Claim OwnershipThe Blessed Hope Podcast -- with Dr. Kim Riddlebarger
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© 2025 The Blessed Hope Podcast -- with Dr. Kim Riddlebarger
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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.
76 Episodes
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Episode Synopsis: The first time I heard the term “optimistic amillennarian” was in seminary, when a student asked one of the professors whether they were postmillennial or amillennial. The professor said he admired much about postmillennialism, but thought amillennialism was the biblical view. But after saying that, he blurted out, “well, maybe, I’m optimistic Amillennial.” That started quite a discussion among the students, with the postmillennial students pressing the a...
1Episode Synopsis: 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 ...
Episode Synopsis: 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 fruit...
Episode Synopsis: 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, a...
Episode Synopsis: 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 ex...
Episode Synopsis: 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 h...
Episode Synopsis: 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”...
Episode Synopsis: 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 (specificall...
Episode Synopsis: 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 deterior...
Episode Synopsis: 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 ...
Paul is under attack by some in the Corinthian church who question his intentions and his ability–he will later identify them as “super” or “false” apostles who are agents of Satan. These men claim to exercise charismatic gifts but which call attention to themselves in a manner unlike Paul had taught the Corinthians. They claim that although Paul is tough when he picks up his quill, he is weak in person, and a poor public speaker to boot. He tells the Corinthians he’s going ...
Episode Synopsis: 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 ...
Episode Synopsis: 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 spe...
"Life in the Midst of Death” An Introduction to 2 Corinthians 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 wo...
Episode Synopsis: 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 a...
Episode Synopsis: 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 ...
Episode Synopsis: 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...
Episode Synopsis: 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 wa...
Episode Synopsis: 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 ...
Episode Synopsis: 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 fro...
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excellent end note about not wright. my seminary friends dawned over him and it just didn't seem robust enough to to explain the new testament text. but they were all 10 years younger than me and heavily influenced by "novelty" & "popularity" & "inclusiveness" over text.
Riddlebarger on point as always