The Riddleblog

Three Takeaways from the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15)

There are a number of important points made by Luke in Acts 15, but three stand out for brief mention here, especially when considered in light of Paul’s recently written Letter to The Galatians (which I take to be written in A.D. 48, a year or so before the Jerusalem Council convened). Paul, Barnabas, along the with apostles (James and Peter) and the elders of the Jerusalem church (including Judas called Barsabbas and Silas) were present to debate the matter of whether circumcision was required of Gentile converts to Christianity, if they were to be saved (Acts 15:1-2).

First, despite the ethnic and cultural differences between Jew and Gentile, both groups were equal and full members in the Israel of God which is Christ’s church (cf. Galatians 6:16). As Paul made clear in his Galatian letter, the gospel is not based upon human obedience to the Law of Moses or submission to circumcision (“works of the law”—Galatians 2:16), which supposedly made the Jew superior to Gentiles. It is clear that the gospel is the preaching of Christ crucified, through which, God in his grace, calls his elect to faith in Jesus Christ, whether they be Jew or Gentile.

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Who Is to Blame for Tragedy? A Look at Jesus’ Answer in Luke 13:1-5 and John 9:1-3

Almost every culture–whether ancient or modern–seems to possess a superstitious belief that whenever anything bad happens to someone, it must be because the person has done something which brought the tragic event about. People seem wired to ask themselves, or inquire of others, what the victim did which brought calamity down upon their heads. What did they do to provoke God to anger? The underlying assumption is correct–bad things happen to bad people. We do live in a fallen world after all, so we expect tragedy and disaster. But the conclusion often reached when we seek an answer as to “why?” these things happen is incorrect–that there is an immutable cause and effect relationship between specific sins and immediate bad consequences. What is often overlooked is that the one questioning why something bad happened to someone else, is as guilty before God as is the person they are speculating about.

In Luke 13:1-5, Jesus speaks about two tragic events which occurred in first century Israel which produced just this sort of speculation. The first of these is mentioned in verse 1, when we read of those “who told [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.” We do not know exactly to what historical event this was referring (we have no known record of it), but the implication seems to be that Pilate ordered certain Galilean Jews to be killed at the time of the Passover sacrifices, in effect “mixing blood.”

The question is an important one because based upon Old Testament texts such as Job 4:7 (“Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?) the Pharisees commonly taught that bad things happened to people as a consequence of personal sin. But the assumption that the Galilean’s blood was mixed with their sacrifices because of a particular sin is addressed directly by Jesus in the form of a rhetorical question. In verse 2, Jesus asks those asking about this, “do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?” In a second example, Jesus mentions another disaster apparently well-known to his audience. “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?” (v. 4).

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One People or Two? The Challenge Raised to Dispensationalism by Ephesians 2:11-22

It was the famed New York Yankees’ catcher turned philosopher, Yogi Berra, who once said, “when you come to a fork in the road, take it!” Paul’s discussion in Ephesians 2:11-22, addresses the relationship between Jew and Gentile in Christ’s church. It is a passage which requires us to ask a “fork in the road” sort of question. “In the new covenant era, does God have one people (the church), or two peoples (Jew and Gentile) each assigned different redemptive purposes?” Reformed amillennarians and dispensationalists take quite different directions when coming to this important Pauline “fork in the road.”

Dispensationalists struggle to understand and explain Ephesians 2:11-22 because Paul assets something much different than the standard dispensational claim that although there is but one gospel, nevertheless, God has two distinct redemptive purposes, one for national Israel and another for Gentiles.

To illustrate the problem faced by dispensationalists, it is useful to survey the way in which traditional dispensational writers have approached this passage. J. Dwight Pentecost, writes that this passage describes God’s purpose for the present age (where there is a visible unity), but does not describe his purpose for the millennial age when the two peoples (Jew and Gentiles) are again distinct groups. Pentecost is so bold as to state, “Scripture is unintelligible until one can distinguish clearly between God’s program for his earthly people Israel and that for the church.”[1]

John Walvoord understands the passage as referring to the “new program” for the church which, he claims, was a mystery in the Old Testament. In the New Testament dispensation, a living union is formed so that Jew and Gentile are brought together with all racial tensions eliminated [2]. Like Pentecost, Walvoord argues that such unity is only temporary and in the millennial age the historic and ethnic differences between Jew and Gentile re-emerge.

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A Rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem? A Look at Ezekiel's Vision in Chapters 40-48

In light of periodic calls to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple (Time to Rebuild the Temple?), the matter of whether or not this will come to pass is part and parcel of the on-going debate about events associated with the end times and the return of Jesus Christ. The very possibility of rebuilding the Jerusalem Temple raises a number of serious theological questions which ought to be addressed, especially in light of the dispensational expectation of a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem at the dawn of the supposed seven-year tribulation period, which then functions as a center of worship during the millennial age.

As for the possibility of the temple actually being rebuilt, I am one who says “never say never” about future world events. I have no idea what will happen over the long run in Jerusalem and Israel. That said, I do not think such a thing is even remotely likely, given the current tensions in Jerusalem over control and access to the Temple Mount, much less the long-term political circumstances of doing so. Should Israel develop the religious and political will to occupy the Temple Mount (something unforeseeable at this point in time) and eventually take the steps necessary to demolish the Al-Aqsa Mosque (which is the third holiest site in Islam), the Jewish state would face the wrath of the entire Islamic world as well as that of much of the secular West. Since dispensationalists often connect the rebuilding of the temple to the geo-political tensions necessary to foster the appearance of the Antichrist, who, they claim, will make a peace treaty with Israel before betraying the nation leading to a final end-times catastrophe, such upheaval is not beyond the realm of possibility. Dispensationalists expect the Jerusalem Temple to be rebuilt and fervently hope for it.

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When We Confess the Church to be Apostolic

When We confess the Church to Be Apostolic

I know that this might come as a shock to my fellow baby-boomers, but the Christian church wasn’t founded by the Jesus people in the 1960’s—although their own congregation might have been. Americans often think about the church as though it was founded by Charles Finney during the Second Great Awakening. It was not. Nor was the church established by Jonathan Edwards or George Whitefield during the First Great Awakening. The church was already fifteen centuries old when Martin Luther and John Calvin sought to reform it at the time of the Reformation. There is even a sense in which the church is as old as Adam and Eve and the first family. And Calvin was absolutely correct to affirm that the church existed in its infancy in the midst of Israel before the coming of Jesus Christ. But the Christian church confessed in the Creed was founded by Jesus Christ when he called his apostles to follow him, and is then given a significant Spirit-filled role in redemptive history after Pentecost. When we consider that the church of Jesus Christ is apostolic, this is where we begin.

It is fashionable in those circles dominated by critical biblical scholarship to think of the church as a worshiping community in need of a Messiah–the first Christians supposedly elevated an itinerant apocalyptic prophet (Jesus of Nazareth) to his messianic status and then put pithy “Jesus sayings” back in his mouth. The church was not the fruit of the organizational genius of a group of followers who came to believe that Jesus had risen in their hearts (the so-called “Easter experience”) as they tried to cope with the disappointment they felt once Jesus was put to death by the Romans and his glorious kingdom did not manifest itself as promised. Rather, the biblical record tells us that the church was founded by a Risen Savior who left behind an empty tomb and then appeared to a number of his chosen witnesses the first Easter, confirming that his death on Good Friday was the ultimate triumph over human sin. The church confessed in the Creed was founded by Jesus Christ, victorious over sin, death, and the grave.

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Biblical Events, Biblical TheologyKim RiddlebargerApril 22, 2022The church as apostolicComment

Jonah -- The Preacher of Repentance (1): Who Was Jonah?

A Well-Known Story

Most everyone knows the story of Jonah. Jonah was a reluctant Hebrew prophet who, while fleeing from his divine commission, was thrown overboard in the midst of a horrific storm by his terrified shipmates, only to be swallowed by a big fish (usually assumed to be a whale). Jonah then spent three days and nights in the fish’s belly, before being vomited up by the fish on a foreign shore. Once safely on land, Jonah fulfilled his evangelistic mission, went to Nineveh as commanded, and preached to the Ninevites who repented en masse. The story is simple enough it can be understood by a child, but profound enough that theologians and biblical scholars still debate its meaning.

Whenever considering any book of the Bible it is important to ask and answer several questions to make sure we interpret the book and its message correctly. Who was Jonah, when did he live, why did he write this book, and what is in it? How does this particular prophecy compare with the other Minor Prophets who lived and ministered about the same time? These questions are especially important with a book like Jonah, which many think to be an allegory or a moral fable, seeing the story as so implausible that it cannot possibly be speaking of historical events. How can someone be swallowed alive by a whale and live for three days? No, the critics say, this cannot be history, so it must be an allegory, a teaching parable, or a work of fiction, designed to teach us some important spiritual or moral truth.

When we interpret Jonah’s prophecy through this fictional lens, the reader’s focus usually falls upon Jonah himself, the prime example of a reluctant prophet who refuses to obey God’s will. By not obeying God, Jonah finds himself in the belly of a whale, until God relents and the whale then spits Jonah out safe and sound–if a bit shook up. The moral to the story is that should God call you to do something you do not want to do, learn the lesson of the story of Jonah. Obey the Lord and avoid the kind of calamity which comes upon those who, like Jonah, will not do what they know God wants them to do.

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Jesus -- The Greater Joshua

When the angel of the Lord appeared to Mary (who was betrothed to Joseph) the angel informed her that although she had never been with a man, she will become pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. The angel also appeared to Joseph and instructed him regarding his future wife, “she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). The name “Jesus” is so familiar to us that we can easily overlook the significance of his name in light of redemptive history.

Our Lord’s name “Jesus” is indicative of the reason why he came to earth–to save his people from their sins. Yeshua is a shortened form of Joshua (Yehoshua), which means “Yahweh is salvation.” The Greek version is Iesous—Jesus. This name ties Jesus to one of the great figures in redemptive history–a man used by God to save his people and bring them into the promised land. That man was Yehoshua (or Iesous), a name which comes down to us in Romanized form as “Joshua.”

Joshua is one of Israel’s greatest heroes. He first appears as a skilled commander who directs Israel’s army in battle against the Amelkites (cf. Exodus 17:8-16). Joshua is identified as Moses’ assistant who is with Moses before the latter received the commandments of the Lord (Exodus 24:13 ff). Joshua is said to have never departed from the tent where Moses led the Israelites (Exodus 33:11), and he assisted Moses in the governance of the nation (Numbers 11:28).

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Biblical EventsKim RiddlebargerApril 1, 2022Jesus as the greater JoshuaComment

Job -- The Suffering Prophet (8): Job's Argument with Eliphaz About Suffering

The Pain Inflicted by Friends Trying to Help

There is a much greater pain than his sores, sleeplessness, and loss of all his children and possessions–the knowledge that Job’s friends think he has committed some secret sin, that he is guilty before God, is lying when he denies he’s sinned, and has therefore brought about his terrible ordeal.

From the perspective of Job’s friends (Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar), the reason why Job lost all of his possessions, his children and his health is very simple. God is holy, therefore he must punish all sin. In this they are correct. Since it is obvious that Job is being punished by God (to their way of thinking), there can only be one explanation. Either Job, or his children, have committed some horrible sin which has kindled the wrath of God.

But Job knows he is innocent of such a sin. His heart is broken because he has no idea why God is subjecting him to such terrible suffering. Even as he cries out to God, lamenting his sad state and asking “why?” Job knows that his friends have no clue as to why he is suffering. Although arising from a sense of loyal friendship, Job knows their attempts to “comfort him” are actually cruel, self-righteous diatribes which have no basis in fact.

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Reflections on Job, Biblical Events, Biblical TheologyKim RiddlebargerJanuary 17, 2022

Jesus Christ -- The Israel of God

If we stand within the field of prophetic vision typical of Israel’s prophets after the exile, and we look to the future, what do we see? Israel’s prophets clearly anticipate a time when Israel will be restored to its former greatness. But will that restoration of Israel to its former glory mirror the former days of the Davidic monarchy—i.e. a restored national kingdom? Or does the prophetic vision of restoration point beyond a monarchy to the ultimate monarch, Jesus the Messiah, who is the descendant of David, YHWH’s servant, and the true Israel?

The prophetic vision given the prophets is remarkably comprehensive. The nation had been divided, and the people of both kingdoms (Israel and Judah) were taken into captivity or dispersed as exiles throughout the region. Judah was exiled to Babylon five centuries before the coming of Jesus. Since the magnificent temple of Solomon was destroyed by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar and the Levitical priesthood was in disarray, any prophetic expectation related to Israel’s future would naturally speak of a reversal of fortune and the undoing of terrible calamity which had come upon the nation. The restoration to come in the messianic age therefore includes not only the fate of the nation, but also the land of Canaan, the city of Jerusalem, a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem (the so-called “second temple”), as well as the long anticipated heir to David’s throne—the coming Messiah.

Yet, once Israel’s Messiah had come, and the messianic age was a reality, how do the writers of the New Testament understand these Old Testament prophecies associated with Israel’s future restoration?

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Amillennialism, eschatology, Biblical Events, Biblical TheologyKim RiddlebargerJanuary 13, 2022 Comments

Job -- The Suffering Prophet (3): Who Was Job?

So, who was this man whom God called to suffer great loss and play such an important role in redemptive history?

Job is introduced to the reader in the opening verses of the first chapter. “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (v. 1). The land of Uz is east of the River Jordan (Qedem–“the east”), likely in what is now the nation of Jordan. Uz could be anywhere between Edom on the south, Moab on the east, and the land of the Aram to the north. While Job was not an Israelite–since no tribal or family identification is given–he clearly worships Israel’s God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. [1] So, apparently, do his friends and family.

As the story opens and we meet the central character, what stands out is the assertion that Job was “blameless and upright” and that “he feared God and turned away evil.” What, exactly, does this mean? One thing it does not mean is that Job was sinless, or that he had attained a state of justifying righteousness because he lived a blameless and upright life. We must not confuse cause and effect. We know this to be the case because elsewhere in this book Job declares himself to be a sinner. In Job 7:20, Job laments, “If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you?” In Job 13:26, he laments “for you write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.” Finally, in Job 14:16 -17, Job confesses that “you would number my steps; you would not keep watch over my sin; my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.”

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Reflections on Job, Biblical EventsKim RiddlebargerDecember 6, 2021Upright and blameless, Job as sinnerComment

Job -- The Suffering Prophet: "God's Sovereignty and Human Suffering" (2)

The story of Job is so compelling to us because it deals with a reality with which every Christian must wrestle–God’s sovereign control over every area of our lives. We have no problem accepting that God determines how tall we will be, whether we are born male or female, who our parents are, and what nationality we will be. We readily accept the fact that God determines what gifts and skills we will have, as well as whether or not we are born to means or poverty. We accept the fact that God determines the circumstances of our lives–including our height, skin color, health, length of life, and those calamities which may befall us. We accept these things without question because they are taught in Scripture and jive with our experience and common sense. God’s people nod in agreement to the assertion that “God is sovereign.” At least we nod in agreement until God does something we may not like or do not understand.

As Christians, we believe in original sin. All people who enter this world are guilty for Adam’s sin as well as their own (Psalm 51, Romans 5:12-19). Therefore, whenever someone suffers, the easy answer as to why they suffer is to go to our theological default setting. Why do people suffer? We suffer because we are sinners. We are being punished for what we have done.

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Job -- The Suffering Prophet: "Introduction"

The Book of Job is one of the most moving and profound stories known to humanity. Here is the account of a righteous and godly man, nearly overwhelmed by the loss of everything he owned and by the death of most everyone he loved, and who, now sick and afflicted beyond words, comes face to face with the sovereign God who brought all of these things to pass. And all the while, Job struggles to believe God’s promise to rescue him from his plight when every circumstance and every word offered in explanation only serves to call into question either Job’s righteousness or God’s goodness. It is not only a moving and fascinating story, but almost all of us can relate to what we read in this book. Many of us have been called to suffer and we certainly empathize with Job’s plight. It is also likely that we all know people like Job’s wife and friends who mean well, but who only make things worse every time they open their mouths when trying to help.

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The Fear of the Lord

I was still in my teens, but I vividly remember the preacher’s words. “When the Bible speaks of the fear of the Lord, it doesn’t mean to be afraid of God, but to respect him. We must never be afraid of God because he loves us.” The preacher had a point and there was palpable relief felt in the congregation upon his declaration. It sounded like God’s love somehow canceled out any fear of God which might trouble us.

But I continued to wonder, how does the softening of fear into “respect” square with the well-known verse in Proverbs 1:7, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, something which fools despise”? The question remained. What does it mean to “fear the Lord” especially when failing to fear the Lord is to be a fool who lacks knowledge?

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Biblical EventsKim RiddlebargerAugust 23, 2021fear of the Lord, love casts out fear

Rejoice Always?

When writing to Christians in the city of Thessalonica, the Apostle Paul instructs them, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). The Thessalonian church was founded by Paul, Timothy, and Silas on Paul’s second missionary journey, and was composed of people who left Greco-Roman paganism to embrace Jesus Christ by faith. Thessalonica was a large city (about 100,000 people lived there) on a major road when Paul visited the area. Thessalonica was the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia. It was an important place to plant a church. But it was hardly a friendly environment for new converts.

Having heard about their struggles after his departure, Paul writes to them from Corinth, partly to clear up some confusion in the congregation about the Lord’s return, but also to instruct them how to deal with their difficult circumstances. Paul is direct in his exhortation to the Thessalonians. Rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks in all circumstances should characterize the lives of these new Christians in the face of heated opposition from those who simply cannot understand why people would worship a Jewish Rabbi from far away Palestine, who claimed to be the Son of God only to be put to death by the Romans. But if that same Rabbi had been raised from the dead—as Jesus had been—how could you not worship him? One who conquered death was surely an object of hope in any time of trial.

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Biblical EventsKim RiddlebargerJune 30, 2021Rejoicing, biblical hope

Face to Face? Not Today . . . But One Day

I suppose that if you were to ask Christians whether or not they would like to “see” God, many, without thinking about it, would answer “yes.” Human curiosity easily wins out over whatever knowledge we might have of those biblical passages such as Hebrews 12:29, which informs us that “our God is a consuming fire.” If we were to see God this side of glory, it would not be a good thing, nor would such a sight satisfy our curiosity. We would be consumed. Although Isaiah saw the Lord upon his prophetic commissioning (Isaiah 6:1-7), he was undone by his sin—”woe is me!”

While Scripture promises that the pure in heart will see God (Matthew 5:8), Paul makes it clear that such sight cannot come until death, when believers enter God’s presence. It is God alone who “has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see” (1 Timothy 6:16). But on the last day, Paul says, when Jesus appears, we will see that which our sin and finitude currently prevents us from seeing (6:14-15).

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Biblical EventsKim RiddlebargerJune 14, 2021The Glory of God, The Beatific VisionComment

Joseph's Faith in the Face of Death

A key figure in the closing chapters of the Book of Genesis, Joseph is known for several things: his “coat of many colors,” being sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, and for his remarkable ability to interpret the dreams of the Egyptian Pharaoh. But when the author of Hebrews looks back on the life of Joseph in Hebrews 11 (the so-called “hall of faith”), Joseph is remembered for something we often forget. “By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones” (Hebrews 11:22).

Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob. Rachel was his mother. Joseph became the apple of his father’s eye and the recipient of the famous multicoat–a gift from his father, provoking great jealousy on the part of his brothers. Joseph even had the nerve to claim he had a dream in which his older brothers bowed down to him. When Jacob sent the seventeen year-old upstart Joseph to find his brothers, they plot to kill him. One of his brothers, Reuben, talked the others into throwing Joseph down a well, knowing that he (Reuben) would return later and rescue him. Instead, Joseph was sold to traders, who took Joseph into Egypt, where he was sold again to Potiphar. While in Potiphar’s care, God was with Joseph, who thrived. Through a series of remarkable events, including interpreting Pharaoh’s dream (Genesis 41), Joseph became viceroy over all of Egypt.

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Biblical EventsKim RiddlebargerMay 17, 2021Joseph, Joseph's reburial in ShechemComment