Jesus says, “you are clean, though not every one of you.” This cleansing by the Word helps to present a spotless virgin to Christ as the Bridegrooms return for His Bride.

What is it about the Word of God that cleanses?

Why is water sometimes used in reference to the Word of God?

Do you abide daily in the Word so that the Word will abide in you?

Conclusion

I urge you in your study to look at all of the Bible verses and read them aloud in the class so that you can get the most out of this lesson on words and how they impact people’s lives. Words can build up or they can tear down. Why would we ever want to tear down people with words? Perhaps those who tear down others are the ones who are hurting the most and like someone that’s hurt, they’ll snap at others more easily. One good thing about that is the heartbroken person is closer to God (Psalm 34:18) than those who feel they need nothing or no one, and above all, they don’t need God. What is certain is that “on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matt 12:36-37). If we remember that, perhaps our words will be few and those we wished we could take back.

What was the last thing you regretted saying to someone?

How many of your words were building up of others today?

How many of your words were or were thought to be tearing down someone or others?

What has changed in your understanding about words in this study?

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.