Pilgrim’s Progress Discussion Questions by Chapter

I recently taught a class through Pilgrim’s Progress. Below are the discussion questions for each chapter.

Chapter 1

-pp. 1-17 in the Revell Spire Edition
-pp. 1-26 in the Moody Classic Edition
-pp. 1-27 in Pilgrim’s Progress in Today’s English
-pp. 1-20 Barbour and Company. 1985

1. What is the book Christian has in his hand?

2. What is the burden that Christian is carrying, and have you ever felt this burden?  If so, what did it feel like?

3. Christian reads the book and prays but still has the burden on his back.  How is this possible?

4. Pliable has no burden on his back yet still follows Christian.  Why would someone do this, and have you ever run across people like this?  What kind of “churches” appeal to people in this condition?

5. What do you think the “Slough of Despond” represents?

6. Where, and to whom, does Mr. Worldly Wiseman direct Christian, and what false view of salvation does this represent?

7. Read Heb. 10:38 – How does this verse fit with Christian trying to remove his burden with morality and the law.

8. Do you ever find yourself trying to find relief for the conviction of sin by attempting to be moral rather than laying it all on Christ?  What do you do in those times?

9. Worldly Wiseman is a false teacher, and Evangelist gives Christian three reasons to abhor him. What are they, and do they still apply to false teachers today?

10. When Christian is grieved by his sin of listening to Worldly Wiseman, Evangelist tells him is sin is very great.  How is this different than what you may hear in many churches today?

Chapter 2

-pp. 17-29 in the Revell Spire Edition
-pp. 26-40 in the Moody Classic Edition
-pp. 27-38 in Pilgrim’s Progress in Today’s English
-pp. 20-35 Barbour and Company. 1985

1.  Christian runs to the wicket gate and knocks more than once or twice, what do the running and the knocking teach us?

2. Goodwill pulls Christian through the gate. Why does he do this, and what do these dangers represent?

3.  Christian goes through the wicket gate and enters the narrow path. Some people view this as the moment of his salvation, but he still has his burden on his back (which he will lose later).  What do you think about this?

4.  Who do you think the interpreter represents?

5.  How does Christian explain to Goodwill that he and Pliable are alike?  What does this teach us about Christian’s attitude?

6.  Who or what do you think the man in the picture, who is authorized as Christian’s guide, represent(s)?

7.  How is the heart of man like the dusty room, and what happens when the room is attempted to be cleaned with the broom of the law?  What does this teach us about the law?

8.  What do Passion and Patience represent in the Christian life, and what do we learn from them?  Can you think of any Bible passages that relate to this?

9.  What happens to the fire burning near the wall, and what do we learn from it?  Can you think of any Bible passages that relate to this?

10.  The picture of the man in the iron cage is one of the most shocking scenes in Pilgrims Progress. What was your reaction when you read it and what do you think it means?

Chapter 3

-pp. 29-48 in the Revell Spire Edition
-pp. 40-62 in the Moody Classic Edition
-pp. 39-55 in Pilgrim’s Progress in Today’s English
-pp. 35-58 Barbour and Company. 1985

1.  How does Christian lose his burden, and what does this represent?  Have you heard of any testimonies that would illustrate this scene?

2.  Last chapter we discussed whether entering the wicket gate in chapter 2 was his conversion.  What do you think now that you have read of his burden being removed?

3.  Three beings come to Christian, what do they represent and what do they do for him?  Where do we see these things in Scripture?

4.  How do Formalist and Hypocrisy get on the road of salvation?  What lesson do they teach us? How do they defend their not entering at the wicket gate?

5.  When Christian was climbing Hill Difficulty, he finds a place set by the Lord for refreshing weary travelers. What does this represent, and what does it mean that he fell asleep there?

6.  What does it mean that Christian loses his scroll, and what does it teach us that it took a while before he realized it was gone?

7.  What is the role of the chained lions, and what do their chains teach us?

8.  What does Christian say his name was before it was Christian?

9.  What is Christian’s reason for wanting to go to Mount Zion?  How do these thoughts align with your reason for desiring heaven?

10.  What does Christian say is his wife’s reason for not following him?  Do you ever see the same tendency in your own life?

Chapter 4

-pp. 48-58 in the Revell Spire Edition
-pp. 62-74 in the Moody Classic Edition
-pp. 56-65 in Pilgrim’s Progress in Today’s English
-pp. 58-71 Barbour and Company. 1985

1.  Christian has no armor to cover his back when he meets Apollyon, what does this teach us?

2.  Who does Apollyon represent?  What descriptions to do see in the book that leads you to that conclusion?

3.  Apollyon says, that “many of the Lord’s servants have come to an ill end.” To what is he referring, and how does Christian respond?

4.  How does Christian respond when Apollyon accuses him of many sins?

5.  Christian loses his sword while battling Apollyon. What does this look like in the Christian life?

6.  Christian receives leaves from the tree of life to heal his wounds, what picture is Bunyan painting here?  How do the bread and wine fit?

7.  Why do you think the way to the celestial city goes through the Valley of the Shadow of Death?

8.  Bunyan refers to the quag that King David fell into, to what do you think he is referring?

9.  The valley is so dark that “when [Christian] would lift his foot to go forward he knew not where, nor upon what he should set it next.” What Scripture does this bring to mind?

10.  Bunyan describes the giants Pope and Pagan as no longer a real threat, what do you think he is alluding to, and do you think he is correct?

Chapter 5

-pp. 58-78 in the Revell Spire Edition
-pp. 74-96 in the Moody Classic Edition
-pp. 66-86 in Pilgrim’s Progress in Today’s English
-pp. 71-95 Barbour and Company. 1985

1.  Why does Faithful say Pliable is now seven times worse than before?  To what passage of Scripture does this allude?

2.  Who is Adam the First, and what are the names of his children?  What doctrine is Bunyan talking about here?

3.  Why do you think Bunyan portrays Moses as beating faithful, and what saved Faithful from death?

4.  What friends are dishonored by going through the Valley of Humiliation? What was Faithful’s response?

5.  What were some of Shame’s arguments against faithful, and where do you hear these today?

6.  What does it mean that Talkative was more comely [attractive] at a distance than up close?

7.  Talkative says many true things, what then is the problem with him?  Do you ever have to guard your own heart against being like that?

8.  What are some of the ways Faithful says the work of grace is discovered in the life of a person?

9.  When Talkative is exposed as a hypocrite, what is his response to Faithful, and do you ever see this type of response happen to Christians today?

10.  Christian commends Faithful for talking so plainly with Talkative and laments that it rarely happens.  Do you think this is still true and why?

Chapter 6

-pp. 78-90 in the Revell Spire Edition
-pp. 96-111 in the Moody Classic Edition
-pp. 87-98 in Pilgrim’s Progress in Today’s English
-pp. 95-110 Barbour and Company. 1985

1. Evangelist tells Christian and Faithful, “You are not yet out of the gun-shot of the devil; you have not yet resisted to bloodshed,” What does this mean? Read Hebrews 12:4 as you consider this.

2. What are some of the other things Evangelist tells them?

3. As you read of Vanity Fair, what aspects of today’s world come to mind? Has any of these aspects made it into the church?

4. Why were the people of Vanity Fair stirred up when Christian and Faithful arrived? What do these things look like in the Christian life?

5. What does it mean that Christian and Faithful said, “they would buy the truth?”

6. What were Christian and Faithful charged with by Lord Hate-good?

7. Which three people came forward to testify against Christian and Faithful?

8. Pickthank said Faithful railed against several men, what were their names?

9. What was Faithful’s response to the charges of the three men?

10. Knowing that John Bunyan was in jail for the faith when he wrote this, as you read the names of the jury that convicted Faithful, do you think this was an expression of how he saw the men who convicted him?

11. How is Faithful the most blessed one in this situation, even more than Christian?

Chapter 7

-pp. 90-110 in the Revell Spire Edition
-pp. 111-137 in the Moody Classic Edition
-pp. 99-118 in Pilgrim’s Progress in Today’s English
-pp. 110-135 Barbour and Company. 1985

1.  Who are some of the citizens of the town of Fair-Speech, and against what is Bunyan trying to warn us?

2.  What does it mean when Christian says “you must also own religion in his rags, as well as in his silver slippers; and stand by him, too, when bound in irons, as well as when he walk in the streets with applause?”

3.  What scripture did Mr. Hold-the-World twist to defend his right to cling to the things of this world?

4.  How does Mr. Money-love defend using religion to get rich?  What is wrong with his arguments?

5.  Demas, who calls the people to the silver mine, is also a biblical character.  What is his story in Scripture (See Philemon 1:23-24, and 2 Timothy 4:10?)

6.  What is the River of the Water of Life where Christian and Hopeful walked?  Where do we see it in Scripture?

7.  Bunyan says the pilgrims had to go with Giant Despair because he was stronger than they. What does this teach us?

8.  Why was Christian in double sorrow in the dungeon?

9.  What were some of Hopeful’s arguments to Christian as to why they should not end their own lives?

10.  What does the key represent that unlocked the door to Doubting Castle, and what does it look like in the Christian life?

Chapter 8

-pp. 110-135 in the Revell Spire Edition
-pp. 96-111 in the Moody Classic Edition
-pp. 87-98 in Pilgrim’s Progress in Today’s English
-pp. 95-110 Barbour and Company. 1985

1.  What were some of the sights the shepherds showed the pilgrims in the Delectable Mountains?

2.  Why does Ignorance think he will be accepted at the gate of the celestial city?

3. What is the story of Little-faith, and what do we learn from it?

4.  Bunyan describes Faint-heart, Mis-trust, and Guilt as powerful. Who were some of the Biblical examples that Bunyan gives who where injured by them?

5.  What warning does Christian gives us about desiring to meet our enemies, and what two things must we do if we do meet them?

6.  Why did Christian and Hopeful not recognize Flatterer, and what does this teach us?

7.  What were some of Atheist’s arguments to Christian and Hopeful?

8.  The Enchanted Ground had air that makes pilgrims drowsy, what situations in life have this effect on us?

9.  How do the pilgrims keep from falling asleep?  What does this look like in the Christian life?

10.  What aspects of Hopeful’s conversion do you find interesting and encouraging?

Chapter 9

-pp. 135-145 in the Revell Spire Edition
-pp. 167-179 in the Moody Classic Edition
-pp. 138-147 in Pilgrim’s Progress in Today’s English
-pp. 167-78 Barbour and Company. 1985

1.  Where did Ignorance ground his hope when asked whether he was right with God or not?  What are some examples where we hear similar things today?

2. What does Christian say to set Ignorance right about whether his thoughts are correct or not?

3.  What is Ignorance’s understanding of justification?  Where might we hear a view like this preached?

4.  What are Christian’s four responses to Ignorance’s false view of justification?

5.  What problem does Ignorance have with Christian’s response?

6.  What is Christian’s response to Ignorance’s objection to justification?

7.  How does Christian say that correct fear can be detected over a wrong fear?

8.  How do some people try to stifle the conviction of sin?

9.  What reasons does Hopeful give for Temporary’s backsliding?

10.  What does Christian say are the ways people like Temporary backslide?

Chapter 10

-pp. 145-154 in the Revell Spire Edition
-pp. 179-191 in the Moody Classic Edition
-pp. 149-156 in Pilgrim’s Progress in Today’s English
-pp. 178-190 Barbour and Company. 1985

1. Why do you think the grapes of the vineyard caused Christian and Hopeful to talk in their sleep? What is Bunyan trying to tell us?

2. Why do you think that Bunyan decided to use a river to represent death? What Scriptures come to mind?

3. The golden beings tell them that the river is “deeper or shallower as you believe in the King of the place.” What does this mean in the Christian life?

4. What do you think it means that Christian “in great measure lost his senses” as he crossed the river?

5. Why were Christian and Hopeful able to climb the hill to the Celestial City so easily?

6. Christian asks what they would do in the holy place, what were some of the things he was told by the ministering spirits?

7. What did you find interesting or encouraging about the reception the pilgrims received and the description of the Celestial City?

8. What was the name of the ferryman the helped Ignorance cross the river so easily?

9. Now that we have finished Christian’s story, what were some of the aspects of the book that had the biggest impact upon you?

D. Eaton