For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Paul’s words in Romans 2:13 come as quite a shock to the Christian ear of those who have grown up with a theology that God is all-loving, but not holy in the sense described by Paul:  “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.”  These words are enough to send shivers down the spine of any conscientious Christian willing to examine themselves in light of the demands of God’s law.  How can God be so strict?  How can such a God be loving?  How is that fair?  If God requires perfection, this would mean that everyone is bound for eternal punishment.  Yes, it does.  But that is only half the story.

Reformed Christians affirm that Adam—as the biological and federal head of the human race—was created in a covenant of works.  Therefore, Adam lived in Eden under a time of divine probation.  He must keep YHWH’s commands perfectly on behalf of all humanity.  If he does, God will confirm him in righteousness and glorify human nature.  But should he disobey, he will plunge the entire human race into sin, guilt, and death.  The covenant of works remains in force, as indicated by Paul in Romans 2:6, which is repeated in 2:13.  Paul’s words have generated much controversy, which we will discuss, not because Paul isn’t clear, but because he is—crystal clear.  His words challenge many people’s assumptions about how a loving God can demand such perfection from sinners.  Yes, God is supremely loving. But he is also holy.

Romans 2:12–16 is part of that section of chapter two in which Paul continues to expose Jewish hypocrisy for criticizing Gentile behavior, all the while doing the same things the Gentiles were doing.  Paul now explains why the Gentiles (who did not have the law) are as guilty as the Jews who had the law given through Moses at Mount Sinai.  It is because God’s law is written upon the human heart by virtue of the fact that all people are created in God’s image.  This is the basis for natural law—God’s revelation in the natural order (the civil kingdom and the ordering of society)—and is revealed through reason, the conscience, and human emotions.

So, there is much here in this part of Romans well worth our consideration.  And just so I don’t leave you hanging, the second part of the story answers all the objections just mentioned.  In the gospel, through the merits of Jesus Christ—the law keeper—God freely gives what he demands of us under the law.  There’s no more loving act imaginable.  And we’ll get there, Lord willing, when we get to Romans 3:21 and following.  But for now, only doers of the law can be justified. The bad news comes before the good news.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

The church in Rome was predominately Gentile–made up of recent converts from Greco-Roman paganism to Christianity.  Such Gentiles knew little if anything about the Old Testament, nor its central figures, Abraham, Moses, and David.  They knew that Jewish Christians cared about dietary restrictions, as well as circumcision–a surgical procedure which seemed bizarre to former Gentile pagans.  They knew the Jews revered the law of Moses–which they claimed to be the very commandments from God.  Gentiles ate things Jews did not.  They touched things Jews regarded as unclean.  As new Christians, Gentiles were learning about the evils of idolatry and the importance of rejecting the libertine sexual ethics and practices of Roman life in favor of a biblical sexuality.  But they were also learning about Moses, Abraham, the law, and the covenants God made with Abraham and Moses.  

Paul has been clear in the opening chapter of his letter to Rome.  “You Gentiles may not have known who Moses was, nor why the commandments God gave to Israel through him at Mount Sinai were so important, but you do know what is right and what is wrong because God has made it plain to you through the created order, which, until coming to faith in Jesus, you tried to suppress in unrighteousness.  You may claim ignorance, but you knew deep down inside that the things you were doing lead to death."  

But Paul is not finished.  Even as he exposes Gentile godlessness and the futility of exchanging the truth of God for pagan nonsense, you can almost hear the Jewish Christians in Rome cheering Paul on.  Eyewitnesses of bad Gentile behavior and victims of Gentile oppression, Jewish converts, of course, were thrilled to hear Paul “give it to them good.”  “About time someone called out the Gentiles for their sinful and immoral practices.”

But as the second chapter of Romans unfolds, Paul shifts gears and raises the uncomfortable reality of Jewish hypocrisy.  “OK, you Jews who criticize the Gentiles, do you do the same things they do?”  “How can you judge the Gentiles when you are no better.”  The truth is, God is going to judge all people according to their works–Jew and Gentile.  The blessing/curse principle will apply to all humanity.  Those who do good will receive God’s blessing, while those who do not keep God’s commands will face him on the day of judgment.  Yes, Paul has good news to proclaim, but there can be no good news until we realize that we are sinful, law-breakers, and deserving of God’s wrath whether we be Jew or Gentile.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

What happens to those who know right from wrong but choose to follow their own path even though their conscience and the Word of God warn them not to go that way?  No, lightning does not strike them, nor does the ground open up beneath their feet and swallow them whole. They don’t keel over dead.  According to Paul, what does happen to those who willingly exchange the truth of God for a lie and who willfully suppress the truth in unrighteousness is far more consequential than it seems at first glance.  In exposing Gentile sinfulness, Paul warns of how God gives such people over to the consequences of their sin.  If this is the path they persist in taking, well then, God will let them follow it to the end—an end, Paul says, that is deserving of death.

While it is common for Christians to emphasize those sexual sins that figure prominently in Paul’s vice list in Romans 1:18–32 (and indeed they do), the sins mentioned here by Paul are universal to all of Adam’s fallen race and include things we might consider “little” or insignificant sins—envy, gossip, and disobedience to parents.  The point of this list is to show the Gentile Christians in Rome that despite the fact that they know neither Moses nor the law of God, their sins are self-evident and condemn the entire human race.  No one will be able to stand before God on Judgment Day and claim, “But I did nothing wrong.”  And “if I did something wrong,” it is certainly not worthy of eternal condemnation.  But since God is holy and cannot look upon sin, Paul’s vice list makes clear the sobering fact that all of us are sinners who have sinned against God and whose hearts are filled with sin and darkness.

Those who don’t think this is fair are those who compare themselves to their neighbor, some of whom are better than they are, while some are worse.  But God does not measure us by our neighbor; he measures us by his perfect holiness, which he demands of all his creatures.

The dreaded phrase “God gave them over” reminds us that we cannot stand before God on the Day of Judgment and plead ignorance or claim that our sins really are not that big a deal, deserving of such severe punishment.  “I didn’t kill anyone.”  Maybe not with my hands, but I’ve done it countless times in my heart, and so have you.  Although the phrase “God gave them over” has an eerie finality about it, we also ought to consider that the process of letting sinners feel the weight and consequences of their sins just might be the means by which God is preparing people to come to faith and repentance.  The conviction of sin is a work of the Holy Spirit.  The conviction of sin is actually a good thing—because we realize that we need to be delivered from the guilt and power of sin. Much better to feel the conviction of sin than to be allowed to continue uninterrupted on our chosen path to destruction.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

I have good news and bad news.  Which do you want first?  I gave you a hint about the good news in the previous episode, in which we took a look at the thesis statement of Romans—Romans 1:16–17.  The next time you'll hear good news from Paul—and it is really good news—is when we get to Romans 3:21, which is still a number of episodes down the road. As will become clear, the good news of the gospel must be seen against the backdrop of human sin and guilt before the holy God.  Since the vast majority of our contemporaries think that people are basically good and have the ability, if not the desire, to find favor with God, it is important to notice that Paul sees things much differently.

Which is why the bad news is really bad, and why the good news makes no sense apart from the bad.  The entire human race is estranged from God by nature and by choice.  When Paul is finished with his indictment of the human race—both Jew and Gentile—there is no one left standing.  The wrath of God is being revealed against all those who suppress the truth about God in unrighteousness.  Because unbelievers inevitably engage in this act of suppressing the truth about God, he gives them over to their lusts and passions so that things run their course and leave such people without excuse.  Because all people know that there is a God, but refuse to worship and serve him, they demonstrate that their thinking is futile and their hearts are hardened.  And they dare not stand before him on judgment day and make appeal to their goodness, character, good works, or ignorance of the truth.

Paul is clear that the Psalmist is absolutely right to affirm, “The fool has said in their heart, `There is no God.’”  As those made in the image of God, he has made us to be creatures well fitted for the world which he also created.  We are designed for this world and all of its beauties, joys, and pleasures.  This is what makes the suppression of the truth about him so foolish.  God has revealed himself to all people—that he is, that he is holy, and that we owe him our every breath.  So, when our race fell in Adam, we became a race of rebels who worship and serve created things rather than the Creator.  And as Paul is about to explain, the wrath of God is being revealed—not against the innocent who don't know better, but against a race of rebels who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.  We live as though none of this were true, or we create a god who blesses our rebellion.  But there is a tsunami on the horizon, and it is heading our way.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Paul is eager to come to Rome to preach the gospel.  These words have long been familiar to Christians, and we understand Paul’s sentiment.  Yet, in Paul’s day, preaching the gospel was an absolutely scandalous message.  The gospel is centered on the cross of Jesus Christ.  For us, a cross is a well-known Christian symbol.  But for those in Paul’s day, the cross was a sign of shame and denigration.  It was something people abhorred and would not speak about.  The noted Roman statesman and orator Cicero spoke of the cross as so horrible that Roman citizens should never be subject to such a thing, and should never even entertain the thought of such a horrible manner of death, much less speak of it.  So why would Paul be eager to preach such a message if it was likely to repulse and offend people, rather than draw or attract them?

Paul knows that this gospel—centered in the cross of Jesus Christ—is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.  God uses this scandalous message to call his people unto himself, create faith, and grant them eternal life.  As Paul tells the Romans, the gospel was first preached to Jews in the types and shadows of the Old Testament, and then through recounting the events associated with the messianic mission of Jesus Christ, which culminated in his suffering and death upon a Roman cross.  When the crucified Jesus was raised from the dead three days after his crucifixion, God demonstrated his power—which is of a different kind and far greater than all the military might of Rome.  Jesus is truly Lord—not Caesar nor any of the Roman gods.  So, when Paul says he desires to come to Rome to preach this message, he is trusting the power of God to do what is impossible for sinful humans: to be given new life, the forgiveness of sins, and to be counted as righteous before God.

Paul is also eager to preach the gospel because in it the righteousness of God is revealed.  Sinful men and women can be reckoned or credited as righteous by trusting in the crucified and risen Savior proclaimed by Paul.  No amount of sorrow or tears, no enlightened teacher or guru, and no amount of good works can grant this righteous status to sinful people.  The only proper response to Paul’s gospel is the empty hands of faith—the reception of this free gift of a perfect and faultless righteousness that is found in the gospel.  This is why Paul is eager to come to Rome and preach this scandalous message.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

The next time you pass a Roman Catholic hospital, school, or church named for Catholic “saints,” you ought to remind yourself that you, too, are a “saint.”  Only your sainthood is something far greater than an honor bestowed upon you by the Roman church because of your notable piety or service.  You are a saint because you are clothed in the faultless righteousness of Jesus Christ, have been called to faith through the gospel, and have been set apart by God for his purposes.  Your saintliness is grounded in nothing that you did or accomplished. Rather, the righteousness that reckons you a “saint” was earned for you—through the obedience of Jesus, his death upon the cross, and his triumphant resurrection from the dead.

Like those in Rome receiving Paul’s letter, you too will hear from Paul that you are called to belong to Jesus and are now a saint.  If you are a Gentile believer in Jesus, you are, in part, one of the multitude mentioned in Isaiah 49 who has seen the light for the nations—the salvation promised to reach the ends of the earth, granted to you by the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel.  Like those in Rome—members of a Christian church in the capital of a pagan empire—you too are serving the God of Israel, who is supremely revealed in Jesus Christ, in whatever locale you may currently find yourself.  You are a “saint” living in the midst of pagan darkness—now seeing the world around you through the lens of God’s word, as one called and set apart by God for God, who is your only source of true light and true life.

And since you are in Christ, you are both reckoned a “saint” and are also now to strive to live as the saint that you are.  Once called to faith, Paul explains, you will acknowledge who you are in Christ (holy) and then strive to put to death the old self (who you were in Adam). You begin to live as what you are—a saint—now alive in Christ.  And to those who are now such “saints”—justified by grace through faith and set apart for God’s purposes—Paul extends to you God’s shalom: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Season Five of the Blessed Hope Podcast is underway.  I know that for many of you, the Book of Romans is your favorite letter in all the New Testament.  When we wrapped up our time in 2 Corinthians a couple of months ago, the clock started on launching Season Five.  I love Romans, I’ve preached through it twice using the lectio continua style of exposition, and I have lectured on parts of Romans on a number of other occasions.  So I am very excited about season five, and I’ve worked very hard to get this verse by verse deep dive Bible study ready to go.

There can be little doubt that Paul’s letter to the church in Rome is one of the most important letters ever written.  As we will discuss in this episode, the Epistle to the Romans has had a tremendous impact upon the course and history of Western Civilization, as well as a huge impact upon the people of God ever since it was written.  For reasons we will address momentarily, the Book of Romans has a clarity and power about it which brings Reformation and renewal to Christ’s church whenever it is proclaimed from the pulpit and studied by the people of God. 

We open Season Five with two episodes devoted to the importance and historical background of the epistle.  In this first episode we’ll take a look at the ways in which this letter has impacted the world in which we live, and we’ll consider some of the key figures in church history and their testimonies about the influence which Romans has had upon them and their ministries.  The influence of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome is truly remarkable.

That done, we’ll briefly look at some of the main themes of the letter.  What ground does Paul seek to cover in this letter to a church in the very capital of a pagan empire?  Why did the renewed interest in Romans some 500 years ago generate many of the controversies which led to the Protestant Reformation and the split from the Roman Catholic church?  Why does Romans still generate controversies, such as those associated with the New Perspective on Paul?  What about those doctrines long associated with confessional Reformed theology?  Can we find them in Romans?  So, in addition to the themes laid out by Paul in this letter, I’ll identify some of the main controversies we will address when we get into the meat of the letter.  I’ll also explain my operating assumptions as we open a new season–why am I approaching this letter from an exegetical, theological, historical, and confessional perspective?

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Paul has written a long letter dealing with on-going controversies in Corinth–his fourth letter to this congregation.  We know this letter as 2 Corinthians.  Among other things, Paul’s first Corinthian letter dealt with factions, lawsuits, idolatry, gifts of the Spirit, proper worship, and the nature of our Lord’s bodily resurrection in anticipation of our own.  After Paul made a difficult visit to Corinth and sent the so-called painful letter to the Corinthians, word came to him in Ephesus that existing troubles continued and new ones had erupted.

Paul will need to go back to Corinth to deal with these matters, so he began making his way through Macedonia (where he encountered a number of unspecified trials) and began composing 2 Corinthians on his way to Corinth.  One pressing matter is that an individual did great harm to Paul’s reputation and to the church, and while the Corinthians dealt with him, substantial damage was done among church members.  Another even more pressing matter was that false teachers and boastful braggarts were doing their best to undermine Paul’s apostolic authority in the church.  Paul addresses these matters head-on and prescribes a series of actions the Corinthians need to take.

While in Macedonia, Paul learned that the Corinthians had not followed through on their promise to collect an offering for the suffering saints in Jerusalem who were living through the effects of a severe famine in Palestine.  Paul hoped that this offering would do two things.  One is to provide badly needed relief to those suffering in the region.  A second is that a generous offering from Gentile churches to the Jewish church in Jerusalem would do much to end any hostilities between Christian Jews and Gentile converts.  The Macedonian churches were poor, but they gave above and beyond what they could to contribute to these offerings.  But Paul has learned that the Corinthians, who were wealthy, had been working on this for a year, but still, their offering was not ready.  So Paul challenges the Corinthians to make good on their promise.

About the time Paul and his companions were getting ready to make their way south from Macedonia to Corinth, Paul got news from Titus that a group of false teachers–whom Paul describes as false teachers and false apostles, and agents of Satan himself–were teaching a false gospel, a false Jesus, and a false Holy Spirit.  Paul responds with a fair bit of righteous anger by adding four additional chapters to his letter–chapters 10-13 of 2 Corinthians.  Paul has had enough of the Corinthian apathy toward the Christian life and doctrine, especially among those who continue in sexual sin and idolatrous practices, and who have been won over by these men who are doing everything in the power to undermine Paul and who seek to replace him.

This prompted Paul’s “Fool’s Speech” (2 Corinthians 11:21b-12:14)–a masterpiece of apostolic rhetoric.  In the closing verses of this letter–our text for this episode–Paul informs them he is coming to Corinth for the third time.  He does so in a manner which has the tone of an exasperated mother telling her disobedient children, “wait till your father gets home.”  Well, Paul is an exasperated father returning to a church he founded, and ready to settle things once and for all.  He hopes for the best, but is fully prepared to deal with an apathetic church which has tolerated agents of Satan for far too long in their midst.  The Corinthians have been warned.  “Your apostle is coming home.”  Time to put a stop to their bad behavior!

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

I am hard at work preparing new episodes.  In this brief introductory podcast episode, I hope to whet your whistle as I speak to the importance of this epistle, reveal some of the issues I will be addressing in the upcoming season, and give future listeners a homework assignment.

I am really looking forward to getting underway and I hope you are too.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Paul’s “Fool’s Speech” is a masterpiece in ancient rhetoric.  Under constant criticism from false teachers and apostles who thought of themselves wiser and superior to Paul, the apostle responds to their accusations by taking on the role of a fool.  These men are braggarts who regard Paul as weak and ineffective.  They see themselves as vastly superior to the apostle.  

Rather than respond in kind, Paul offers a bit of bragging of his own.  But instead of boasting about his own accomplishments (which are far greater than anything the false teachers claim)–he will play the fool and exalt in his weaknesses.  This is how he has been portrayed by those seeking to undermine his role in the Corinthian church.  Okay, so he will take on the role they’ve assigned to him.  Paul will boast, but not in his strength.  Instead, He will boast in  his weakness.  In doing so he will expose the false apostles for what they are–men who think the gospel is about power, success, and overcoming all the difficulties of life.  And in playing the fool, Paul will also remind the Corinthians of their own foolishness in listening to such men with their false gospel, false Jesus, and false Holy Spirit.

In this remarkable speech Paul gives us a list of the incredible suffering which he has endured for the cause of Christ and the sake of the gospel.  He has faced all sorts of physical danger–from near drowning, to being stoned and beaten nearly to the point of death.  He’s been reviled by both Jews and Gentiles.  He has taken great risks in his 10,000 miles of travel and suffered all sorts of physical deprivation and danger as a result.  He’s borne the weight of worrying about the new churches–the fruit of his Gentile mission.  He’s spent many a sleepless night.  And all the while the false teachers seek a life of ease and luxury while exploiting the Corinthian’s foolishness in giving them free reign in the congregation.  In playing the fool, Paul exposes the false teachers for who and what they are, as well as rebuke the Corinthians for being foolish enough to listen to them.

We also find several important biographical gems in Paul’s speech.  The first is a catalogue of Paul’s trials and tribulations just mentioned.  But we also find Paul’s account of his vision of the third heaven–that which he sees cannot be put into words.  Paul is prevented from attempting to do so.  What he saw he cannot reveal.  But since such a vision carries with it the possibility of fostering pride, Paul was given an unidentified “thorn in the flesh” to remind him of his weakness, where his real power is to be found.  Paul repeatedly asked for this thorn to be taken away, and each time, the Lord’s answer was “no,” my grace is sufficient for you.  We learn much here about which otherwise we would not know.  And we are reminded yet again that weakness is Paul’s secret weapon.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

After completing the first 9 chapters of the letter we know as 2 Corinthians, and even as he was preparing to leave Macedonia and head south to Corinth, Paul received word from Corinth that a group of men whom he describes as false teachers and false apostles were wreaking havoc in the church.  Not good news, and certainly a cause for immediate action.  In Paul’s estimation, these men were the agents of Satan who deceitfully disguises himself as an angel of light.  As his agents, these men were able to do their master’s bidding, disguising themselves as servants of righteousness, taking credit for the work done by Paul, and all the while undermining his efforts and seeking to divide Paul from the church he had founded through the proclamation of the apostolic gospel of Christ crucified.

Although criticizing Paul’s speaking abilities and less than imposing presence, their real crime was introducing a false gospel, another Jesus, and another Holy Spirit–a heretical departure from what Paul had proclaimed.  The true gospel (which had been revealed to Paul by the Lord himself), the true Jesus (who had appeared to Paul and commissioned him to his apostolic office as the apostle to the Gentiles), and the true Holy Spirit (who gave life to Paul’s preaching of Christ and him crucified) were replaced by counterfeits.  The goal of the false teachers was to undermine Paul’s office and authority so that they would have a free hand to teach their distorted gospel, false Jesus, and false Holy Spirit while displacing Paul’s role in Corinth.  These men and their names, as well as the specifics of their false gospel have been lost to history, but Paul’s warnings to the Corinthians and rebuke of these false teachers stands across time.

Satan never seems to weary of distorting the gospel and creating false doctrine just as he did in Corinth.  He was a liar from the beginning and remains so to this day.  In warning the Corinthians of his efforts, Paul is warning us.  By identifying a false gospel, a false Jesus, and a false Holy Spirit, Paul is warning Christians of the methods used by Satan and his minions to disguise his intentions and his agents.  No doubt these men were refined orators, addressed the issues of life in a way which appealed to Greco-Roman pagans, and they had been welcomed in the congregation.  But Paul exposes their master, their false teaching, and their methods.  How could the Corinthians allow themselves to be taken in by such men?

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Paul is in Macedonia preparing to head south to Corinth.  So far, he has written to the Corinthians about his office and authority and he has encouraged them to wrap up their efforts to collect an offering to be sent to the struggling church in Jerusalem.  The Corinthians have been a difficult bunch for Paul, but when he wraps up the letter we know as in 2 Corinthians in chapter 9 he is both joyful and confident that the Corinthians understand his office and role in the apostolic churches.

But then Paul gets news which can only be described as infuriating.  A number of men–apparently Jews claiming to have the blessing of the Jerusalem church, yet who use Greek rhetorical gimmicks, and who brag about visions, revelations, and who claim to have performed miracles–have infiltrated the Corinthian church in his absence.  Paul is understandably upset and the apostolic gloves come off.  He describes these men as false teachers and apostles who preach a different gospel, a different Jesus, and a different Holy Spirit than he has taught the Corinthians.  He even identifies them as agents of Satan.  How can the Corinthians be so foolish and gullible?  We can only imagine Paul’s frustration with these people.  R. C. Sproul’s words come to mind here–”what is wrong with you people?!”

So before Paul returns to Corinth, he adds chapters 10-13 to what he thought was his completed letter.  He will send Titus and the others south, while he wraps up his remaining business in Macedonia.  Unlike the specious charges raised against him by the false teachers and gospel peddlers, Paul will demonstrate that he is every bit as tough in person as he is in his letters–a charge which has been leveled against him by the false apostles.  He will challenge these agents of Satan and their false gospel by reminding them that divine warfare is conducted in the power of the Holy Spirit (not grounded in the flesh as these men were doing) and that Paul’s gospel can destroy all lofty opinions and take every thought captive to the knowledge and Lordship of Christ.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Paul expressed concern that the Corinthian church would not have their offering ready upon his upcoming visit to Corinth.  As we saw last time, this offering had two important purposes.  The first was that there was a genuine need in Jerusalem as a result of an extended famine.  Gentile churches in Macedonia and Achaia were spared from the famine and had the means to send a significant gift to the struggling church in Jerusalem.  The second reason this mattered was that once the debate over justification had been settled at the Jerusalem Council, Jewish Christians accepted Gentile believers as their brothers and sisters–but there was still tension between the two groups who had a long and mutual history of distrust.  An offering from Gentile Christians during a time of great need in the mother church would go a long way to alleviate these tensions.

But as we read in chapter 9–a continuation of the previous section of 2 Corinthians–it became clear that although the Corinthians planned to collect such an offering previously, they never followed through on their promise to contribute.  Paul was in Macedonia when word came from Corinth that the offering was not ready.  Apparently, Paul’s critics and opponents in Corinth raised questions about both Paul’s integrity and the true purpose of the offering.  Meanwhile, Paul had been telling the Macedonians (literally boasting) that the Corinthians promised to do likewise.  The Macedonians gave beyond their means assuming the Corinthians would do the same.  The Corinthians hadn’t yet given at all.  This was shameful and embarrassing to all concerned.

In chapter 9, Paul discusses the proper motives behind Christian charity.  He does away with the tithe and reminds his readers that Christians are to give as much as they can–if they can do so freely and joyfully.  He tells the Corinthians that Christians do not “give to get”–no prosperity gospel here.  Rather they are to give what they can when there is a genuine need.  The model for such giving is God’s grace as manifest in the cross of Jesus Christ, the proof that God loves us and cares for us.  Christian giving does not appease an angry god (as the pagans taught), it does not ensure that we’ll prosper financially or regain health (as the prosperity gospelers claim), and giving is always to be done simply because it is good to give–especially to those in need.  While there is a spiritual blessing for the cheerful giver, the Christian offering is but an act of gratitude in response to the inexpressible gift God has given to us in the person of his son. 

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

About the time Paul began his second missionary journey, a serious famine swept through Palestine–greatly impacting the Jerusalem church.  Those who lived in the region knew how serious such things could be and so they prepared for it–stockpiling grain, spices, and animal feed, etc.  But as soon as a church was organized in Jerusalem–after Pentecost–Jewish Christians found themselves cut off from the synagogue and its well-established relief system.  Now on their own, the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem were apparently suffering horribly and were in desperate need of relief–specifically funds to buy food and supplies locally.

Tensions between Jewish Christians and recent Gentile converts to Christianity were apparent from the moment the gospel spread into Gentile regions–as indicated during the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15).  At that council, the church renounced the Judaizers and affirmed that God had blessed Paul’s efforts to take the gospel into Gentile regions–which began in earnest after the Macedonian vision (Acts 16:9).  Paul planted churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, and Corinth.  While these new churches aided and encouraged each other, Paul understood that if the Gentile churches–who had means–took an offering for the Jerusalem church, it would go a great way toward helping fellow Christians in genuine need.  It would also de-escalate the worry and anxiety that Jews felt toward Gentiles who were until quite recently godless pagans and often persecutors of the Jewish people.

When Paul arrived in Macedonia, he tells us that there was some unspecified serious trouble and that he would strive to get things cleared up before he traveled south to Corinth.  Despite the troubles in the churches in Macedonia, they had taken up a surprisingly generous offering for the Jerusalem church–so much so that it was a major sacrifice, even beyond their means, which Paul describes as an act of grace.  Now he gets word from Titus that the Corinthians (who had been collecting a similar offering for a year) and had not followed through with their collection.  As a congregation they were far better off materially than the Macedonians, but were so distracted by divisions, the subterfuge of false apostles and other matters, the offering had not been finalized.  In chapters 8-9 of 2 Corinthians, Paul addresses this matter head-on.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

When Paul left Ephesus to visit Corinth in what is known as the “painful visit,” he became the object of a personal attack from an unnamed party.  This was bad enough, but what made the matter worse was the fact that the Corinthians had done little if anything to support the apostle.  This forced Paul to send the so-called “severe letter,” the text of which is lost to us.  We may not have the letter, but we know the effects it had upon the congregation because they are explained to us in chapter 7 of 2 Corinthians.  In the severe letter, Paul called upon the Corinthians to discipline the party who attacked him and caused so much disruption in the Corinthian church.  It is also implied that he addressed the fact that some of the Corinthians were still engaging in practices which were not consistent with their profession of faith in Christ–sexual immorality and pagan idolatry.

Paul was forced to wait for word from Corinth to learn of the letter’s impact.  Apparently he was on pins and needles until Titus brought word of the letter’s impact.  Titus’s report gave Paul joy and comfort, especially when he learned that the letter brought about the desired result–“godly sorrow,” which he contrasts with “worldly sorrow.”  The latter is the disappointment of failing to attain worldly things, while the former produced a  sense of grief within the congregation that they had not done the right thing and needed to make things right.  As difficult as this was for all concerned, the “severe letter” led to the repentance of the Corinthians, which was the best possible result.  

Once Paul learned of the outcome, there was a great sense of relief that the Corinthians stepped up and did what was required.  Therefore, when Titus brought news of this to Paul, both he and Paul were greatly comforted by this circumstance.  Paul is now able to boast both in Titus’s work in Corinth, as well as in his own efforts in dealing with this issue.  He can boast that the Corinthians were doing the right thing as difficult as that was.  Paul had to confront the Corinthians–which required a painful visit and a severe letter.  But things have changed.  Now he can boast about them.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Paul continues his defense of his apostolic ministry and office.  In chapter 6, verses 3-10, he lays out an incredible catalog of those hardships which he has endured so as to preach the gospel, along with evidence of how God has sustained both Paul and his Gentile mission throughout each of these difficult trials.  He has been slandered and praised and has experienced just about every possible human emotion along the way.  He is not bragging as his opponents are doing, but pointing out the ways in which God has enabled him to conduct a ministry faithful to the gospel as centered in the cross of Christ and the message of the reconciliation of the holy God to sinners.  None of the false teachers and braggarts in Corinth have such a track record of faithfulness.

Paul lets the Corinthians know that he has no secret agenda, nor is he withholding anything from them as their father in the faith.  But he does regard them as children in need of instruction and warning.  He challenges them to consider what it means to be numbered among the people of God.  The Corinthians are to be careful not to ally themselves with those so-called Christians who claim to be believers, but whose conduct shows them to be otherwise.  Paul also reminds the Corinthians not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers since Christians compose the temple of the Lord as indwelt by his Spirit.  The Corinthians are to break all ties to paganism and separate themselves from it.

As the living temple of the Lord, Christians are to strive to demonstrate godliness and holiness of life which reflects their status before God.  As is his practice, Paul distinguishes between the imperative mood (what believers are in Christ) and the imperative (how their conduct should reflect the fact that they are the temple of the living God), and as such are to avoid the defilement of the body typical of Greco-Roman paganism–such as sexual immorality and idolatry.  Christians are to strive to bring holiness to completion–part of which is to embrace Paul as an apostle of Jesus Christ, just as he accepts them as those for whom he cares deeply.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

I am reluctant to say that one portion of Scripture is more important than others.  But there are biblical passages packed with theological content and which have stirred much debate among the people of God across time, as does our text for this episode, 2 Corinthians 5:14-6:2.  In this section, Paul lays out what might just be the big picture thesis statement for Paul’s Gentile mission–and perhaps even for the entire New Testament–1 Corinthians 5:19- “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”  Christ’s redemptive mission is made clear–he came to save sinners, not help us become better people nor transform culture.  He also gave to the church our marching orders–preach the message of reconciliation, the basis for all Christian hope–the knowledge that God is no longer angry with us.

Reconciliation is an important matter for Paul.  The term refers to removing the ground of hostility between two parties so that they might be reconciled.  In this case, the human race, fallen in Adam, is estranged from the holy God because of the guilt of our sins.  But Paul’s emphasis falls upon the fact that we have been reconciled to God through the saving work of Christ.  This raises questions about the nature and extent of the atonement–a major point of contention between Calvinists and those who hold to some version of a universal atonement.  How can Calvinists affirm that Christ died for the elect only when Paul says Jesus died for the world?  But then how can those holding to a universal atonement (as do Arminians) affirm that Christ’s death does not avail for all those for whom he died?  People can and do perish eternally (on this view), after Christ has died for them.  We’ll discuss the debate over the nature and extent of the atonement in this episode because our text raises these important questions.

A second issue raised by Paul is eschatology.  His “two Adams” doctrine (cf. Romans 5:12-21) and his eschatology of new creation culminating in a day of final judgment is set out in these verses.  In Paul’s federal or representative categories, Adam represents the entirety of the human race (all), while Christ represents those truly in the new covenant (for our sake).  Paul ties the new creation to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (v. 17) and sees it as a present reality to be fully realized on the day of salvation, when our Lord Jesus returns to raise the dead, judge the world, and usher in the fullness of new creation–a new heaven and earth.  This leaves no room for a future millennial age as many assume.

When Paul speaks of a favorable time before the day of salvation, he’s referring to the mission of the church as assigned here.  Christians are ambassadors for God, and are given the assignment of taking the message of reconciliation (the cross of Christ) to the ends of the earth.  Paul’s instructions not only define the church’s mission and evangelistic endeavors, but he also defines the church’s message– “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.”  Any message proclaimed by the church other than that specifically assigned by Paul will inevitably reflect pagan influences such as those against which the Corinthians found themselves struggling.  We are not to be gospel-peddlers, but preachers of Christ and him crucified!

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

C. S. Lewis brought a biblical expression from Paul into the broader evangelical world in his influential 1941 sermon “The Weight of Glory,” based upon 2 Corinthians 4:17.  Lewis points out that glory, as used by Paul, is a not a ‘flimsy” thing, but something substantial and abiding.  Unlike the shadows of affliction, the denseness of heavenly glory is something real and solid.  Since his sermon was widely read and discussed, Lewis made the phrase “the weight of glory” one of the most significant and well-known themes in 2 Corinthians, along with other well-known phrases from Paul, such as “jars of clay” and “he made him who knew no sin to be sin.”  The former is Paul’s description of human weakness (which we covered last time), while the latter is tied to Paul’s discussion of Christ’s reconciling work upon the cross–a matter which we will address next time (2 Corinthians 5:21).

If our bodies are mere jars of clay or tents, as Paul puts it, then our outer selves (our bodies) are destined to grow old and eventually fail–as a clay jar crumbles and as a tent wears out.  Paul uses Greek categories (which his audience would understand) to speak of an inner and outer self, yet without the dualism typical of Platonic philosophy.  Paul sees such things through the lens of Christian eschatology–this age and the age to come, as well as through the categories of seen (our current existence) and the unseen (our heavenly existence).  The unseen remains just over the horizon where we cannot see nor experience it until we enter the Lord’s presence.

While we experience all sorts of afflictions and troubles in this life, Paul’s point in our text for this episode (2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10) is that our inner self is simultaneously being renewed in anticipation of the weight of glory–even as our outer self wastes away.  Despite what Paul has been through in his dealing with the Corinthians, the difficulties he has faced throughout the Gentile mission must be seen in light of the glory yet to come.  Since the Christian knows that our faith is grounded in the fact of Christ’s cross and empty tomb, so the Christian hope is immediate entrance upon death into the presence of God (ensured by the indwelling Holy Spirit) followed by our own resurrection from the dead at the end of the age.  So even as we live this life in the midst of death, we anticipate the “weight of glory” yet to come since we are given a foretaste even now through the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

In chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians, Paul addresses a subject no one likes or wants to talk about–the frailty and weakness of the human body.  We have all seen images of great athletes with robust and fit bodies–the Greeks and Romans idolized the human body in their art and sculpture.  But think of those magnificent bodies at their peak (say in their 20-40s) in contrast to those instances where we see the same person much older–with weight gain, joint and muscle deterioration, baldness, crepey skin and wrinkles, and the onset of illnesses and various maladies.  That is what Paul is getting at here.  We are all “jars of clay” destined to die.  This is the inevitable outcome of Adam’s fall into sin.  

Given his experience as an apostle, preaching the cross of Christ (as unpopular a message as one can find in the ancient world), Paul knows what it is like to suffer for Christ’s sake, as well as sacrifice his own body and health in the service of Christ’s church.  Paul is not a masochist nor a whiner.  But he has suffered greatly for the cause of Christ, especially in his work in Corinth–a church where many now belittle his work because of his physical weakness.  We get hints in this letter of the emotional toll this took on Paul, as well as the impact of illness and bodily trauma.  Paul recounts these matters to explain to the Corinthians why things have taken the course they have.  

Paul is not a stoic who strives to “keep calm and carry on.”  He is not a peddler of God’s word.  Paul trusts in God’s providence through the power of the resurrected Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit to bring about deliverance from the source of all of these problems–human sin.  Paul reminds the Corinthians (and us) that eternal things are indeed ultimately far more important than temporal things.  The cross is a divinely-revealed message which speaks to these ultimate concerns, whereas Greek and Roman paganism is a mere figment of the sinful human imagination and does not–indeed cannot.  In fact, Paul attributes the latter to the work of Satan–the blinder of minds and the thief of souls. 

In response to the challenges he faces in Corinth, Paul does not stress fitness, diet, supplements, or exercise as we are apt to do and which are, no doubt, important to our quality of life.  Knowing that bodily frailness will eventually overcome us all–Paul directs the Corinthians (and us) to the sure and certain hope of the resurrection and entrance into the glory of God.  We may be afflicted and suffer now, but the glories of Christ and eternal life in his presence is our future.  

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

As Paul finds himself facing a serious situation with challenges to his apostolic authority and attacks upon his person and reputation, he defends himself and his apostolic office by pointing to God’s saving work among the once pagan Corinthians.  Through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit, the believers among the Corinthians now have hearts of flesh through which they have become “letters from Christ.”  This is not only proof of the effectiveness of God’s work among them through the labors of the apostle Paul, but as the apostle will go on to spell out this is a sure sign of the superiority and glories of the new covenant–something the old covenant can never match.

Paul draws three important contrasts in chapter 3 of 2 Corinthians.  First, he explains the glories of the new covenant which makes it vastly superior to the old which it has superceded.  Second, Paul contrasts the flesh and the Spirit, in which the distinction between the law and gospel is made explicit.  Third, Paul draws out the superiority of Christ to Moses by illustrating the fading glory of the old covenant.  In making these contrasts, Paul explains how properly understanding the course of redemptive history is one of the key features of his apostolic ministry through which hearts of stone are transformed into hearts of flesh.  None of the false teachers and opponents of Paul can make such a claim.  Their self-aggrandizing efforts to undo the work that God has done in their midst through the labors of Paul is nothing but a dead end and can do nothing to transform the sinful human heart.

At the end of chapter 3, Paul discusses the glory upon Moses’s face as recounted in Exodus 34.  While Moses was forced to veil his face because the Israelites were terrified after Moses had been in the presence of YHWH, Paul described how that fading glory actually reveals the shortcomings of the old covenant and that as a result the hearts of the Israelites were hardened.  But the work of the Holy Spirit under the new covenant takes away the need for veiling as required after Moses was given the law at Sinai.  Under the new covenant, our faces are unveiled as we are transformed unto glory in anticipation of being in God’s presence through the work of the Spirit under the new covenant.   

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

But as we have come to expect of him, Paul takes the high road.  As the founder and spiritual father of this congregation, he will not let the situation get out of hand.  He will defend himself and explain his current circumstance.  He begins by calling God as his witness so that everyone understands that Paul is a truth-teller and not an excuse maker.  As he explains, he did not come to Corinth because he did not want a repeat of his previous “painful visit,” which he feared would only bring additional stress to the congregation and greater distance from himself.  It grieves Paul to have to say as much, but since the matter has caused so much pain, it was best not to come then.  Since the Corinthians have disciplined the offending party, and since he had apparently repented and was restored to fellowship, this opens the door for Paul to make his promised trip to Corinth after visiting Macedonia.  Meanwhile, there have been many tears shed and if the Corinthians have forgiven the offender, Paul has too.

Paul explains that his plans for his visit evolved due to the ever-changing circumstances in Asia Minor, including his missed connection with Titus–a matter of great frustration to Paul, who pressed on to Macedonia.  Using the image of the triumphal procession led by ancient rulers–including the Roman Caesars–Paul speaks of himself as a servant in the royal train of Jesus Christ.  As a great leader ensures his presence is manifest in a fragrant scent covering the stench of his defeated foes, who march in chains and filth at the end of the processional, so too Paul speaks of the gospel as the most pleasing aroma, covering the stench of human sin.  Paul flips the royal image so as to remind the Corinthians, that he is captive to the king of kings and Caesar’s lord, Jesus Christ, and no amount of flower petals and incense can match the wonderful aroma of the gospel.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For those of us who regard Paul as one of the primary figures in all of the New Testament, it is hard to comprehend a time when the apostle was under siege to the extent we find in 2 Corinthians.  His authority was being challenged, and he was being compared to men whose rhetorical ability and charismatic gifts surpassed his own.  Paul must open his letter to the Corinthians by defending both his apostolic office and authority against a group of false teachers who had infiltrated the church in Paul’s absence.  The strained relations between Paul and the Corinthians must be remedied and the Corinthians need to deal with the presence of the false teachers who have done so much harm during Paul’s absence.  Paul reminds the Corinthians that the Lord draws near in times of suffering.  In fact, God uses suffering to further his purposes for Paul as well as the Corinthians.  In the midst of it all, God is indeed “the God of all comfort.” 

Paul recounts his difficult time in Asia Minor (specially while in Ephesus) facing death at the hands of an angry mob.  The apostle felt as though the sentence of death was hanging over his head, but this forced him to rely not on himself or anything within his power, but to instead trust God to deliver him from such deadly peril.  In turn, Paul directs the Corinthians to do as he had done–seek the God of all comfort–and trust that he will turn around the current situation in Corinth so that the church continues its witness to the pagans around them.  Paul even appeals to the Corinthians to pray to this effect since this is God’s means of blessing them while at the same time enabling Paul to continue his work.

Paul addresses the importance of boasting in the right way and for the right reasons–so as to oppose those in Corinth who were boasting about personal achievement, status, a false spirituality, and who thought little of Paul by way of comparison.  Paul hopes that the Corinthians understand that his conscience is clear.  He has done those things he has said he will do.  He has done nothing for personal gain, but only that which furthers the gospel and which brings blessings to God’s people.  To see this work continue, the Corinthians must reject worldly wisdom but look toward the grace of God which is revealed solely in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

2 Corinthians just may well be the most difficult of all of Paul’s letters.  2 Corinthians assumes that the reader has a basic understanding of the geography of the Greco-Roman world (a map really helps), as well as some understanding of the ongoing situation in the Corinthian church which leads Paul to compose this letter (the fourth in a series of letters which Paul has sent to the church in Corinth).  To get the most out of this letter, you need to get up to speed with its background and purpose. 

But don’t let this keep you from taking the time to dig in with us was we strive to get to the heart of the letter, which is filled with meaty theology and practical application.  Paul’s reason for writing amounts to a defense of his ministry and apostolic office.  We learn a great deal about Paul as a person and the history of his Gentile mission in 2 Corinthians.  As he prepares to return to Corinth, Paul explains his actions and motives including revealing his secret weapon–he is strongest when he is weak, because then he can do nothing else but count upon the mercy of God and the power of the gospel.  Humanly speaking, Paul has much to boast about but he directs his readers back to the proper reason for boasting–to give God the glory and honor he alone deserves.  

We’ll also find in 2 Corinthians more of Paul’s robust Trinitarian theology.  In 2 Corinthians 13:14, Paul offers one of the most definitive Trinitarian declarations in all the New Testament.  “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”  Paul does much to explain the saving work of Jesus Christ in reconciling sinners unto the Father, as well as discussing the Holy Spirit’s role in God’s redemptive purposes.  Paul is also clear about fallen human nature.  We are as fragile as jars of clay and our bodies are mere tents until we are made alive by the Father, through the Son, and in the Spirit.  There is much in 2 Corinthians about the glory of the new covenant, and the fading glory of the old, as Paul gives the Corinthians yet another lesson in understanding the course of redemptive history.

In the closing chapters, Paul lowers the boom on those whom he calls “false” apostles, men who are doing the devil’s work through teaching another Jesus and another gospel.  He also identifies men he calls “super” apostles whose eloquent speech and style are vastly superior to Paul, and may have some sort of charismatic ministry, which they used not to glorify God, but to undermine Paul and drive a wedge between the apostle and the saints in Corinth.  Paul will have none of it.

So even though 2 Corinthians can be tough going at first, it is very well worth our time and study.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

When we wrapped up season three (our deep dive into 1 Corinthians), Paul was in Ephesus responding to reports from Chloe’s family about troubling things going on back in Corinth.  About the same time, Paul received a delegation from Corinth asking a series of questions about various matters which were disputed or required Paul’s instruction.  The Corinthians were a divided church, struggling with many of the issues one would expect of a new church in a very pagan environment with all its temptations and distractions.

Paul responded to these troubling reports in the letter we know as I Corinthians.  At the close of the letter, Paul indicated that he plans to come to Corinth as soon as he could and that in the meantime he would send them Timothy to help out.

Fast forward six months or so.  Paul has sent Timothy to Corinth.  Paul has sent Titus to Corinth.  Paul has visited Corinth himself and it did not go well–an event now immortalized as the “painful visit.”  Things had gotten so bad that Paul even sent what is known as the “painful letter”– the contents of which have been lost to us, but which called for the Corinthians to take steps necessary to remedy its ills.  Although the Corinthians did what Paul had asked of them–they disciplined an individual who challenged Paul’s authority in such a way as to do great harm to the whole church–the relationship between Paul and the Corinthians remained strained.  His critics tried to take advantage of the situation. 

Paul made his way from Ephesus to Macedonia and was preparing to head south to Corinth for yet another visit–one he hoped would not be as painful as his previous visit.  In the letter we now know as 2 Corinthians, Paul writes to defend both his apostolic office and his Gentile mission, and to discuss both his travel plans and the offering being collected for the church in Jerusalem.  But after composing much of the letter (chapters 1-9), Paul got additional news that false teachers and false apostles were causing havoc in the church, and so Paul adds four very pointed chapters (10-13) in which he rebukes the false teachers and those foolish enough to be taken in by them.  Yes, he will return to Corinth and yes, he retains both his apostolic office and authority despite his detractors in Corinth.  And no, he will not let his detractors undermine his mission to preach the gospel.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Episode 29 of Season Three of the Blessed Hope Podcast brings our deep dive into 1 Corinthians to its conclusion.  As we come to the end of our study of this remarkable letter and take a moment to look back at the ground we have covered, it quickly becomes apparent how truly important this letter is for those of us living in the 21st century in the midst of an increasingly pagan and hostile culture.  There is, perhaps, no letter in the New Testament which speaks as directly to the pressing issues we face as Christians as does 1 Corinthians. 

Paul’s final words to the Corinthians are both poignant and straightforward.  The Corinthians are people Paul knows well, yet who are struggling with the challenges of a new church in the midst of a city like Corinth–a thriving multi-national seaport, thereby ensuring that the temptations of the flesh are ever present.  So too, Corinth was a thriving center of pagan religions and practices ensuring an inevitable collision between Christianity and pagan religion and philosophy.  Corinth was a difficult place for a church to flourish, but of great strategic significance to Paul’s Gentile mission.

Paul concludes this letter by making it clear that he has not abandoned them, that he is sending help, he explains the situation regarding Timothy and Apollos, and he describes his plans to return when the Lord wills.  The apostle details the offering he hopes to send from Corinth back to the Jerusalem church in order to provide relief during a severe famine.  He extends a series of commands regarding the things which the Corinthians are to do in the meantime, before concluding with the apostolic benediction–Maranatha, Lord come!  This is indeed a truly remarkable letter and should be studied carefully in churches today.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

At the end of chapter 15 of First Corinthians, Paul describes what is truly the greatest triumph in the long history of the human race–Jesus Christ’s glorious victory over death and the grave.  Our greatest enemy (death) was defeated that first Easter when Jesus was raised bodily from the dead as the firstfruits of a great harvest yet to come.  And when Jesus returns on the last day, the trumpet will sound, the dead in Christ will be raised imperishable, and his victory will become ours.  Just as Jesus was raised in a glorified body of flesh and bones, so too shall we.  But what will such a body be like?  How is it both the same, yet different from the bodies we presently have?  Paul answers this and related questions in his defense of Jesus Christ’s bodily resurrection from the dead in the last part of 1 Corinthians 15.

Paul speaks of a spiritual body suited for eternal life in the presence of the holy God.  It will be the same kind of body Jesus possessed after his resurrection.  Such a body is unlike our present existence, in that once transformed, this body will reflect the glories of the new creation, the age to come, and the final consummation.  It will be a body free from sin, sickness, and death.  We will be raised to experience the unspeakable glories of the new heaven and earth, a renewed creation, and live forever in the presence of the Lord.  Although we see dimly now, on that day we shall see face to face.  We will experience the wonder of eternal life and receive all the blessings of our promised inheritance.

Paul ends this chapter in triumph, mocking death.  When Jesus returns on the last day, we shall be instantly changed (in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye) and given that resurrection body which Paul describes as a transformation from the perishable (and therefore certain to die) to an imperishable body which is suited for eternal life.  The sting of death gives way to the glorious victory earned and won for us by Jesus himself.  As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 15:57, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Imagine the shock you would feel upon hearing news that the body of Jesus had been found in a tomb somewhere near the city of Jerusalem and the remains were positively identified as those of the central figure of the New Testament.  What would your reaction be?  Would it even matter?  Would you still call yourself a Christian?  While no one is going to find the body of Jesus in a tomb near Jerusalem because Jesus was raised from the dead that first Easter, nevertheless, the question is an important one because it pushes us to face a more fundamental question.  How do we know that Christianity is true?  Why are you a Christian?  And why does any of this really matter since faith is supposedly a subjective and merely personal thing often disconnected from a factual basis?

Paul’s response to Corinthian skepticism and confusion regarding our Lord’s resurrection is to declare that Jesus has been raised, bodily, from the dead.  We know this to be the case because the evidence for it is overwhelming.  The tomb in which Jesus had been buried was empty despite the fact that a huge stone sealed the tomb’s entrance, and that the Romans placed a guard at the tomb.  We also know that Jesus was raised from the dead because the risen Lord appeared visibly to all the apostles, to over five hundred people at one time, and then finally to Paul, who considered himself completely unworthy of such an honor.  Paul not only appeals to the fact that he himself saw the resurrected Jesus while traveling on the road to Damascus, Paul also appeals to the fact that most of the five hundred people who saw Jesus were still alive–the implication being that the Corinthians knew who many of these people were, and that the events associated with the gospel were not only true, they were common knowledge.

In verses 20-28 of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul describes Christ’s resurrection as the firstfruits of a great harvest yet to come.  Death may have come through Adam, but Jesus (the second Adam) has been raised from the dead.  And not only has Jesus been raised from the dead, so will all those who trust in him–all those “in Christ.”  On the first Easter Sunday, Jesus defeated death and the grave, he destroyed our last and greatest enemy as death itself was vanquished, the new creation dawned, and we enter the final period of human history, awaiting our Lord’s return when all things are put in subjection under his feet.  He is risen!  He is risen indeed!

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

If someone walked up to you and asked, “What is the gospel?, what would you say?  If you cannot come up with the answer immediately, then please carefully consider what follows.  The definition is given us in a concise form by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3–5.  The gospel is called “good news” because it is the proclamation of a set of particular historical facts—Jesus suffered on a Roman cross, died as a payment for our sins, was buried, and then was raised from the dead by God after three days as proof that his death turned aside God’s wrath toward sinners.  And all this, Paul says, is in accordance with the Scriptures (the Old Testament).  The gospel is a nonnegotiable and fundamental article of the Christian faith.  To deny it is to reject the Christian faith.

When Easter rolls around, I often look at the flyers and social media from neighborhood churches to examine the sermon topics for Easter Sunday.  I am amazed and saddened by how many local churches virtually ignore the biblical emphasis on the empty tomb and the bodily resurrection of Jesus, which is both a fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith and an objective fact of history.  Instead, many churches focus on the so-called “Easter experience” of the apostles.  If the meaning of Easter is the experience and change of heart felt by Jesus’s apostles—who at first did not believe, but then later did so—then Easter is yet another experience that we can share with the early followers of Jesus.  For these folks, Easter is a time of new beginnings, a time to change our life’s course.  Sadly, it is not the account of a crucified savior raised from the dead who came to save us from our sins. 

But to remove the resurrection from ordinary history and proclaim it as an example to follow, or to downplay or ignore the fact that Jesus was crucified, dead, buried, and was then raised bodily to life for the forgiveness of our sins, robs the resurrection of any redemptive-historical and biblical significance.  The first Easter is not about an experience the apostles had in which we can share; rather, it is the apostles’s account of Jesus being raised bodily from the dead.  The empty tomb tells us that Jesus’s death was the payment for our sins, the new creation has dawned, and God has conquered our greatest enemy, death, by overturning the curse.  Easter is not an experience in which we share; the bodily resurrection of Jesus is both a fact of history and a biblical doctrine that we must believe.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

My first exposure to tongue-speaking did not go well.  In an “afterglow” service which followed a mid-week Bible study at an Orange County megachurch, a large number of the faithful remained after the study to “experience” the gifts of the Spirit, including the “gift of tongues.”  A young pastor took over from the Bible teacher and explained how to begin speaking in tongues.  He read several passages from Acts 2 and from 1 Corinthians 12-14 and told us that these verses were proof that the gift is “biblical,” “for today,” and enabled you to by-pass the clutter of the mind to commune with God “in the Spirit.”  He then told us, if you’d like to speak in tongues here’s what you do.  You start by saying “kitty, kitty, kitty,” until the Spirit took over and gave you your prayer language.  The room was suddenly filled with people speaking gibberish, swaying, acting as though under the influence, crying, and making contorted faces as they spoke.  I wasn’t having it, and quietly slipped out. 

Years later, after my biblical knowledge increased, I realized that the “afterglow” I witnessed that night was very much like what Paul was instructing the Corinthians not to do in the last half of 1 Corinthians 14.  There was no interpretation of any of these tongues, though several attendees did offer exhortations of their own utterances, but which very much sounded like Christianese made up on the fly.  Everyone spoke at once, and the whole room was filled with tongue-speakers, not merely two or three in order.  I was a Christian and still thought these people were crazy.  I can only imagine what an unbeliever would think.

Once TBN graced the airwaves (emanating from Orange County) tongue-speaking was now televised.  This time, tongue-speaking was not done in a worship service but was part of the regular programming and often conflated with predictive prophesy– “the Lord will do this or that, and heal this one or that one.”  The interpretation was almost always supplied by the tongue-speaker.  The low point came during a televised “anointing service” held at Oral Roberts University in which three older Word-Faith evangelists (Oral Roberts, Kenneth Hagin Sr. and T. L. Osbourn) anointed three younger Word-Faith evangelists (Kenneth Hagin Jr, Kenneth Copeland, and Richard Roberts).  Once anointed, the men acted as though in a drunken stupor, spoke in tongues (one of which sounded like the Cab Calloway’s riff from the Blues Brothers–scubity-do, scubity-do--scubity-do).  Not a known language.  A VHS recording of this made the rounds and to no one’s surprise, the universal assessment was “these people are crazy.”

This is why a study of Paul’s instructions to the churches on 1 Corinthians 14:20-40 about the proper use of prophesy and tongue-speaking is about as practical a matter as one can find.  Paul would have none of this.  Neither should we.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Speaking in tongues was causing chaos in the Corinthian church.  Tongue-speakers were speaking at the same time, and their tongues were not always interpreted as required by Paul.  Some acted as though tongues was the greatest of the gifts of the Spirit and were lording it over others who did not possess the gift.  Paul is also writing to correct the misguided (and pagan notion) that tongue-speaking was the manifestation of ecstatic religious experiences from which tongues spontaneously came forth.  Much of what he has written in chapters 12-14 has been to correct false Corinthian notions about the “spiritual,” informing the Corinthians that gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for the benefit of the recipient, but for the strengthening of the church.  These gifts enabled Christians to love one another, and equip officers and others in the church for the building up of the body of Christ.  Chapter 14 is the conclusion to Paul’s extended instructions about these matters.

But what exactly is “speaking in tongues?”  Is it a language known or unknown to the speaker?  Is it a heavenly or angelic language?  Paul disabused the Corinthians of that notion in chapter 13.  Is it some sort of ecstatic speech?  Are tongues an untranslatable utterance (divine gibberish) which must be interpreted by someone with the Spirit enabled gift of interpretation?  Given the inability of commentators across time to agree on just what exactly Paul is describing, we cannot be certain as to how the gift operated in the Corinthian church–especially since tongue speaking ceased in the churches by the mid-second century.  There are plausible theories, but I am not confident anyone really knows.  But then Paul does say, “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.  Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.”  So the matter cannot be dismissed.

What we can say for sure is that when someone has a private, subjective, religious experience and speaks forth an ecstatic utterance, that person cannot then appeal to the New Testament and claim that what they are doing is what Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 14.  Nor can they claim that their experience is how we ought to practice tongue-speaking today.  Instead, we work from biblical teaching about tongues to explain what tongue-speaking is and how we ought to utilize the gift in both public and private settings.  Paul assumes the Corinthians know what tongues is–they’ve seen it.  But since he does not explain in detail what this gift is, we should be cautious and charitable in our assessments. 

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Almost all peoples and cultures seem to have some sort of utopian dream–a world of universal peace, prosperity, and harmony.  John Lennon’s Imagine anyone?  The problem with all utopian visions is that ours is a fallen race.  Because we are a fallen race we all too often find ourselves divided along racial, socioeconomic, political, and theological lines.  Much like the citizens of first century Corinth, we too struggle to find true unity in a world rife with division of all sorts.  Because of human sin, the only way unity can be obtained is through force or coercion (“agree or else”), deception (like that of a false religion), or through a “kumbaya” unity (a superficial sentimentalism).  The bad news is there will be no earthly utopia this side of Christ’s second advent.  The good news is that God does provide us with a true unity based upon our common faith in Jesus Christ realized in the church through the person and work of the Holy Spirit.  And while this unity is imperfectly realized in this life, nevertheless, in Christ’s church, God takes a whole host of diverse and different people and baptizes them in the Holy Spirit into one body, the church of Jesus Christ.

The root problem in the Corinthian church is that although many have come to confess that “Jesus is Lord,” they struggle to stop thinking and acting like the pagans they once were.  Because factions have formed in the church, Paul must address the question of unity (that the body of Christ is one) while pointing out that the Holy Spirit gives a variety of gifts of the Spirit to the church’s members according to the will of God.  God creates both unity and diversity by baptizing his people in the Holy Spirit when they confess that Jesus is Lord.  He then signs and seals that baptism to believers and their children in Christian baptism.  Where the sign is present (water), so too we believe the reality is present (union with Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit).

Paul also must deal with the fact that many of the Corinthians thought possessing certain gifts of the Spirit was a sign of their own importance and status.  Paul corrects this misguided notion by connecting the “higher gifts” to God’s call of certain men to the offices of minister, elder, and deacon.  He must also remind them that all of the members of the church are given at least one gift, making the least of them (in the eyes of others) an essential member of the congregation with gifts which are important to the whole.  Every member and every gift they’ve been given is vital to Christ’s church
.

There may be no utopia this side of the Lord’s return, but Jesus does establish a new society in his church–one in which there is both unity (their confession that Jesus is Lord) and diversity (each possesses gifts of the Spirit).

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

One of the most divisive theological controversies of my lifetime was the charismatic movement with its stress upon baptism in the Holy Spirit as evident in speaking in tongues.  Whenever the charismatic renewal spread to a new church, it immediately divided the church into two camps–those who experienced what they claimed was a new work of the Holy Spirit which manifested itself in the speaking with tongues, and those who thought such a thing was demonic and who did everything in their power to stamp out the movement before it could spread.  Thankfully, that controversy has long since died down.  It amazes me that I am able to tackle this now with little if any sense of controversy.  What was once considered to be a very controversial subject is no longer–although we ought not allow the dormancy to  make us complacent.  These kinds of movements come in waves.

Throughout my years as a pastor, one of the most common questions from visitors and those checking out Christ Reformed Church was “do you think the gifts of the Spirit still operate today?”  That sort of question is almost always asked by those who think the gifts do still operate and then head for the door if you say something like, “the gifts of the Spirit ceased at the end of the apostolic age, or at the close of the Canon of Scripture.”  My answer often took inquirers by surprise: “Yes the gifts still operate today, but there are no more apostles.”  That was to say that the more sensational (dare I say “spectacular”) gifts, like miracles and healing, were tied to the apostolic office.  Once the Apostles gave way to ministers, elders, and deacons, these gifts were no longer normative in the church.  But, yes, God still gives spiritual gifts to his people to build up the church and in service of others.  A number of them are enumerated by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10.

As Paul takes up the next question put to him by the delegation from Corinth beginning in 1 Corinthians 12:1, he addresses the matter of spiritual things (the pneumata) and spiritual gifts (the charismata).  The apostle will do several things in the opening section of this chapter (vv.1-11)–he will address the Corinthian’s faulty view of spiritual things (often more pagan than Christian), as well as inform them of the nature, character, and proper use of spiritual gifts in the church.  These gifts are given to build up the body of Christ and enable believers to properly love one another.  The gifts were not given to allow some in the church to demonstrate their superior piety, their self-importance, or their willingness to disrupt the worship service.  The Corinthians must correct the abuses of these gifts and that starts with the affirmation that “Jesus is Lord.”

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

One of the saddest indicators of human sinfulness is found in the last half of 1 Corinthians 11.  The sacrament of Christian unity (the Lord’s Supper) had instead become the occasion for further division in the Corinthian church.  Paul laments that in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper the rich were exploiting the poor, the body of Christ was not properly being discerned, and the Supper was being celebrated in such an improper way that what was being done was not the Lord’s Supper and was actually doing more harm than good.

In this section of Paul’s Corinthian letter we find a description of how Christians in the apostolic age  were to celebrate the Supper in Christian worship.  Paul explains the words of institution given by Jesus just twenty years previously– “this is my body,” “this is my blood.”  The Lords Supper is the new covenant fulfillment of the Passover meal centering upon eating the bread and drinking the wine wherein the signs (the bread and wine) are taken as though they were the thing signified, (Christ’s body and blood).  And through faith what has been promised by Jesus, is actually received by his people.

Paul rebukes the Corinthians for the fiasco which the celebration of the Lord’s Supper had become, and he offers a number of common sense practical ways in which the Supper ought to be celebrated.  Each member was to partake, they were to discern the body of Christ, and the service was to be conducted in an orderly manner when the church assembled on the Lord’s Day.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

As a cosmopolitan city and home to many varieties of Greco-Roman paganism, Corinth was a cutting edge place for first century fashion and culture.  From what we know regarding the city’s ethos at the time, there was growing tension between traditional gender roles and a desire for women to express themselves in non-traditional ways long associated with polite Greco-Roman society.  One obvious way to show this quest for personal freedom was for a woman to wear her hair down (long and flowing) in public or during pagan sacrifices, and not put it up in a bun or wear the traditional head covering.  We think nothing about such things today, but for a woman to wear her hair down in public in Corinth was scandalous in Paul’s day.

This section of Paul’s Corinthian letter (the first half of chapter eleven) raises the question of style, fashion, and propriety in worship.  Should the Christian women in Corinth seek to follow those pushing the envelope by exposing their hair in public?  Paul’s answer is “no.”  Christian women are to dress and wear their hair in ways which reflect the doctrine of creation.  Adam was created first, so Christian men in Corinth were not to cover their heads in prayer or while prophesying, while women were to show submission to Christ and to their husbands by dressing modestly–in Greco-Roman culture that meant wearing your hair up or wearing a head covering when in public settings.

Paul could never envision a cultural situation such as our own where women are societal equals to men.  Although the particulars of first-century culture and clothing cannot be made to fit current trends–given advances of women’s status and modern fabrics and clothing, the general principle remains binding across time–Christians are to acknowledge the distinctions between men and women, and are to wear nothing in worship which might identify the wearer as a devotee of any sort of pagan religion.  For Paul, this means modesty in dress and in spirit.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

We’ve come to 1 Corinthians 10:14-11:1, as Paul wraps up his discussion of idolatry.  In the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, Christian believers drink the cup of blessing and eat the broken bread–described by Paul as a participation in Christ’s body and blood.  Since so many in Corinth were still hanging on to remnants of their pagan past, from what Paul says here it seems many were still attending both the Christian sacrament as well as pagan sacrifices.  To those claiming to worship Jesus but still engaging in pagan practices, Paul extends a very stern warning.  You cannot partake of Christ’s body and blood and still participate in pagan sacrifices.  If you do so, you will provoke the Lord to jealousy just as Israel did in the wilderness.   Paul is emphatic in his warning to the Corinthians–flee from idolatry or face the consequences. 

Paul reminds the Corinthians that since an idol is nothing, what benefit can people gain from eating at the pagan feast where sacrifices are offered to demons?  The apostle’s concern is that for Christians, the Lord’s Supper is a sacrament of unity–one cup, one bread, one body.  Christians all partake of the same elements together–bread and wine–as one body, which Paul describes as a participation in Christ’s body and blood.  How can members of Christ’s body still offer sacrifices to imaginary idols while professing faith in Christ?  They cannot.

In 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1, Paul deals with the very practical matter of buying meat or eating in another’s home.  How do you know whether what you are consuming has been used in a sacrifice to idols?  Paul offers a very practical solution–don’t ask.  If the source of the food is unknown then go ahead and eat without so much as a twinge of conscience.  But if you are told that the food had in fact been used in a pagan sacrifice, then do not eat it as a matter of conscience.  His conclusion is simple and profound, whatever you eat or drink, says Paul, do all to the glory of God.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

If you have ever wondered what it would be like for Paul to teach you how to read and understand the Old Testament in light of the coming of Jesus Christ, in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, the apostle does exactly that.  The birth of Israel stems from deliverance from their bondage in Egypt, followed by the Passover, and then the Exodus through the Red Sea before heading into the Sinai wilderness on their way to the promised land of Canaan.  For Paul, this is an important period in Israel’s history because it illustrates and foretells the future course of redemptive history–something with which all Christians (like those in Corinth) should be familiar. 

In this section of his Corinthian letter, Paul reinterprets all of these events in Israel’s history in light of the coming of Jesus and the dawn of a new exodus to the heavenly city.  Paul tells us that the exodus and Israel’s time in the wilderness is both an example and a warning to those in Corinth who seek to indulge their sinful urges, who seek to hang on to as much of their pagan past as they can, and who grumble at the fact that God calls them to leave behind any and all attraction to Greco-Roman paganism.

Paul realizes that the pagan temptation is great.  But as the Corinthians are warned to separate themselves from the sort of pagan revelry in which Israel engaged, then so too are we.  Unlike the ancient Israelites who remained Egyptians in their hearts, we must focus upon Christ and follow him as as he leads us through the wilderness of this present evil age to the glories of the age to come.  Jesus has promised to rescue us from the temptations we face, and tells us that he will never give us more than we can endure.  Jesus has given us his word and sacraments to sustain us, just as he provided Israel with water and the manna from heaven.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

If we were to find Paul’s notes for an upcoming lecture on “my philosophy of ministry,” we would probably find the words of 1 Corinthians 9:19–23,

"For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.  To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews.  To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.  To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.  To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.  I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings."

In this chapter, Paul defends his apostolic office and explains his methods and purposes to the Corinthians.  Recall that Paul had spent a fair bit of time in Corinth, but has been in Ephesus for several years.  During his time away, many in Corinth had fallen back into pagan ways and began challenging Paul’s authority and integrity.  One thing Paul must do as he addresses the various struggles facing the Corinthians is to remind them of his own calling to share the gospel with both Jew and Gentile.

Paul is an apostle who has seen the risen Lord.  Everything he has done has been to further the cause of Jesus Christ and the gospel.  Paul has consistently put the needs of others first and foremost–something which Paul also expects of the Corinthians.  Although entitled to financial support, Paul took nothing from them while in Corinth in order to set an example to the strong as to how they should treat the weak.  Paul is concerned to run the race and win the prize so that by all means he may win more to Christ.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

The church in Corinth was plagued by factions.  One source of division was ethnicity–the church was made up of Jews, Greeks, Romans, and likely a number of other nationalities.  Then there were the factions formed by church members who identified with Paul, Peter, or Apollos, as their favorite teachers.  There were also deep cultural divisions between the wealthy and the poor who found it difficult to socialize with one another even within the body of Christ.  But in this section of Paul’s Corinthian letter (chapter 8), we encounter yet another kind of division–that between the strong and the weak.

The strong were those who understood that if God created all things, then the idols invented by pagans were nothing but lifeless statues, with assorted trinkets and amulets, and pointless ceremonies and useless sacrifices.  There is no occult reality behind these images and the temples which housed them.  Therefore, why should Christians not be free to eat the leftover meat and food which the pagans sacrificed to their imaginary gods.  The weak, on the other hand, were those who had trouble understanding how any Christian could eat food that had come remotely near a pagan feast or temple–seeing such food as possessing an occult reality. 

Paul warns the strong (who are correct about the falsity of pagan religion) not to attempt to coerce the weak to violate their consciences, as that might destroy the faith of those (the weak) who have not yet advanced in their knowledge of the Christian faith sufficiently to leave such concerns behind.  Until the weak Corinthian Christians gain sufficient knowledge to dismiss paganism as the mere superstition which it is, Paul challenges the strong to put the weak first and give up the freedom to eat all foods.  In light of the harm the strong can bring upon those weak in faith, Paul tells the strong that just because they are free to eat all things, doesn’t mean that they should.  This is not about food but about the circumstances in which it is eaten.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

In 1 Corinthians 7:17-40, Paul teaches what I call the “you can’t unscramble eggs” doctrine.  What should a new Christian do when they come to faith in Jesus Christ?  Do they quit their current “secular” job to devote themselves full-time to Jesus Christ and to the work of ministry?  Should they rush into marriage to avoid the lusts of the flesh?  Or conversely, should they seek to end an engagement because the time of the end might be drawing near?  What about those widowed, single, or divorced?  Now that they are Christians, what are they to seek to do?  Paul tells them all to “stay put.”  What they’ve done, they’ve done.  And as he cautions them, when a crisis is at hand, that is not the time to make big changes.

Paul is addressing a congregation in the midst of serious difficulties of some sort–a regional famine or the consequences of the divisions the church was then facing.  Paul assumes his readers know to what he is referring, so he offers little clarification.  But what he does offer is wise advice for those bought by the blood of Jesus Christ.  Slaves ought not seek immediate freedom–in Christ they are free people.  Gentiles ought not seek to be circumcised–now in Christ, the old covenant sign has been replaced by baptism.  And for the time being, the unmarried ought not seek to get married–at least until the crisis has come to an end.

Paul tells the Corinthians to wait for the crisis in Corinth to be resolved before they make major life changing decisions.  Christians would be wise to wait for things to sort themselves out, and then make an informed and not a rash decision about significant events in their lives.  Paul’s instructions make plain that he’s not concerned with fixing all those things new converts may have done in the past, but rather with teaching them the traditions passed down so that they learn how to live the Christian life and become better able to move forward in their lives now set free from the guilt and power of sin.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Paul’s Gentile mission was a huge success.  A number of new churches were established throughout the eastern Mediterranean world–including fast growing churches in important cities such as Corinth, Thessalonica, and Ephesus.  But with the spread of the gospel into a previously unevangelized world dominated by Greco-Roman culture and religion, came a whole set of pastoral problems–problems which were not specifically addressed in the Old Testament or in the teaching of Jesus. 
 

A number of such questions surface in Corinth–as we have seen.  But one pressing matter facing the Corinthians is what should happen when one party to a marriage comes to faith in Jesus Christ, while the other spouse does not, creating a so-called “mixed-marriage.”  Should the believer leave or divorce the unbeliever if they refuse to convert to Christianity?  And what, exactly, is a Christian spouse’s status if their unbelieving spouse divorces them because of their new-found faith in Jesus Christ?  Must they remain single and celibate until the deserting spouse dies?

And an even bigger question arises.  What about the children of mixed marriages?  What is their standing in the church and what is their status before God?  Are they members of the covenant of grace, and therefore eligible for all of the benefits thereof, while assuming all the responsibilities of covenant membership?  Are they eligible to receive the sign and seal of that gracious covenant, which is baptism?

Paul answers these questions by appealing to the “holy” status of a partner to a mixed marriage and applying that same status to the children of such a union.  How can an unbeliever be said to be “holy.”  How can Paul affirm that of children who are born in original sin?  To make his case, Paul grounds this “holiness” in the Old Testament’s principle of covenant authority–the believing parent’s authority over those in the household and as seen in the five household baptisms found in the New Testament.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Sex and marriage were pressing issues in Corinth.  Gentiles who came to faith in Jesus Christ during Paul’s Gentile mission were learning the biblical sexual ethic for the first time.  Grounded in the creation order, the Ten Commandments, and the teaching of Jesus, it did not take long for the Corinthians to understand that sex was not merely a pleasurable bodily function, but biblical sexuality has a strong moral foundation.  That meant that much of the common sexual attitudes and practices of the Greco-Roman world were in direct conflict with Paul’s teaching regarding sexual ethics.
  

As these new Christians learned the teaching of Jesus, it was clear that Jesus limited sexual relations to marriage and taught that divorce was an illustration of fallen human nature.  The Corinthians also learned that Christians understand sex as a part of something much larger–the way in which God created things, and that God assigned sexual activity to marriage which was intended to be a lifelong commitment centered around the family.  It was difficult for the Corinthians to embrace Christian sexual ethics because they went against the grain of so much Corinthian culture and religion.  It is also hard to both unlearn something you’ve embraced all your life (pagan sexuality) and then learn a new way to think about sex and marriage–a view which at first glance seems quite restrictive.

In the first half of Paul’s Corinthian letter (chapters 1-6), the apostle is responding to distressing news from Corinth which came to his attention when members of Chloe’s family passed through Ephesus where Paul was then staying.  Paul heard about all sorts of things going on back in Corinth, including news that his prior letter to the Corinthians was badly misunderstood and needed a reply.  So too he learned of a number of things going on back in Corinth which required his immediate attention–the content we have covered so far in the first six chapters.
  

About the time Paul was chatting with members of Chloe’s family, a delegation from Corinth arrived in Ephesus bringing a letter to Paul from the Corinthians, asking him a number of questions about sex, marriage, divorce, idolatry, how men and women are to relate to each other in worship, how the worship service was to be conducted (specifically the Lord’s Supper), about spiritual gifts and how they ought to be used and understood, before coming to the matter of the resurrection.  The struggle facing the Corinthians was how to stop being pagans and how to live and think as Christians.

Those matters troubling the Corinthians resurface through Christ’s church across time.  Many of the questions asked of Paul by the Corinthians are issues with which Christ’s church struggles today, making Paul’s Corinthian letter vital to the health of Christ’s church then and now.  So lets dig in.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

It has been said that prostitution is the world’s old profession.  In reality, tending a garden and naming animals is.  But if you lived in first century Corinth you lived in a city well-known for its prostitutes and rampant sexual immorality.  This creates a difficult situation for Christians who live there and who have been taught by Paul that sexual relations are limited to marriage.

Paul has learned that some in the Corinthian church justified using the services of prostitutes by contending that Christian liberty allows it–the same excuse some were giving for eating food sacrificed to idols.  Yes, the temptations Christians faced were real and many engaged in such behavior before their conversion.  But as Paul has taught them, Christians must break with their pagan past and resist the pressure to continue to give into all bodily desires and urges.  Yes, Christians are free from law-keeping as a means of justification, but such freedom entails freedom to obey the commands of God, not freedom to indulge in seeking to satisfy every bodily urge.

Paul reminds the Corinthians that they have been bought by a price (the shed blood of Jesus Christ) and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  A Christian is no longer a slave to sin and now is a bond servant of Jesus Christ.  Their bodies belong to their creator-redeemer.  Paul asks, “how can someone in union with Jesus Christ unite themselves in a sexual union with someone who represents pagan religion and spirituality?”  Such a thing is unthinkable for Paul.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Corinth was a booming city with lots of new money and great stress upon the power and prestige that goes with it.  One way to enhance your public image was to take advantage of those who had something you wanted or needed, or to shame a rival or get a leg up on someone you didn’t like, was to sue them in civil court.  Corinth was a very litigious place with one citizen complaining that there were far too many lawyers in the city.  The legal system in Corinth was rigged to favor those of means who could bribe a judge or hire a lawyer to obtain a favorable verdict over someone who had no means of defending themselves.  Court proceedings took place in the city’s marketplace, so such lawsuits became a public spectacle.

Upon learning that Christians were participating in this kind of civil litigation, Paul addresses the matter of how such practices harmed the church and its witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ no matter who won such a lawsuit.  Paul reminds the Corinthians that the church is the spiritual temple of God, composed of those redeemed by Jesus Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  Paul rebukes them for using the courts to exploit each other, an affront to the body of Christ.  He reminds them that since one day they will judge the world, what business do they have to engage in such practices before the watching pagans.  Such personal disputes are to settled within the church.

Paul reminds the Corinthians of what they once had been–sexually immoral, liars, drunkards, swindlers, and the like.  But now, they are washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of Jesus Christ.  Given what they were in light of what they now are, how can the Corinthians continue to drag each other into court to gain advantage over a fellow believer?  This is a defeat for the Corinthians, no matter who wins or loses in court.  Better to lose than to participate in such an unjust system.  

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

When passing through Ephesus, where Paul was living at the time, members of Chloe’s family informed Paul of a situation in the Corinthian church of such a serious nature that Paul is taken aback.  A man in the Corinthian church (presumably known to the church but unnamed by Paul) is cohabiting with his father’s wife.  Such conduct was scandalous to the point that even the sexually libertine Greco-Roman pagans were offended by it.  While the man’s conduct was shameful, what troubles Paul more is that the leaders of the Corinthian church had done nothing about it. 

In chapter 5 of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, Paul exhorts them to excommunicate the man so as to turn him over to Satan so that he might be saved on the day of judgment.  What Paul means by this is a matter of some controversy and we will address it in detail in this episode.  Paul tells the Corinthians that he has already pronounced judgment about the matter, and even though he cannot come to them in person, he is with them in spirit.  They must act and remove the man from the church.

Paul’s exhortation to act must be seen in light of the removal of leaven in an act of “cleansing the temple,” along with the practice of the removal of all leaven from Jewish homes on the eve of the annual Passover celebration.  Leaven symbolizes uncleanness, and the danger it poses is that even a small amount quickly spreads throughout the loaf rendering the whole unclean.  Since the Corinthian church is the spiritual temple of Christ they cannot allow such scandalous immorality in their midst.

Paul also learns that the Corinthians had badly misunderstood his prior letter to them.  They took his exhortation not to be “mixed up” with sexually immoral people as though Paul meant that they should avoid contact with all non-Christians.  Paul takes this opportunity to correct them.  The Corinthians have it backwards.  They are not to judge non-Christians.  God will do that.  But they are to judge those in their midst who claim to be followers of Christ but who still live like pagans.  

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Paul expressed a fair bit of righteous anger in his letter to the Galatians–calling those taken in by false teachers foolish people who have been all-too easily bewitched by false teachers.  In 1 Corinthians 4, the apostle again expresses his frustration, speaking sarcastically of those who think of themselves as rich (when they are poor), and as kings who act as though they rule the church (when they are not).  But Paul will have none of it.  It matters not to him what the immature in Corinth think of him.  What matters is that God is judge of such things, not the Corinthians.

Paul reminds them that ministers are God’s servants who proclaim the gospel of Christ crucified, not faction leaders who seek draw followers unto themselves.  God has entrusted the mysteries of the gospel to his ministers and he will judge their motives.  Neither Paul nor Apollos have sought to please them–both men sought to be faithful to the charge given them by Christ to preach the gospel.  Addicted to pagan ways of thinking and doing, the Corinthians still think and act like citizens of this present evil age, not as citizens of the age to come.  Since the Corinthians are puffed-up by their misguided pride, Paul reminds them of all that he has suffered for the sake of Christ so as to preach the gospel and conduct his missionary journeys.  When reviled he blesses.  When persecuted he presses on.  When slandered he is gracious.  Yet, he is still treated as scum and filth.  These immature Corinthians are unwitting slaves to their own pride and have earned the sarcastic rebuke from Paul we find in 1 Corinthians 4.

As their father in the faith, Paul is not writing to shame them, but to urge them to imitate him.  So far, he has been prevented from returning to Corinth, so he sent Timothy in his absence.  Lord willing the apostle will make his way back to Corinth, but until be does, he reminds them that through this letter and in the power of the Holy Spirit he is present with them.  The question with which Paul leaves the Corinthians is, “when I come, shall I bring the rod, or shall I come in a spirit of love and gentleness?”  The choice is up to them.  Mend their ways and embrace humility, or face the discipline of the apostle.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

So what will it be?  Milk or meat?  Are the Corinthians spiritual toddlers?  Or are they mature Christians?  Since they are being drawn to the factions forming within the church (“I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos”) it is clear that no matter how mature they think they are, in reality they are immature.  Their lack of progress in Christian maturity provokes a response from Paul who challenges the Corinthians to consider who they are in Christ and how that should impact the way they understand the church and their relation to it as God’s temple, indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

The foundation of the church in Corinth is the gospel Paul has preached to them (he was the sower).  Apollos came and helped build upon that foundation (the waterer).  Since both were fulfilling the roles assigned to them by God, so why would the Corinthians see themselves as followers of Paul or Apollos when they should see these men as servants sent by God to build the church, not as leaders of factions.

The Corinthians are the temple of God, built upon the foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  How will they build on that foundation?  Will they utilize the wisdom of God (Gold, silver, and precious stones)?  Or will they continue build using human wisdom (wood, hay, straw)?  Since they have chosen the latter, Paul exposes the fact that the divisions and factions within the Corinthian church are the result of spiritual immaturity which is ultimately a holdover from the Greco-Roman paganism in which the Corinthians had been raised.  The time has come to move past infancy to maturity. 

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Paul did not come to Corinth as a typical sage, sophist, or philosopher.  He was an unimpressive rabbi and made no attempt to embrace Greco-Roman rhetorical techniques to keep an audience entertained and wanting more.  Paul’s mission to the Gentiles was not about him, it was about the message he preached, Christ and him crucified.
 

When Paul arrived in Corinth he was weak and fearful.  He impressed no one with his charisma or eloquent speech.  But he did know that the power and wisdom of God are revealed through the preaching of the cross.  Despite the fact that Jews and Greeks thought that the message of the cross was foolishness, scandalous, and a stumbling block, it was through this message that God saves sinners.  The proof that the Spirit of God was at work?  There was a thriving church in Corinth, which despite the issues plaguing them was filled with new converts, both Jews and Greeks.

Paul reminds the Corinthians that the Holy Spirit knows the mind of God, revealing that Jesus is the Lord of glory.  But since God’s wisdom was hidden from the rulers of this age, they put Jesus to death.  While Greeks and Romans mock and detest the weakness and humiliation of the suffering Savior, it is through Jesus’s apparent weakness, shame, and suffering that the wisdom and power of God are displayed.  But apart from the work of the Holy Spirit opening their hearts to the truth, the rulers are doomed to pass away along with this present evil age.
 

Paul tells the Corinthians that their focus should never be on him, or on Apollos or on Peter, but on the content of his message.  That which was hidden throughout the Old Testament has been revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ through the demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit.  Many of our contemporaries think this power is manifest in the signs and wonders that are supposedly present in Pentecostalism and charismatic worship.  But for Paul, the demonstration of the Spirit’s power is preaching the gospel and seeing people come to faith in Jesus.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

The cross of Jesus Christ is utter foolishness to those who are perishing in their sins.  Yet, Paul tells the Corinthians that through message of the cross God reveals his wisdom and power.  In the closing section of the first chapter of his first Corinthian letter, Paul explains how and why the preaching of Christ crucified confounds all those who seek mere human wisdom from sages, holy men, philosophers, prophets, and gurus across the ages, all of whom claim to be seeking after wisdom, but in reality are looking in all the wrong places.

The cross might be a shameful thing and a scandal in the minds of those Greco-Romans who think themselves to be wise, but it is here where we see how God rescues the weak and lowly to shame the wise–those who do not think it necessary to be redeemed from the guilt and power of sin.  Paul’s audience in Corinth (Jews who seek after signs and Greeks who seek after wisdom) cannot grasp how the wisdom of God is revealed in a crucified Savior.  For Jews, the cross is a stumbling block.  For Greeks it is only so much foolishness.  Both see the cross as the ultimate sign of weakness, humiliation, and shame.  A crucified savior is a contradiction.  Why would anyone embrace a dead and humiliated savior?

Yet, as Paul points out, the preaching of the cross turns the tables on those who think themselves to be wise.  Through the proclamation of Jesus Christ and him crucified God saves his people from the guilt and power of sin, he calls the weak and lowly to faith in Jesus, he reveals true wisdom, and he shames the self-professed wise and powerful exposing them to be the fools. 

The gospel of Jesus Christ confounds all those who see no need of a savior.  It did so in the Greco-Roman world, just as it does in our own.  But to those who have been called to faith in Jesus through this message of shame and scandal, “Christ Jesus, became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Paul has gotten some rather bad news.  Members of Chloe’s family (presumably people Paul had known from his time in Corinth) had come to Ephesus (where Paul was currently laboring).  They informed him of serious troubles back in Corinth.  People were quarreling to the point that factions had developed in the church, with various groups identifying as followers of Paul, while others claimed to be loyal to Apollos, or to Peter.  Some even claimed to be merely followers of Jesus.

No doubt when Paul had been in Corinth a year or more previously, he taught them that Christians became members of the body of Christ (the church) through faith in Jesus and baptism.  Now he gets word that the Corinthians were divided with some claiming to be followers of those who taught them, or who had baptized them.  Since Paul cannot hop on a plane or get in his car and travel to Corinth quickly, he must address the situation in writing–so he sends the letter we know as First Corinthians.

In verse 10 of the first chapter of this letter, we find the thesis statement which sets the tone for all that follows.  Paul appeals to these struggling Christians in Corinth to stop acting like the pagans they once were, and act like the Christians they now are.  They have been called to be saints (as believers in Jesus Christ) so they must end their schismatic behavior and get on the same page–united in mind and judgment.  No more of the party spirit– “I follow Paul . . .” “I follow Apollos . . .” “I follow Peter . . .” or even “I follow Christ . . .”   Christ is not divided, and Paul was not crucified for them!
  

Paul implores the Corinthians to remember that he came to preach the cross of Jesus Christ to them, not tickle their ears with clever words of pagan wisdom which rob the cross of its power to save.  Their quarreling and divisions betray the gospel which brought them together calling them out of pagan darkness and into the light of Christ’s kingdom.  The factions which were forming were also contrary to their baptism through which they together became members of Christ’s church and part of his body.  The Corinthians must return to what Paul had taught them.  The divisive behavior must cease and the Corinthians must unite around the gospel of a crucified Savior

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

In the opening 9 verses of Paul’s first Corinthian letter, Paul sets the stage for what is to come.  Although he was in Corinth for some eighteen months and knew many of those to whom he is writing quite well, his apostolic authority was being challenged by some in the congregation.  Paul must address this matter by reminding the Corinthians of his apostolic office and calling.

Although we might expect a stern rebuke given what Paul has heard about what was going on in Corinth, instead we find the apostle giving thanks for the grace given the Corinthians in the gospel.  The apostle opens his letter by reminding the Corinthians of the fact that despite the divisions and troubles which plagued them (and which need to cease), those who truly believed the gospel he had preached to them were recipients of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.  As such, the Corinthians were “saints,” called to be holy.  But their “set apart status” requires the Corinthians live out the holiness they had received as God’s gracious gift.

Paul focuses upon the ecclesia (church) in Corinth as all those who together have been called out from the nations for the purpose of assembling for the purpose of hearing God’s word preached (reminding them that grace is a gift given to them freely through the gospel), celebrating the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (as signs and seals of God’s promises in the gospel), and where they are to exercise the spiritual gifts given to them for the sake of building up the body of Jesus Christ. 

Christ’s church is one and therefore not to be characterized by divisions and factions, but by love for all those whom God has reckoned as holy in Jesus Christ.  The Corinthians are to love one another in the grace and peace extended to them through Jesus Christ and which is now declared to them (and upon them) through Paul’s opening blessing in this letter.  Indeed, they have been called to be holy.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Paul’s first Corinthian letter was written to deal with divisions in the Corinthian church.  He’s received a letter from the Corinthians asking him about how to deal with the Greco-Roman pagans around them, as well as how to handle professing Christians who either did not understand, or implement the apostle’s instructions.  In Ephesus, where Paul was residing, someone who had just come from Corinth passed on to Paul the news that the Corinthians had misunderstood his written response to their letter.  Paul also received a delegation from the Corinthian church asking a whole series of questions, which Paul must address.  The news from Corinth was disturbing.  Paul’s response to this serious situation is the letter we now know as 1 Corinthians.

When you begin to summarize the content of 1 Corinthians (in order to answer the “what is in the letter question”), you notice something rather remarkable for a situational letter like this one specifically written to address divisions beginning to appear within the Corinthian congregation.  Paul’s response is not to scold them (although there is a bit of exhortation), but to teach them the correct doctrine, which is then to be applied to each of the difficult situations brought to his attention.  This makes for a rich theological letter in terms of doctrinal content worked out with a great deal of practical application.

Paul’s thesis statement is set out in 1 Corinthians 1:10: “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.”  The two primary sources of contention which Paul must address are those typical of Greco-Roman paganism–sexual immorality and idolatry, along with the Corinthian tendency to boast about their personal accomplishments. 
 

Paul must remind these new Christians of what he had taught them when he had been with them previously.  God’s grace revealed in Christ’s death and resurrection and the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit brings about an entirely different set of ethics and morality to those in Christ’s church.  Love for fellow members of the family of God is to characterize the Corinthian church, not petty divisions.  The divisions in Corinth must cease since the church is the body of Christ, Paul’s apostolic authority to address such matters was given to him by Christ so it is to be accepted, and Christ’s church should reflect the new creation which Jesus has brought about through his cross and resurrection.

If you take a look at any of the best known Reformed systematic theologies (say Berkhof, Bavinck, and Turretin), you will find that the number of biblical texts cited by these writers in support of major doctrines is about the same for 1 Corinthians as it is for Romans and Ephesians.  The reason?  Paul’s letter is packed with Trinitarian references.  He speaks of calling and election as the manifestation of God’s grace as revealed in the gospel.  He discusses Christ’s resurrection and ours in great detail–the most important discussion of the resurrection of the body in all the New Testament.  Paul addresses numerous aspects of the Christian life, much of which is centered upon love of neighbor working itself out in the situations reported to him as the chief sign that one is truly converted and which serves as the basis of Christian ethics and morality.

1 Corinthians is theology applied to life.  What is Paul’s theology?  How does he apply it to the Corinthians?  And what does this mean for us?   We’ll discuss this and more in this episode of the Blessed Hope Podcast.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

I’m very excited to kick off season three of the Blessed Hope Podcast because we are taking up one of the most interesting and challenging letters in all the New Testament–Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.  This is a letter which is practical in the best sense of the term and we will spend a great deal of time going through it in some detail.

One of the first things we will notice in Paul’s First Corinthian letter is that he is not writing a systematic treatise (as he does in Romans and Ephesians).  Instead, Paul is responding to a number of important matters which have come to his attention that were troubling the Corinthian church.  

But Paul is in Ephesus when he gets this information and cannot get to Corinth (some 425 miles away) any time soon.  So Paul must address these issues by letter.  We know Paul wrote at least three letters to the Corinthians (we are in possession of two of them – 1st and 2nd Corinthians) and we’ll tackle them consecutively in our usual verse by verse manner.

There are an number of controversies in 1 Corinthians with which we’ve all wrestled, and which are addressed by Paul.

• Perhaps you’ve heard the expression, “Christians are to be in the world, but not of the world.”  What does this mean, and why is it that so many Christians in Corinth remain “of the world, but not in the world?”  Paul tackles this question.
• What about the gifts of the Spirit?
• Maybe you or someone you know finds speaking in tongues to be the high point of the Christian life.  Perhaps you think it tied to the apostolic age and something not to be practiced today–what does Paul say about speaking in tongues and how it is to be practiced?
• What went on in a worship service in the apostolic church?  Paul gives us our only description of such worship in 1 Corinthians 11-14. 
• What are we to do with those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, but who then do things which are utterly at odds with their profession of faith?  What is church discipline and why do Reformed churches practice it?
• Why does Paul spend so much time and energy in his discussion of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15?  What does he say about the resurrection of our bodies and how we will dwelling in God’s presence for all eternity?

And this is just scratching the surface.  So, there will be much more to come as we work our way through Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

I did indeed give up my premillennialism and dispensationalism for amillennialism and have spent much time writing, teaching, and discussing why I made the move.  Over time I thought that I had managed to distance myself from my dispensational past, and I worked hard to replace my dispensational hermeneutic with a covenantal approach to Scripture.

Yet there was one tie which still bound me to dispensationalism–the postmillennal charge that both schools of thought (amillennial and dispensational premillennialism) were intrinsically “pessimistic,” while only postmillennarians have an eschatology of “essential optimism.”  This always struck me as odd, since as an amillennarian I believe that the kingdom of God is victorious over unbelief and all the forces of the devil, that the gospel will spread to the ends of the earth because God is sovereign over all things.  But I remain pessimistic about the city of man which will destroyed in the end when Jesus returns to raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new.

Both amillennialism and postmillennialism contend that the scene in Revelation 20:1-10–the only place where a period of a thousand years (or a millennial age) is mentioned in Scripture–occurs before Christ returns, not after, as in premillennialism.  This means that structurally speaking, amillennialism and postmillennial are very similar.  The two views have coexisted from time of the apostolic age, usually identified as non-chiliastic (non-millenarian).  It wasn’t until early in the 20th century that the two views (amillennialism and postmillennialism) were distinguished from one another as distinct eschatological positions.  Both have existed together from the time of the Reformation–the differences centering around the timing, duration, and character of the millennial age. 
 

As we will see, in the 1970's things changed.  So where did the optimism-pessimism categories come from?  Do they accurately describe the three main eschatological schools of thought?  Might they even be misleading?  And therefore not helpful?  That’s my take . . .  

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

The mere mention of the Antichrist conjures up all kinds of spooky movie images, demonic plot lines, and eerie special effects–all designed to play upon our fears of a satanically inspired, menacing figure doing their master’s bidding.  The list is long, but a few examples should help–The Omen (with the brat antichrist child, Damien), and the sequels, then came Rosemary’s Baby, 11-11-11, the Devil’s Advocate, and a host of others fit in this genre. 

Throughout the history of the West, there has been no shortage of political leaders, emperors, conquerors, and religious figures who have been identified as antichrist candidates, yet all of whom have come and gone without claiming the title.  Of late, this mysterious figure is thought to lurk in the shadows of the deep state, or is a mastermind in the tech world (especially since the rise of AI), or as a villainous super-hero sort of figure who will lead humanity into a post-apocalyptic world with a new reality and radically transformed human existence. 
   

Here is where we bid adieu to this speculation and take a much different course.  We will go back to the teaching of Scripture and the church’s reflection upon what is a truly fascinating topic.  If Christians in the apostolic age were not sure who or what this meant, the Reformers were absolutely sure–they identified antichrist with the papacy.   Many Protestants have agreed, while Rome’s response was to return the favor–it was Protestants who were doing the devil’s work by dividing Christendom.  Currently, evangelicals have taken up the quest to figure out just who or what the Antichrist will be, as they wait for the Antichrist to appear as the leader of a revived Roman empire, make a peace-treaty with Israel, and then betray the nation and usher in the final battle–Armageddon.

The best way to deal with all of this wild (on the one hand) and understandable speculation (on the other) is to return to the teaching of Scripture.  Ironically, the Bible is the source of much of the speculation just mentioned–many of the speculators and fiction writers know just enough about the Bible to make them dangerous, while others got much of the biblical data right–but it was simply not God’s time for this figure to appear.  So, lets go back to the biblical text, see what it actually says about the Antichrist, and then summarize the biblical teaching.

But don’t get your hopes up.  Such a study won’t tell us who the antichrist will be, or when he (or she) will appear, but hopefully, it will clear up much or all of the speculation surrounding this figure and get us back to grounding all our future expectations in the Scriptures.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Whenever you discuss biblical eschatology and the end times, you must address the future of Israel and the Jewish people.  The subject is greatly complicated by the fact that along with the longstanding biblical debates over Israel’s future, there is also the complicated history of Zionism.  The unprecedented events surrounding the establishment of a Jewish state first conceived in the Balfour Declaration in 1917 (as a consequence of the Great War), came to fruition with UN Resolution 181.  The resolution was approved on November 29, 1947, and established the “formal partition” of Palestine into Jordan (the Palestinian state), and the nation of Israel (a Jewish state).  Debates over biblical expectations for the future of Israel, along with the geopolitical conflict between Israel and her Middle Eastern neighbors have raged ever since. 

The return of the Jews to Palestine had a profound effect upon American evangelicals and fundamentalists, pushing eschatological speculation surrounding Israel to the fore.  Whenever you mention the end times, people want to know about your views about Israel, which inevitably leads to the intermixing of biblical expectation with political matters and American foreign policy.  Israel’s security and survival are constantly in the news, because the nation exists in a largely Muslim region which is very unhappy with the presence of a Jewish state in Palestine, an area which had been an important part of an Islamic caliphate from the 7th century until 1948.

Indeed, the return of the Jews to the nation of Israel is a remarkable thing, and has given great credibility to dispensationalism and the long-standing belief that the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland was the fulfillment of biblical prophecy, and thereby set into motion God’s prophetic end times blueprint that will unfold until the Lord’s return.

Rather than focus upon the fascinating historical developments surrounding Israel from the First World War until now, I am going to tackle the one place in the New Testament where Paul speaks about the future course of redemptive history, specifically what God has decreed for his people–including Jew and Gentile.  No, God is not finished with his ancient people, the Jews.  And yes, dispensationalists get much of this wrong.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

From the moment of our Lord’s ascension into heaven (as recounted in Acts 1:8) Christians have expected the Lord’s bodily and imminent return.  Both Jesus and the apostles had a fair bit to say about his return as well as those signs which would precede the end.  So, from the dawn of the church, until now, some two thousand years removed from our Lord’s life and ministry, Christians have eagerly expected the Lord’s return.  What are these signs of the end, and how are we to understand them?  What remains to be fulfilled before Jesus returns?

There are also a number of common expectations people have about the Lord’s return, but which really are not signs of the end at all–the rapture, the seven-year tribulation, a millennial age, and so on.  We’ll also discuss these expectations which are not biblical signs of the end.

It is hard to address the signs of the end today because since the days of the birth of the nation of Israel in 1948, the biblical prophecy pundit industry has been doing its best to connect current events to biblical prophecy–especially events surrounding Israel.  This has colored Christian expectation in many harmful ways–verses are lifted from their context and applied to virtually any event involving the Jewish state without due regard for what Scripture actually teaches about the end.  A few of these predictions have come to pass, and those which have are more of “a broken clock is right twice a day” variety.  So lets step back from the prognosticators and the Bible prophecy industry and take a fresh look at the biblical teaching regarding the signs of the end.  I think this is an important and valuable exercise.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

I am not a fan of jigsaw puzzles–I don’t have the patience to put them together, and I am too easily distracted by the shapes of the various pieces.  So, I lose sight of the big picture, and then I get frustrated and attempt to jam pieces into the puzzle where they don’t fit.

Many people have the same trouble with the Bible.  Why do we need to see the big picture?  Why can’t we just get to the signs of the end (the individual pieces)?  What should we expect to happen before the Lord’s return?  What about the Antichrist?  What about Israel?  What about the seven-year tribulation period?  What about the millennium?  Why not just get to the good stuff?

To read the Bible like this is to spend all of your time looking at the puzzle pieces without knowing what the picture on the box-top of the puzzle looks like.  The Bible’s expectation for the future (the box top) tells us how the puzzle pieces fit together.  If we skip big picture stuff, we can easily fall into the errors which so many of our contemporaries make–predictions about the end with no way to connect the signs of the end to the biblical context in which the signs make sense.

When we spend the time to look at the box top of redemptive history–we don’t see an Antichrist, Israel, or a millennial age, anywhere near the center of the picture.  What do we see?  Or better, who?  We see Jesus Christ–the mediator of the new and better covenant–who is the central image on the box top.  Since Jesus has ascended to the Father’s right hand, the big picture tells us that Jesus will return to raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new.  His return is our expectation, “the blessed hope.”

We cannot successfully discuss, nor truly understand, the signs of the end apart from being clear in our minds about the big picture.  We cannot understand the Antichrist, if we do not understand the Christ.  We cannot understand the role of Israel, if we attempt to discuss Israel apart from the true Israel (Jesus).  We might expect an earthly millennial age if we do not see our Lord’s return as the final consummation–not some half-way step (a millennium) on the way to final consummation.

When we glimpse the picture of Jesus on the biblical box top–it is immediately apparent that he is the sum and substance of all biblical prophecy.  Jesus is the center of the picture which ensures the realization of all of God’s covenant blessings for his people as well as the meting out of all the covenant curses upon those who reject his grace and mercy because they prefer to remain in their sins.  All of the signs of the end point to things which occur on the last day, when the trumpet sounds, the heavens roll up like a scroll, and Jesus returns just as he promised.  The signs of the end point to this glorious day when time becomes eternity. 

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

The kingdom of God is a major topic throughout the Scriptures.  The kingdom of God refers to the rule or reign of God over all of creation and all of its creatures.  The Old Testament speaks of YHWH as Israel’s king, whose kingdom is everlasting.  The prophets speak of this kingdom using royal images associated with heavenly glory and absolute sovereignty–the creator of all things does indeed rule over all that he has made.  Everything is subject to him.

Although YHWH rules the nations, because of Israel’s repeated and stubborn rebellion against him, YHWH has directed those nations to conquer Israel and possess the promised land.  This is why the focus of the later prophets is upon the future, when YHWH’s kingdom is gloriously and finally realized.  Israel’s king will come to visit his people with salvation, but will also mete out judgment upon all who reject his rule.

So, when the messianic age dawns with the supernatural conception and birth of Jesus, we should not be surprised that it is in his person and work that YHWH’s promised kingdom will be realized.  Since Jesus is YHWH’s promised king, YHWH’s kingdom has arrived in and with him–such a kingdom cannot exist apart from its king, Jesus, the second person of the blessed Trinity who is God now clothed in human flesh.  

The arrival of this kingdom can be seen in the preaching of John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets who speaks of a coming one in whom YHWH’s kingdom will dawn.  Throughout his messianic mission Jesus proclaims that in him YHWH’s kingdom draws near–it is a major theme of his preaching.  This kingdom conquers all, but not in the way we might think, nor in the way Israel expected.  They wanted Jesus to restore David’s kingdom and lead them to victory over the Romans.  When Jesus taught otherwise, he was rejected by his people, crucified, and then rose again from the dead.  He ascended to the Father’s right hand and promised to return.  Jesus’ kingdom is a spiritual kingdom absolutely victorious over the guilt and power of sin.  He has defeated Satan in anticipation of a time when that kingdom will be fully and finally consummated on the last day, when all the inhabitants of the earth bow the knee and confess that Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

That day, when Jesus returns and his kingdom comes in its fullness lies at the heart of the New Testament’s eschatology.  It is that kingdom about which Jesus taught us to pray, “thy kingdom come.”  Jesus, Paul, and the rest of the New Testament writers direct us to that time in the future when our king will return and his kingdom will be consummated.  On that day all tears will be wiped from our eyes, we will receive our promised inheritance, and not a hint or trace of human sin will remain.  This beloved, is our hope for the future and this is the context in which we must discuss the signs of the end.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

I begin this episode with a personal testimony.

I was born and raised a dispensationalist.  Our family owned a Christian bookstore.  The first Christian book I picked out and read on my own was Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth.  Years later, I was challenged by one of our delivery men about the books we were selling–all the dispensationalist best sellers.  He said he was “Reformed.”  I thought he meant that he had gone to “reform school” or was on work release from prison.  The questions he put to me bounced off like BB’s against a Battleship.  Dispensationalism was biblical.  How could anyone doubt that?

But those BB’s actually penetrated my embarrassingly thin armor.  Eventually, I became a very reluctant Calvinist and then I started re-thinking my eschatology.  After university and a year at the Simon Greenleaf School of Law (which was founded by John Warwick Montgomery, the faculty included Walter Martin, and Rod Rosenbladt, and is now the Trinity Law School in Santa Ana), I was steadily moving away from my doctrinal roots (Arminian and dispensational).  I found that the Reformation views on law and gospel, the five solas, and the end times, were absolutely compelling because they were thoroughly biblical.  To my surprise Drs. Montgomery and Rosenbladt suggested a career change–seminary, specifically the new seminary in Escondido (90 miles to the South), Westminster Seminary California.

In the Acts and Paul class taught by Dennis Johnson, I first encountered what I came to know as the two-age model–terms I was familiar with from reading the New Testament but never thought much about–“this age” and “the age to come.”  After reading Herman Ridderbos and Geerhardus Vos on Paul, I realized how serious a challenge the two-model was to my premillennial eschatology (I had pretty much given up on most of my dispensationalism by then, although I still thought like one).  Driving home after Dr. Johnson’s class, I had an “ah-ha moment.”  “I can’t be premillennial any more.”   The two-age model makes premillennialism (in all its forms) a biblical impossibility.  I dug in my heels and fought the inevitable.  But here I am far down the road, presenting and defending the two-age model.  If you’ve not heard this before, you are in for a real surprise.  

This is a game changer in terms of your view of the end times.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

We are beginning a new series on the Blessed Hope Podcast, “The Future.”

In this series we will wrestle with the question “what does the future hold for God’s people?”  What historical events and biblical prophecies remain to be fulfilled before Jesus returns on the last day?  How are we to interpret the various signs of the end we find throughout the New Testament?

In this series we will talk about the necessity of understanding the biblical past (specifically the person and work of Jesus Christ) since this gives us the biblical context to understand the promises God makes to us about the future.  What do we expect and what are we to be looking for?  To what (or to whom) do the signs of the end point?

In order to answer these questions we will need to talk about the proper biblical framework in which the signs of the end unfold.  Our future expectation is not the Rapture or a millennial age, but the return of Jesus Christ to raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new.  Biblically speaking, all of the promises of the future center in and upon our Lord’s return.  This is the critical event to which all of the signs of the end point us.

So, what is included among the signs of the end?  We’ll talk about this in some detail in the episodes to come.  Wars and rumors of war?  What about technology?  What about plagues?  We’ve just lived through one.  What about Israel?  What role will Israel play in the future?  What about an Antichrist?  How does he figure into the end times?  Can we make any specific predictions about what is to come?
  

We discuss all of the things and more in coming episodes in our new Blessed Hope Podcast series “The Future.” 

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

As Paul comes to the end of his second Thessalonian letter, he still has much to say to the Christians in Thessalonica.  But the most important thing the apostle does when concluding his second letter, is to remind the Thessalonians of his prayer of thanksgiving on their behalf.  Paul hopes this will be of great encouragement.  The apostle reminds them that God has graciously rescued these Gentile pagans from the guilt and power of sin, and points out to his readers that they will share in the glory of Jesus Christ through the gospel which has been preached to them.  But Paul also asks for their prayers on his behalf–that the same word which he preached to them, might continue to spread and that many more would be brought to faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul also exhorts them to stand firm in the things which he has taught them–that tradition (or teaching) proclaimed to them by the apostle.  He prays for their comfort and assurance in Christ, that God’s word be honored, and that God would see fit to deliver them from evil men–those who drove Paul from their city and who seek to keep the gospel from spreading.  Paul reminds them that the Lord is faithful in keeping his promises, but he also warns some in their midst not to be idle so as to be a burden on others.  He mandates that those who will not work, should not be given a handout.  Yet, he also cautions the Thessalonians that this “tough love” approach is to be done for the purpose of restoring such a person.

Paul concludes his second letter by praying for God’s blessings upon the congregation, he attaches his signature to this letter to confirm its authenticity, and then closes by reminding these brothers and sisters that the Lord is always with them.  

So there is much here to discuss–election and its connection to the gospel, election as the basis for our sanctification and its connection to the Word of God, the role and authority of tradition, and finally what to do about the idle (the application of church discipline).

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Soon after Paul sent his first letter to the Thessalonian Christians, the apostle received word that someone in the congregation was teaching that the day of the Lord had already come.  Composing his second Thessalonian letter to correct this error, Paul makes it abundantly clear that anyone spreading such a rumor is flat-out wrong.  Paul declares that two things must occur before the day of the Lord can come.  First there will be a great apostasy, and only then comes the revelation of a figure Paul identifies as “the man of sin”– an individual often associated with the Antichrist. 
 

But Paul also tells the Thessalonians that a mysterious “restrainer” is currently preventing the man of sin from being revealed.  He informs the Thessalonians that at some point this restrainer (a “who” or a “what”) will cease to restrain the man of sin, who will then appear (in connection with the apostasy) only to be destroyed by Jesus Christ when the day of the Lord does come to pass.

In part two of our study of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, we will discuss this mysterious restrainer in some detail, identify to whom or what Paul is referring, and then wrestle with the question of the timing when all of this will come to pass.  Is Paul referring to the events of AD 70 and the destruction of the Jerusalem temple–which are still future to him, but long in the past for us?  Or is he predicting an end-times Antichrist, who will appear at the end of the age immediately before Jesus returns?

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

There is little doubt that one of the most interesting, controversial, and a constant source of on-going speculation is the doctrine of the Antichrist.
  

Indeed, there has been so much written about the Antichrist by Christians–both ancient and modern–and so many references made to the Antichrist in film and popular culture, it is vital that we go back to the biblical accounts of this mysterious and evil figure to separate biblical fact from speculative fiction.  What does the Bible actually say about the Antichrist?

Paul tackles the subject head on in his second Thessalonian letter.  Soon after completion of his first Thessalonian letter, Paul received news that someone in the Thessalonian congregation was teaching that the day of the Lord had already come.  If true, this meant that all of Christ’s promises to his people have already been realized.  It also reminds us that Bible prophecy pundits and speculators have been around for a long time. 
 

Paul exhorts the Thessalonians not to listen to such wild speculation because the day of the Lord had not yet come.  Two things need to happen first.  One is a great apostasy, and only then comes the revelation of a figure whom Paul identifies as “the man of sin.”  Either the apostasy creates the conditions necessary for the man of sin to be revealed, or the apostasy is closely connected to the man of sin’s appearance.  But Paul is clear that the day of the Lord has not come because these two things have not yet occurred when he writes his second letter.  

Paul also tells the Thessalonians that something is preventing the appearance of the man of sin, a mysterious “restrainer” who, at some point, will cease to hold back the revelation of the man of sin (the Antichrist), who then will be destroyed by Jesus when the Lord returns.  

Join us then, in this, part one of our discussion of the “man of sin,” as we tackle 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Paul has already written one letter to the Thessalonians to clear up the confusion in their midst about the Lord’s return on the last day.  Paul has instructed the congregation that should anyone die before the Lord’s return, they will not miss out on any of the benefits secured for them by Jesus Christ (including eternal life) as some feared.  Paul also told them that since the Lord will return as a thief in the night (suddenly and unexpectedly), there should be no speculation among them about the date or timing of Christ’s return.

But not long after the first letter was sent, additional news came to Paul that someone in Thessalonica had been teaching that the day of the Lord had already come.  So, Paul writes a second letter to the Thessalonians to inform them that the day of the Lord had not come since two as yet future event must occur before Jesus returns.  First, there will come a time of great apostasy, and then will come the revelation of the man of sin–a figure often spoken of as the Antichrist.  Furthermore, these things cannot happen until a present and mysterious restraining power is lifted so that the man of sin is revealed, only to be destroyed by the Lord Jesus at his return.

Paul opens this second letter by reminding the Thessalonians that when Jesus returns he will bring about God’s righteous judgment–when all accounts are settled and everything will be made right.  But Christians need not fear this day because the coming day of God’s wrath, vengeance, and vindication is their day of deliverance when God is glorified in his saints.  Paul also writes to these Christians to encourage them to persevere against the opposition they were facing, and reveal the content of his prayers for them.  There is much here, so get out your Bible and join us for a look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 1.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Since the Lord will return suddenly and unexpectedly, what are the Thessalonians to do until Jesus’s return?  Paul has already encouraged them earlier in his letter, telling them that they are doing well despite the persecution and on-going threats they were receiving from Jews and Greco-Roman pagans in Thessalonica.  But Paul knows there is always the possibility that things might go south.  Therefore, he uses his closing remarks to urge the Thessalonians to be at peace among themselves and respect those who labor among them. 
 

Paul also takes the opportunity to urge them to encourage any strugglers and malingerers in their midst, to do good, to pray without ceasing, and to avoid evil.  He reminds them that the Lord will deliver them from their enemies and right all wrongs on the day of judgment.  Paul urges the Thessalonians not to quench the Spirit, nor despise prophecy.  He prays that God will sanctify them so that they might be blameless on the day of the Lord’s return.  He then instructs the brothers to make sure his letter is read aloud in the churches, so any questions the congregation had about the Lord’s return might be answered.

As we have come to see from Paul, there is much practical wisdom here, which is as much a benefit to Christians now as it was to Thessalonicans who first heard this letter read in their churches.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

As a baby boomer, I grew up during the Cold War, when the threat of nuclear war was real and constant.  In 1948, Israel became a nation and many Jews began returning to their ancient homeland.  The “Six Day War” of 1967, fought between Israel and a confederation of Arab states, sure made it seem as though the dispensational expectation of the rapture of the Gentile church, followed by a seven-year tribulation period in which antichrist would make a peace treaty with Israel, only to turn upon the nation leading to the Battle of Armageddon, was at hand.  Fear and uncertainty among God’s people during this time created a huge and eager audience as well as  perfect timing for Hal Lindsey to release his blockbuster book, the Late Great Planet Earth which was the best-selling book in the United States during the 1970's, selling some 28 million copies by 1990.  Lindsey put into popular terms how current events were unfolding as the fulfillment of God’s plan to redeem his people, save Israel, and usher in the millennial age.  But what was to come next on this time line?  The “rapture.” 

The rapture became the main hope of vast numbers of Bible-believing Christians.  Jesus will return to rapture believers before any nuclear holocaust thereby sparing believers from such horrors, and the removal of the Gentile church will allow God to return to dealing with Israel, the apple of his eye.  Everything centered upon the “rapture.”

But when Paul discusses the meaning of Jesus Christ’s parousia (or his coming) in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, does the apostle actually teach anything like the end-times scenario as taught by dispensationalists and popularized by the likes of Hal Lindsey?  In this ninth episode of season two of the Blessed Hope Podcast in which are working our way through Paul’s two Thessalonian letters, we will consider Paul’s discussion of the Lord’s return.  While Paul is certain of the Lord’s return to raise the dead, judge the world and make all things new, he knows nothing of the “rapture” in the form embraced by so many.  What does Paul teach about the Lord’s return?  Stay tuned.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Paul was forced out of Thessalonica after three short weeks among them.  Paul truly desires to return (he’s writing to the Thessalonians from Corinth) but so far has been prevented from doing so.  Paul attributes this unfortunate circumstance to the activity of Satan and so explains why he sent Timothy instead of coming in person.  Paul boasts in the fact that despite all that has happened, the Thessalonians are standing firm.  Paul reminds them that Christian hope is grounded in the certainly of Christ’s parousia (his second coming), a term which the apostle introduces for the first time in this letter.  Paul then discusses the inevitability that those who follow Jesus will be persecuted and that Jesus himself will ensure that his people persevere to the end.  All of these topics are important and thinking about them properly goes a long way to living a healthy Christian life.  So, there is important content here for us as we work our way through the balance of chapter two and the whole of chapter three in Paul’s first Thessalonian letter.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

In chapter two of Paul’s first Thessalonian letter, Paul defends himself against accusations raised by those who had driven him from the city.  Paul is not just another itinerant philosopher who wanders throughout the land seeking to tickle ears and gain a following.  Paul’s conduct in Thessalonica was blameless and it should be clear to all that Paul not only labored among them but took nothing from them.  The gospel Paul preached was revealed to him by Jesus Christ and through that gospel, God’s calls his people to faith in the Son of God and includes them into his kingdom and glory.  But Paul then says a number of harsh things about those who sought to hinder him from preaching the gospel–the Jews.  These are some of the most controversial words in all of Paul’s letters. 

 In this jam-packed episode, we’ll discuss Paul’s example in Thessalonica, his doctrine of “calling” and its connection to the “kingdom of God,” and then we will address the charge that Paul was an anti-Semite, because of his harsh words about those who sought to prevent him from preaching the gospel.  

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

There is one thing a congregation dislikes even more than stewardship Sunday–a sermon on the wrath of God.  To proclaim that the wrath of God is coming upon the whole world (and it is) is be thought of as some sort of fundamentalist with the misguided faith of a snake-handler, or the mind-set of a Jihadi terrorist.  Any one who believes such a thing is considered a kooky zealot who probably carries around a sandwich-board sign which reads, “Repent, for the end is near!”

Since Paul ties Christ’s second advent to the coming day of wrath, he creates very difficult problems for all forms of premillennialism–those who insist that Jesus’s Christ return will usher in a thousand year reign of Jesus upon the earth with the final judgment not occurring until the millennium comes to an end.  How does this fit with Paul’s declaration in 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 that deliverance from the coming wrath of God occurs when Jesus returns?  (Hint, it doesn’t).  What does what does this say to those engaged in the “pre” and “post” trib debate, and to the dispensationalist expectation of a future seven-year tribulation period?

We’ll tackle these issues and more in this edition of the Blessed Hope Podcast

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Paul was converted about 33 AD when Jesus appeared to him on the Damascus Road, revealing to Paul the content of the gospel he was to preach.  Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians was written around 50 AD, just short of twenty years after his conversion.  By this time, Paul has a settled theology–his basic theological categories are in place.  He applied these categories in Galatia in opposition to the Judaizers, and he now applies them in an entirely different set of circumstances in Thessalonica.  Paul is not making his doctrine up on the fly.  So, what was this “settled theology” and how does Paul apply these basic theological categories in his letters to the Thessalonians?

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

We are about to embark on a study of Paul’s Thessalonian letters.  Our season two series is entitled “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven" (from 2 Thessalonians 1:7), a text which captures Paul emphasis in these two letters upon the key event in biblical eschatology — the second coming (advent) of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Many of you know that in these two letters Paul discusses our Lord’s return in great detail–when and what happens when Jesus returns, the appearance of Antichrist, what happens on the Day of the Lord, and Paul’s warning about the coming wrath of God.  But I wonder how many of you have ever gone through the entire text of both these letters in any detail.  The context for Paul’s teaching on eschatological matters is a series of questions raised by a congregation of mostly Gentile Christians living mid-first century in the city of Thessalonica.  

In this first episode of season two we’ll take a look at the Macedonia Call, Paul’s second missionary journey, and learn a bit about the Thessalonians and their city–men and woman who embraced the word of God as preached to them by Paul, who turned from serving idols to worshiping and serving the living God.  We’ll also learn a bit about the fierce opposition the apostle Paul faced while in Thessalonica, and how this opposition to his preaching lead to the gospel being proclaimed in other Greek cities including the heart of Greek history and culture, the city of Athens.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/