The Blessed Hope Podcast -- with Dr. Kim Riddlebarger

Dr. Kim Riddlebarger
  • 5.0 (128)
  • Christianity
  • Biweekly

Interested in taking a deep dive into the biblical text? Join host Dr. Kim Riddlebarger for each episode of the Blessed Hope Podcast as we explore the Letters of the Apostle Paul. In each episode, we work our way through Paul’s letters, focusing upon Paul’s life and times, the gospel he preaches, the law/gospel distinction, the doctrine of justification sola fide, Paul’s two-age eschatology, and a whole lot more. So get out your Bible and join us! Oh, and expect a few bad jokes and surprise episodes along the way.

  1. 5d ago

    "No, Not One" Season Five/Episode Twelve (Romans 3:9-20)

    Episode Synopsis: In Romans 1:18–32, Paul exposed the unrighteousness of the Gentiles.  They have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, suppress the truth in unrighteousness, and engage in all sorts of godless behavior.  Then, in Romans 2:1–3:8, Paul turns the spotlight of the law upon the Jews, exposing the troubling fact that they are no better off than the Gentiles.  While correct in recognizing the truth of Paul’s condemnation of the Gentiles, the Jews were doing many of the same things for which they self-righteously judged the Gentiles.  If they think God will overlook their own lawbreaking and hypocrisy, they are sadly mistaken. Paul has set out the blessing-curse principle established at creation, when Adam and Eve were created as divine image-bearers.  The law was written upon their hearts: “Do this and you shall live; break this command and you will die.”  After God gave the Ten Commandments to Israel at Mount Sinai through the mediation of Moses, the commandments given to Adam and Eve as representatives of the human race were codified and published to Israel in the two tables of the law. This blessing-curse principle remains in place, as Paul reiterates several times in chapter 2.  God will give to each according to what they have done, promising blessings for obedience and threatening curses for disobedience.  The Jews mistakenly assumed that the mere possession of the law and undergoing circumcision would protect them from God’s judgment.  But their failure to keep the commandments, along with their error in understanding the essence of circumcision as a matter of cutting the flesh rather than a matter of the heart, renders them guilty before God. But Paul is not done.  Far from it.  In Romans 3:9–20, Paul turns up the wattage, shining a very bright floodlight on both Jew and Gentile.  Has anyone from either group ever kept the commandments of God?  The verdict?  No, not one.  Is anyone (Jew or Gentile) righteous before God?  No, not one.  Is there anyone who truly seeks God and desires to obey his will?  No, not one.  In fact, all have turned aside.  When it comes to the blessing-curse principle, how many have done good and earned the promised blessing? Not even one. In verses 9–20 of Romans, Paul will open up the Old Testament to expose the fact that every person and every aspect of human nature has been tainted and corrupted by sin.  The bad news is really bad. When Paul is finished with his indictment, not a single member of Adam’s race (Jew or Gentile) can claim the promised blessing.  Rather, we all face the covenant curses because of our disobedience. 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. Oct 12

    "The Advantages of the Jew" Season Five/Episode Eleven (Romans 3:1-8) + Bonus Material

    Episode Synopsis: In the opening eight verses of Romans chapter 3, Paul continues to address the matter of Jewish hypocrisy by asking a series of rhetorical questions that have obvious answers.  The Jews were given many blessings by God as beneficiaries of the national covenant he made with Israel at Mount Sinai—especially the covenant sign and seal of circumcision.  Yet the Jews mistakenly assumed that the mere possession of these blessings protected them from the wrath of God that was coming upon the Gentiles.  The Jews condemned the Gentiles for their godless conduct but, as it turns out, were doing many of the same things themselves. To expose such hypocrisy, Paul now takes up a role in which the apostle speaks as a former Jew, who is then answered by “Paul the apostle.”  Each of these questions and answers is designed not only to expose Jewish hypocrisy but also to remind his Jewish readers of God’s right to judge his disobedient people.  God alone tells the truth and does not lie.  And those who claim to be spared from judgment by the mere possession of covenant blessings will find themselves exposed to the covenant curses and will realize that God is just and righteous when he punishes the disobedient—especially the hypocritical. But Paul also addresses an objection he has heard that reveals the depths of misunderstanding regarding the judgment of God. Someone is claiming that since God judges sin and evil, then sin and evil are good things, since through them God reveals his righteousness.  So why not sin if it serves God’s purposes?  Paul quickly and forcefully rebukes those teaching such things.  As he says in verse 8, their condemnation is just. For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

  3. Sep 28

    "True Circumcision" Season Five/Episode Ten (Romans 2:17-29)

    Episode Synopsis: Gentiles had a difficult time understanding why Jews would circumcise their male children. There was no Gentile heritage or memory of Abraham.  Further complicating the situation was the fact that, among Jews in Rome—as with Jews across the Greco-Roman world—circumcision was understood to be a meritorious act.  Those who were circumcised were numbered among the people of God, and those who were not were not.  Imagine the difficulty of converting from Gentile paganism to Judaism and then having to undergo a very painful surgery in a very delicate place.  Proselytes not only needed to embrace monotheism, embrace Jewish feasts and ceremonial washings, follow the dietary laws, and obey the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments), but also undergo circumcision as adults. But just as Paul challenged the Galatian Judaizers—the covenant God made with Moses at Mount Sinai was not to be confused with the gracious covenant God made with Abraham—so too the true meaning of circumcision was not found in the cutting of flesh.  The cutting of flesh was an outward sign of the cutting of the heart—a way to speak of faith in Jesus Christ.  In Romans 2:17–29, Paul is not only correcting the Jewish misunderstanding of circumcision—a serious error in its own right—but also letting Jewish Christians know that uncircumcised Gentiles could be numbered among the people of God and become true children of Abraham without undergoing circumcision. Paul’s discussion of circumcision (verses 25–29) flows out of his efforts to take the Jews to task for their hypocrisy in verses 17–24.  The Jews demand certain behavior of others—stop stealing, stop committing adultery, stop robbing temples.  But many Jews were doing the same things themselves.  The Jews are supposed to instruct those who live in ignorance and walk in darkness—the Gentiles.  They were to show them that truth is found in the law of Moses, the very embodiment of God’s will.  But instead of leading and teaching the blind and foolish Gentiles, the Jews commit the very same sins themselves.  Imagine the blatant hypocrisy of insisting upon something permanent like circumcision, all the while committing the same sins that you insist the person about to submit to the procedure is supposed to stop doing. This leads to one of the most tragic lines in the whole of the New Testament (verse 24): “For, as it is written, `The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’” For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here:  https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

  4. Sep 14

    "Doers of the Law" Season Five/Episode Nine (Part Two of a Deep Dive Into Romans 2:1-16)

    Episode Synopsis: 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/

  5. Aug 31

    "Storing Up Wrath" Season Five/Episode Eight ( Romans 2:1-11)

    Episode Synopsis: 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/

  6. Aug 17

    "God Gave Them Over" (Part 2) Season Five/Episode Seven (Romans 1:18-32)

    Episode Synopsis: 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/

  7. Aug 3

    "Without Excuse" (Part 1) Season Five/Episode Six (Romans 1:19-20)

    Episode Synopsis: 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/

  8. Jul 20

    "Not Ashamed of the Gospel" Season Five/Episode Five (Romans 1:16-17)

    Episode Synopsis: 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/

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Interested in taking a deep dive into the biblical text? Join host Dr. Kim Riddlebarger for each episode of the Blessed Hope Podcast as we explore the Letters of the Apostle Paul. In each episode, we work our way through Paul’s letters, focusing upon Paul’s life and times, the gospel he preaches, the law/gospel distinction, the doctrine of justification sola fide, Paul’s two-age eschatology, and a whole lot more. So get out your Bible and join us! Oh, and expect a few bad jokes and surprise episodes along the way.

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