The Blessed Hope Podcast -- with Dr. Kim Riddlebarger

We’ve completed our fourteen-part series on the Book of Galatians.  But one question remains unanswered.  What happened after Paul sent his letter to the churches in Galatia?  In Acts 15, we get our answer.  The Judaizing heresy became an issue of concern far beyond Galatia.  In response, the Apostles and elders of the Jerusalem church convene a church assembly–known to us as the “Jerusalem Counci...

In the first century Greco-Roman world crucifixion was something that polite and well mannered people didn’t talk about.  Considered a cruel instrument of torture and shame, nevertheless, the cross is the one thing about which the apostle Paul chooses to boast–not just any cross, but the cross of Jesus Christ, where the guilt and power of sin which enslaved us are removed and broken.  And yet, bec...

In the sixth and concluding chapter of Galatians, Paul addresses the fallout caused by the Judaizers spying on those throughout the region exercising their liberty in Christ.  It should not come as a surprise that the Judaizers would find people engaging in sinful conduct, shame them, and use them as examples of why Paul’s gospel supposedly leads to license and sinful behavior.  Paul instructs the...

In the last half of Galatians 5, Paul contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit.  In comparing the two lists, it sounds very much like the Apostle is describing two warring factions–which he is, the flesh against the Spirit.  The works of the flesh are the visible outcome of what it means to have a sinful nature.  Because we are “flesh” apart from God’s grace, this is what our...

In Galatians chapter 5, the apostle Paul is discussing how the Galatian Christians ought understand the implications of their freedom in Christ–especially in the face of pressure to return to works of law as insisted by the Judaizers.  To help ensure that the Galatians stand firm against the legalistic error spreading quickly throughout the churches of the region, Paul makes appeal to the doctrine...

Paul exhorts the Galatians, “for freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”  But this is an unlikely assertion for a well-known religious figure like the apostle Paul to make.  Most people would expect Paul to shout something like, “try harder, do better, live a godly and good life.  This is what God wants from you.”  But people who think s...

Paul understood Israel’s history and the biblical accounts of Moses and Abraham one way before his conversion, and in an entirely different way after.  Once Jesus had come, fulfilled his messianic mission, and called Paul to faith, Paul’s understanding of the Old Testament completely changed.  In Ephesians 4:21-31, Paul speaks of two women (Sarah and Hagar), two mountains (Zion and Sinai), two cov...

Paul’s question to those listening to the agitators in Galatia is simple but profound.  “What has happened to all of your joy?”  Paul is referring to that joy the Galatians had experienced together with Paul when he first preached the gospel to them.  These people were Paul’s spiritual children.  He loved them, and he thought they loved him.  They took him in when he had been felled by illness.  T...

Paul has made his case that all believing Jews and Gentiles are children of Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ.  Paul has also made the point that the giving of the law at Mount Sinai does not annual the prior covenant God made with Abraham.  But, at some point in his Galatian letter, Paul must address the question, “why then did God give the law?”  The law, he says, was given for a particular...

To correct the error of the Judaizers–which is to insist that Gentiles undergo circumcision and live like Jews in order to be justified–Paul makes a series of important distinctions in his letter to the Galatians.  He contrasts faith and works, the Spirit and the flesh, the law and the gospel, as well as carefully distinguishing between the covenants God made with Abraham (in which Abraham was rec...

Paul identifies all those who believe his gospel as “sons of Abraham”–which includes both Jews and Gentiles.  But he does not include those who seek to be right before God on the basis of works of the law, which Paul has declared, do not justify. The Judaizers have been spying on the Galatians Christian liberty.  Gentile Christians in these churches do not follow a kosher diet, they do not observe...

Peter enjoyed table fellowship with Gentiles until men from James pressured him to withdraw from table fellowship with them.  Even Barnabas felt the pressure to distance himself from the unclean–those not circumcised.  He too grew hesitant to eat with Gentiles.   Paul knew that if the Judaizers got wind of this, they would claim that Peter’s actions proved that Paul’s gospel was a novelty.  Paul,...

Paul was well-known to the Galatians.  He came into Galatia preaching the gospel revealed to him by Jesus Christ.  The Galatians knew Paul.  He stayed with them for a time.  He lived with them, he ate with them, prayed with them, and preached to them.  When he fell ill, they nursed him back to health and once he had recovered, they sent him on his way.  No doubt, they prayed for Paul and encourage...

What would you do if an angel suddenly appeared to you and proclaimed a gospel much different from that gospel which Paul preached to the Galatians? What would you do if one of your closest friends or a family member encourages you to listen to a celebrity, a life coach, an influencer, or a religious teacher who proclaims a message different from that taught by Paul? What would you do if a well-kn...

The Apostle Paul preached the gospel revealed to him by Jesus Christ throughout the region we know as Galatia.  But soon after Paul left Galatia, he began hearing disturbing reports about false teachers who came into the region, undermining his apostolic office, and challenging the gospel he had previously preached to the Galatians. In the first episode of our series – “Introduction to the Book of...

This is the premier episode of The Blessed Hope Podcast!  In this episode, I ask and answer the question, "why another podcast?"  "Why The Blessed Hope?"   First, I explain why I think it important to study the biblical text  in detail, yet in a non-technical way  Second, I set out the ground I hope to cover in the episodes of season one (and perhaps, beyond) Third, I'll g...