The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller
Week 6: Chapter 5 — The True Elder Brother
Read Chapter 5 of The Prodigal God. Primary Scripture: Luke 15:25–32; Romans 8:3–4; 2 Corinthians 5:21.
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This is the chapter where Keller turns from diagnosis to gospel — arguing that Jesus himself is the true and better elder brother, and that his story is the only reason the father can so lavishly welcome both sons home.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.Keller argues that Jesus is telling this parable as someone who knows he is going to become its solution. He is the true elder brother — the one who leaves the father's house not in anger but in love, to bring home the lost. How does that reading transform the parable for you?
2.Keller points out that the father's lavish welcome of the younger son — the robe, the ring, the feast — is not cheap sentimentality but is costly, because it absorbs the shame and scandal that the younger son's return would have caused in the village. How does that insight connect to what Christ did on the cross?
3.Keller argues that the elder brother in the parable refuses to go in to the party, but Jesus — the true elder brother — goes out into the far country and pays the ultimate cost to bring us home. What does this contrast reveal about the difference between religion and the gospel?
a.Religion, Keller says, asks us to earn our way in through obedience. What does the gospel ask instead?
b.If Jesus is the one who truly 'went out' so that we could come in, how should that reshape your motivations for obedience and service?
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