Luke 6 Bible study questions help a group or a personal reader move through one of the Gospel’s most practical chapters. In it, Jesus defends his disciples’ conduct on the Sabbath, chooses the twelve apostles, teaches the crowd what the kingdom of God looks like, and closes with a call to live what he says. The questions below are arranged for a small group, a Sunday class, or quiet study at home, with leader notes you can use or adapt.
Luke 6 at a Glance
The chapter moves in four stages. First, a dispute over Sabbath practice in the grain fields and then in the synagogue, where Jesus argues that the day exists for doing good and for the Son of Man’s authority. Second, a night of prayer before he names the twelve apostles. Third, a long teaching given on a level place, containing blessings and woes, the command to love enemies, and a run of sayings about judging, generosity and fruit. Fourth, the chapter ends with the image of two builders, one who hears and acts and one who hears and does not.
Keep this arc in mind as you ask the questions. Each set of questions below follows the same order, so a group can stop after any section and still have covered a complete idea.
Observation Questions
Use these first to make sure everyone has read the same text and can point to it. Keep answers short and tied to the words on the page before anyone offers an interpretation. Invite several people to answer each question before you comment.
Luke 6:12-13
12 In these days, he went out to the mountain to pray, and he continued all night in prayer to God. 13 When it was day, he called his disciples, and from them he chose twelve, whom he also named apostles…
(WEB)
Read this passage to show how Jesus prepares for a major decision by spending the night in prayer. It sets up the naming of the twelve and gives the group a model for seeking God before they act.
Luke 6:20-23
20 He lifted up his eyes to his disciples, and said, “Blessed are you who are poor, God’s Kingdom is yours. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they shall exclude and mock you, and throw out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, for their fathers did the same thing to the prophets.
(WEB)
Read these verses to hear the opening blessings of the sermon in full. Their reversal of expected blessings anchors the rest of the chapter’s teaching on poverty, hunger and persecution.
Luke 6:27-31
27 “But I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you. 29 To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer also the other; and from him who takes away your cloak, don’t withhold your coat also. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask him who takes away your goods to give them back again. 31 “As you would like people to do to you, do exactly so to them.
(WEB)
Read this section to capture the core commands on enemy love and the golden rule. It gives the group the teaching most often discussed when the chapter is studied, so it deserves a full hearing.
Luke 6:37-38
37 Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Set free, and you will be set free. 38 “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you.”
(WEB)
Read these two verses to anchor the chapter’s teaching on judging and mercy. Hearing them aloud before the speck-and-beam discussion helps the group approach that image with the right spirit.
Luke 6:46-49
46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things which I say? 47 Everyone who comes to me, and hears my words, and does them, I will show you who he is like. 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug and went deep, and laid a foundation on the rock. When a flood arose, the stream broke against that house, and could not shake it, because it was founded on the rock. 49 But he who hears, and doesn’t do, is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
(WEB)
Read this closing passage to end the teaching with the image of the two builders. It gives the session a clear call to act on what has been heard and sets up the final prayer.
Memory Verse for Luke 6
Luke 6:36
“Therefore be merciful, even as your Father is also merciful.
(WEB)
This verse is short enough to memorize and sums up the chapter’s central ethic. Ask the group to repeat it together and to think about one concrete way mercy could show up in their week.
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we come before you having heard your Son speak about mercy, about the reversal of what the world values, and about building our lives on what he says. Forgive us for the times we have judged quickly and seen the speck in another’s eye while ignoring the beam in our own. Give us the courage to love those who oppose us, to do good without keeping score, and to let our words flow from a heart that is being changed by you. Help each person here to take one honest step this week toward the obedience Jesus describes, so that our lives rest on the rock. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
