Doctrinal Mastery Review 23
Understand and Explain
One of the purposes of doctrinal mastery is to help you understand the doctrine contained in doctrinal mastery passages and be able to explain the doctrine in your own words. This lesson will give you an opportunity to deepen your understanding of and explain truths found in the 13 doctrinal mastery passages from the second half of the New Testament.
Encouraging regular study and review of doctrinal mastery passages. Memorizing, understanding, explaining, and applying doctrinal mastery passages requires study and practice. Teach a doctrinal mastery lesson weekly, and encourage students to regularly review what they have learned. Remember that the Doctrinal Mastery app is a valuable resource that can help students continue to study doctrinal mastery passages.
Student preparation: Invite students to briefly review the 13 doctrinal mastery passages from the second half of the New Testament and then choose one they would like to understand better.
Possible Learning Activities
A doctrinal mastery passage lesson may need to be taught in place of this review lesson. Refer to the pacing schedule provided by the area or region director or coordinator to ensure that each doctrinal mastery passage lesson will be taught while seminary is in session.
Asking questions
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When have you felt grateful that you asked someone a question? (For example, perhaps you learned something by asking a question, or perhaps you received valuable counsel after seeking advice from a friend or parent.)
Consider sharing a personal experience to help students think of their own experiences.
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What are some reasons why it is important to ask questions when learning the gospel of Jesus Christ?
President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency said: “To ask and to answer questions is at the heart of all learning and all teaching” (“The Lord Will Multiply the Harvest” [evening with a General Authority, Feb. 6, 1998], 5–6, in Teaching Seminary: Preservice Readings [2004], 98).
Asking questions about doctrinal mastery passages can help us better understand them and more fully invite the Savior’s help into our lives.
Consider displaying all 13 doctrinal mastery scripture references or showing students where they can see them. If desired, use all 24 New Testament doctrinal mastery passages for this review, or select just a few, depending on the needs of the class.
New Testament Doctrinal Mastery: 1 Corinthians–Revelation
|
Scripture Reference |
Key Scripture Phrase |
|---|---|
Scripture Reference | Key Scripture Phrase “Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.” |
Scripture Reference | Key Scripture Phrase “Neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.” |
Scripture Reference | Key Scripture Phrase “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” |
Scripture Reference | Key Scripture Phrase In the Resurrection, there are three degrees of glory. |
Scripture Reference | Key Scripture Phrase “In the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ.” |
Scripture Reference | Key Scripture Phrase The Church is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.” |
Scripture Reference | Key Scripture Phrase “The day of Christ … shall not come, except there come a falling away first.” |
Scripture Reference | Key Scripture Phrase “The holy scriptures … are able to make thee wise unto salvation.” |
Scripture Reference | Key Scripture Phrase Heavenly Father is “the Father of spirits.” |
Scripture Reference | Key Scripture Phrase “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” |
Scripture Reference | Key Scripture Phrase “Faith, if it hath not works, is dead.” |
Scripture Reference | Key Scripture Phrase “The gospel [was] preached also to them that are dead.” |
Scripture Reference | Key Scripture Phrase “And the dead were judged … according to their works.” |
Consider doing the following activity as a class using one of the doctrinal mastery passages, then inviting students to repeat the activity using a different doctrinal mastery passage of their choosing. Students could work in groups, in pairs, or individually, depending on the needs of the class.
To see an example of a similar activity, before class consider watching the video “2.7 Analyzing a Passage” (8.11), available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Choose one of the 13 doctrinal mastery passages that you would like to better understand. Read it carefully. Analyze the doctrinal mastery passage’s words and phrases, noting what you understand about the passage and what questions you or someone else might ask about the passage. For example, something you might ask about Ephesians 2:19–20 is “What is a corner stone and why is Jesus Christ compared to one?” Or you might wonder what the phrase “falling away” in 2 Thessalonians 2:1–3 means.
Write out as many questions as you can.
Students could write the doctrinal mastery passage they chose in their study journals or on a piece of paper and then write their questions around it.
Once you have written as many questions as you can, select a few questions that you think are the most important to understand, and answer them using available scripture study tools. These tools include the Guide to the Scriptures, the Topical Guide, the Bible Dictionary, scripture footnotes, the Gospel Library app, or general conference talks. You may also choose to use some scripture study strategies that you have learned this year, such as reading the surrounding verses or trying to understand the context of the scripture. Record your answers in your study journal.
Remember that not all questions may be easily answered and that some may require further time and prayerful study and pondering.
To further involve students and create more variety, consider asking them to write the doctrinal mastery passage they chose and their questions on a separate piece of paper with their name on it. Then invite students to exchange their papers with another student. Alternatively, invite students to pass their papers to the front so the papers can be shuffled and randomly distributed to other students.
Give the students time to use available scripture study tools and strategies to find answers to the questions on the papers they received and to record those answers on the paper. After sufficient time, invite students to hand the papers back to the students whose names are on the papers.
Invite several students to share the doctrinal mastery passage they chose, some of the questions they wrote, and the answers they or their classmates discovered. You might also ask them what the scripture passage helps them understand about the Savior or His gospel.
If time permits (or on a different day), consider inviting students to repeat the activity using another doctrinal mastery passage.