Discussion Questions

David Bercot emphasized that “faith comes through hearing, not through seeing,” noting that many Jews saw Jesus’ miracles yet did not believe, while Gentiles believed through hearing—what does this reveal about what God values in human response, and how does it confront the way modern Christians treat “evidence,” “experiences,” or “signs” as the basis for faith? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If people can see miracles and still not believe, but others believe just by hearing, what does that show about what God wants from us? How does that challenge Christians today who base faith mainly on proof, big experiences, or signs?

The lesson argues (with Chrysostom) that the apostles’ proclamation of God’s words is “a higher thing than even miracles”; in what ways have you seen modern Christianity invert that priority, and what would it require in a church’s life for “majestic hearing through the Word of God” to become central again? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How do you see churches today treating miracles or experiences as more important than God’s Word being preached? What would need to change for the church to make hearing and obeying God’s Word the center again?

Bercot said early Christians read the “opponent” in Romans 10:18 as making an assertion (“they have not heard”), not a question—how does that change the force of Paul’s rebuttal, and what does it suggest about Paul’s view of culpability versus excuse-making in unbelief? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If Romans 10:18 is read as “they have not heard” (a claim) instead of a question, how does that make Paul’s answer stronger? What does it show about whether unbelief is a real excuse or something people are responsible for?

Paul responds that the gospel’s “sound went throughout all the earth,” and Bercot cites Ambrosiaster/Colossians 1:23 to argue “none of them is excused from the charge of unbelief”; what makes that claim feel uncomfortable today, and how do you reconcile it with common evangelical instincts to soften responsibility because of “lack of information” or “not enough clarity”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Why does it feel hard today to say that people are not excused from unbelief because the gospel has gone out widely? How do you fit that with the common idea that people aren’t really responsible if they didn’t get enough information or clarity?

The transcript stressed that the Jews were the first to hear (Matthew 10:6) and that Paul habitually went “first” to synagogues, even quoting Acts 13:46 (“you judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life”); how does that “spoken to you first” pattern shape how you think about God’s justice, God’s patience, and the real possibility of people excluding themselves? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What do you learn about God’s fairness and patience from the pattern that Jews heard first, and only later others? How does it affect how you think about people choosing to shut themselves out from eternal life?

When the opponent insists, “Israel did not know,” Paul answers with Moses’ jealousy prophecy (Deut 32:21) being fulfilled “in front of their very eyes”; what does this say about God’s purposes in provoking jealousy, and how should Christians process the idea that God may use outsiders’ faithfulness to expose insiders’ hardness? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What might God be trying to do by using outsiders to make insiders jealous? How should Christians react to the idea that outsiders’ faith can expose insiders’ hard hearts?

Origen’s explanation that Christians are “not a nation” but “a nation composed of all nations” treats Moses’ phrase as an honor—how would early Christians’ identity as a transnational people challenge modern forms of nationalism, culture-war Christianity, or defining the church by ethnicity/politics? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If the church is “one people made from all nations,” how should that challenge Christian nationalism or tying the church to one ethnicity or political side? What would it change about how you think of Christian identity?

The lesson gave two reasons Moses calls Gentile believers “a foolish nation”: former idolatry and the world’s view that the gospel is foolishness; where do you see pressure today to avoid looking “foolish” to outsiders, and what specific compromises (in message, lifestyle, or priorities) tend to follow that pressure? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Where do you feel pressure today to not look “foolish” to non-Christians? What compromises often happen because of that pressure in what Christians say, how they live, or what they focus on?

Isaiah 65:1 was presented as Gentiles “who did not seek” nevertheless finding God, while Jews who expected Messiah did not recognize Him; what does that contrast reveal about God’s initiative and human expectation, and how might religious familiarity today make people more resistant to Christ rather than more receptive? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What does it show about God and people that some who weren’t even looking for God found Him, while others who expected the Messiah missed Him? How can being very familiar with religion actually make someone resist Jesus more?

The early Christians saw Isaiah 65:2 (“All day long I have stretched forth my hands…”) as both God’s long mercy under the Law and a greater Messianic picture of Christ’s arms stretched on the cross—how does that double application reshape your view of God’s posture toward the disobedient, and what concrete change would it produce in how you treat contentious people while still naming disobedience as disobedience? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How does the picture of God reaching out patiently—and also Christ’s arms stretched on the cross—change how you see God’s attitude toward disobedient people? What would it change in how you treat difficult people while still calling disobedience what it is?