Mark

Cheryl,

I assume this post has risen due to our discussions elsewhere- good to see it challenging you.

Now i believe you have made a few fundamental mistakes.

1. You quote Macarthur but ignore his clear expression ‘can mean…’ because elsewhere in scripture it does function the way he says. Now obviously the context will decide which best description for ‘kai’ it will be in Eph 4. So Macarthur is not wrong to suggest his interpretation because scripture agrees elsewhere with him. That is your first fundamental mistake.

2. Your ‘other’ examples of the two nouns being governed by the one article are slightly diffenrent to Eph 4:11. In both the texts you cited both nouns (pharisees/scribes, chief priests/scribes) are being compared against something. In Matt 5 they are governed around the ‘righteousness’ and in Matt 2 they are fitting around the ‘gathering together’. Now in EPh 4 we do not have this grammatical set-up. Clearly the pastor/teacher association is supposed to be more than you are suggesting. This is your second mistake

Also you have failed to address why Paul uses ‘kai’ in between Pastors and teachers, where as with the apostles/prophets/evangelist he uses ‘de’ instead