1) I know that Mike was joking…well at least 80%…but if he truly believes that people who love Jesus study theology, (A) why did he study philosophy at Talbot and (B) why not focus on the theological implications of Ephesians 1:3-14 which sets the tone for the rest of the epistle rather than devoting so much time detailing Hellenism…which although may be helpful in understanding some of the cultural context of that part of the world, ultimately misses Paul’s concern in writing to the church, namely that as descendants of Adam we are all ruined and in need of sovereign, electing and irresistible grace. Hellenism doesn’t make anyone need grace more than does consumerism or nihilism. The background is not cultural it’s spiritual…otherwise the book has little or no value to God’s people today who don’t have Hellenistic presuppositions.

2) If justice cannot be done to the study of Ephesians in 8-9 weeks then why move on? If you really believe that, do something about it. Why not spend a year digging into every last word that can be harvested from the book? What better thing can God’s people devote themselves to? It’s as if he is saying…we can spend a lot of time unpacking all of this together but we’ve got other fish to fry. Sort of like the contrast between “Allof the news that is fit to print” vs “All of the news that fits.”

If they’re worried about chasing away the less serious attenders by such an in-depth study…I think perhaps this is how Jesus separates the tares from the wheat.

There are few books that lay down the gospel as succinctly and as linearly as Ephesians does. If Rockharbor exists to be a catalyst for radical transformation…what can accomplish this more effectively than the clear and careful exposition of God’s word? What more can the unbelieving possibly hope to hear than the beautiful doctrines of grace laid out plainly by the Spirit through the apostle to the gentiles? If the assumption of this church and other “seeker friendly” churches is to simply get them in, I want to know how in their opinion do “seekers”, a term denied by Paul in Romans 3, ever become finders apart from the hearing of all of the word.

How can one not only become a believer, but also a doer, without first being a hearer of the word?