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"The Preaching of the Gospel" -- Article Three, First Head of Doctrine of the Canons of Dort

Article 3: The Preaching of the Gospel

In order that people may be brought to faith, God mercifully sends proclaimers of this very joyful message to the people he wishes and at the time he wishes. By this ministry people are called to repentance and faith in Christ crucified. For “how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without someone preaching? And how shall they preach unless they have been sent?” (Romans 10:14-15).

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The authors of the Canons are careful to link the end (God’s gracious desire to save sinners who do not deserve his favor), with the means by which those same sinners are called to faith in Jesus Christ--the preaching, teaching, and communication of the gospel (specifically identified as the message of Christ crucified) to both the people of God (to strengthen their faith and to help them live in assurance) as well as to non-Christians (so that they might be called and and come to trust in Jesus Christ to deliver them from the guilt and power of sin).

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The Canons of DortKim RiddlebargerJanuary 3, 2023Article Three - The Preaching of the GospelComment

A Happy and Blessed New Year!

A New Year’s Day Prayer (from the URCNA Forms and Prayers)

Eternal and Almighty God, we humble ourselves in your presence to dedicate to you the beginning of this year, by adoration, prayer, and praise.

We come before your Supreme Majesty, and acknowledge, with gratitude, the manifold blessings which you have freely bestowed upon us, through the whole course of our lives. We thank you, that having preserved us to the present time, you have permitted us to enter upon a new year. You have not ceased, O most gracious God, to give to us the abundance of your lovingkindness. But you have especially sustained us with every spiritual blessing by keeping in the midst of us the light of your gospel.

You have granted us repentance, through your mighty help, through your great goodness, and through the warnings of your Word and Spirit; and have mercifully given to us favorable opportunities to grow in grace. Despite our unworthiness, for the love of Jesus Christ, take not away from us your protection and favor.

Moved by your grace, we devote ourselves to you at the beginning of this year, desiring to employ it better than we have done the years that are past. And since this day also warns us that our years pass away like a flood, like a dream, give us grace that we may seriously number our days that we may have a heart of wisdom; that we may discern the vanity of this life; and that we may aspire to that better life, when days, and months, and years, shall be counted no more, forever.

While we continue in the flesh, may we more and more live not according to its desires, but according to your will. And grant, O God, that when our years shall come to an end, and the day of our death arrives, we may depart in the peace that passes all understanding and in the sure hope of life everlasting. Favorably hear us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Riddleblog Update, Riddleblog PublicationKim RiddlebargerDecember 31, 2022A blessed and happy new yearComment

Year-End Musings (12/31/2022)

If you listen to the Blessed Hope Podcast, you know I stress Bible reading—especially reading entire books of the Bible in one sitting whenever possible. Here is the annual list of Ligonier Bible Reading Plans. Please find one that works for you and get to it!
How do Christians feel about climate change and global warming? Pew Has the Answer
OK, so we Californians have to put up with Gavin Newsom. But at least we don’t have to deal with this: Iguana Causes Large Scale Power Outage in South Florida. In California the power goes out because of government green energy and environmental policies, not because of gigantic lizards!
Here’s a gift our governor wouldn’t appreciate. The perfect gift for the right governor
What could go wrong here? Atlanta Church Wants to Grow and Dispense Medical Marijuana. Dude, pass the offering plate . . . The deacons are gonna buy Doritos and Jack-in-the-Box tacos for everyone!
To read the rest, follow the link below

MusingsKim RiddlebargerDecember 31, 2022Year end musings Comments

“Jesus — The Lord of the New Year” Paul on the Course and Purpose of History in Ephesians 1:3-14

New Year — A Time to Reflect Upon the Past

In the minds of most Americans, New Year’s Day is a day for parades and college football. But the coming of the new year is also considered a time of new beginning–coming as it does a week after the busy Christmas holiday. This time of year, people are often in the mood to stop and reflect upon all the significant events of the past year.

The various news outlets and social media venues will spend much time this week recounting the names and faces of those influential figures and celebrities who have died in the past year. I am always amazed at how many of these people are already largely forgotten within a year of their death. Life is fleeting. News programming will broadcast a number of video montages of the significant events of the past year–from the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, the threat of nuclear war, the huge cultural shifts and tribal political warfare now under way, the on-going effects of Covid-19 and lockdowns, to a host of other human tragedies and poignant moments. A great deal has happened the past year.

But that is not all we associate with the New Year. As is the custom, we are all supposed to make a series of New Year’s resolutions about what we will do better next year, or not do, as the case may be. If we break our resolutions within moments after making them, it really does not matter, it is the making of them that counts.

The combination of all these things makes the coming new year a great time to stop and reflect upon the events of the recent past, as well as our hope for the future. Such a time of reflection has been the historic practice of Reformed churches. Article 37 of the URCNA church order lists New Year’s Day (along with New Year’s Eve, Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost and Ascension Day) as occasions when the consistory may call the congregation together for worship, although, to my knowledge, New Year’s day services are not widely held in our churches except perhaps when New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday.

Henry Ford on History as “Bunk”

As with most things, the Christian take on the events of the past and our expectations for the future stands in sharp contrast to the non-Christians around us. One place where the antithesis (i.e., the stark contrast) between Christian and non-Christian thinking is most striking is in how we as Christians view the past and ground our hope for the future. Most Americans, I think, would agree with Henry Ford (the founder of the automotive company which still bears his name) who is widely quoted to have said, “History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”

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Biblical Events, Biblical Theology, Riddleblog PublicationKim RiddlebargerDecember 26, 2022The new year, Ephesians 1:3-14Comment

A Very Blessed Christmas to You and Yours!

Merciful Father, You so loved the world that You gave Your only begotten Son.

He who was rich became poor for us, the eternal Word made flesh, a great Light shining in the darkness.

Only because of Your Word and Spirit have we seen that Light and been drawn into its brightness.

Give us the grace humbly and joyfully to receive Your Son, even as the shepherds and princes who welcomed Him, and to look no further for our redemption than to this child lying in a manger.

This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

From Liturgical Forms and Prayers of the URCNA

Riddleblog PublicationKim RiddlebargerDecember 24, 2022A Blessed ChristmasComment

Happy Festivus!!!

The airing of grievances, the feats of strength, the aluminum pole, and waiting for that Festivus miracle . . .

Just having some funKim RiddlebargerDecember 23, 2022FestivusComment

"An Established Fact . . ." Herman Bavinck on the True Humanity of Christ in the Incarnation

Promised under the Old Testament as the Messiah who is to come as a descendant of a woman of Abraham, Judah, and David, [Jesus] is conceived in the fullness of time by the Holy Spirit in Mary (Matt. 1:20) and born of her, of a woman (Gal. 4:4). He is her son (Luke 2:7), the fruit of her womb (Luke 1:42), a descendant of David and Israel according to the flesh (Acts 2:30; Rom. 1:3; 9:5), sharing in our flesh and blood, like us in all things, sin excepted (Heb. 2:14, 17–18; 4:15; 5:1); a true human, the Son of Man (Rom. 5:15; 1 Cor. 15:21; 1 Tim. 2:5), growing up as an infant (Luke 2:40, 52), experiencing hunger (Matt. 4:2), thirst (John 19:28), weeping (Luke 19:41; John 11:35), being moved (John 12:27), feeling grief (Matt. 26:38), being furious (John 2:17), suffering, dying. For Scripture it is so much an established fact that Christ came in the flesh that it calls the denial of it anti-Christian (1 John 2:22). And it teaches that Christ assumed not only a true but also a complete human nature.

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Biblical Events, Biblical Theology, Reformed ResourcesKim RiddlebargerDecember 22, 2022Bavinck on the IncarnationComment

"Why the Incarnation?" Calvin's Explanation

The situation would surely have been hopeless had the very majesty of God not descended to us, since it was not in our power to ascend to him. Hence, it was necessary for the Son of God to become for us “Immanuel, that is, God with us” [Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23], and in such a way that his divinity and our human nature might by mutual connection grow together. Otherwise the nearness would not have been near enough, nor the affinity sufficiently firm, for us to hope that God might dwell with us. So great was the disagreement between our uncleanness and God’s perfect purity! Even if man had remained free from all stain, his condition would have been too lowly for him to reach God without a Mediator. What, then, of man: plunged by his mortal ruin into death and hell, defiled with so many spots, befouled with his own corruption, and overwhelmed with every curse? In undertaking to describe the Mediator, Paul then, with good reason, distinctly reminds us that He is man: “One mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ” [1 Tim. 2:5].

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Biblical Theology, Biblical Events, Reformed ResourcesKim RiddlebargerDecember 21, 2022Christ's IncarnationComment

I Was Recently a Guest on the Renewalcast

On the Renewalcast Discussing the Apostle’s Creed

Riddleblog Update, Biblical TheologyKim RiddlebargerDecember 21, 2022The Apostles' Creed

"For This Purpose . . ." Athanasius on the Reason For the Incarnation

From Athanasius, On the Incarnation, II.8

(8) For this purpose, then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God entered our world. In one sense, indeed, He was not far from it before, for no part of creation had ever been without Him Who, while ever abiding in union with the Father, yet fills all things that are. But now He entered the world in a new way, stooping to our level in His love and Self-revealing to us. He saw the reasonable race, the race of men that, like Himself, expressed the Father's Mind, wasting out of existence, and death reigning over all in corruption. He saw that corruption held us all the closer, because it was the penalty for the Transgression; He saw, too, how unthinkable it would be for the law to be repealed before it was fulfilled.

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Athanasius, Biblical TheologyKim RiddlebargerDecember 20, 2022Why the Incarnation? Comments

"Jesus -- The Messianic Heir, the True Adam and Israel" -- Horton on the Person of Christ

Why the Birth of the Savior?

All of God’s covenantal purposes converge in Jesus Christ. The Son is the eternal Mediator of the covenant of redemption which already in eternity rendered him, by anticipation, the one who would become incarnate and give his life for his people (1 Pe 1:20–21; Eph 1:4–5, 11). He is also the Last Adam, who undoes the curse of the first Adam and fulfills the covenant of creation for his elect, thereby winning the right to be not only the risen head but the resurrection-life-giving Lord. Therefore, the covenant of grace of which Christ is the mediatorial head is secured eternally in the covenant of redemption. “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Co 1:20).
Although Israel, like Adam, failed to drive the serpent out of God’s holy garden and instead succumbed to the seduction of God’s archenemy, God pledges that he will not utterly destroy Israel but will preserve a remnant from which will emerge the Messiah who will bring an ultimate salvation and an everlasting kingdom of righteousness not only to Jews but to the nations. If the works principle inherent in the Sinai covenant stood alone, neither Israel nor the world would have any hope.
Yet even in its exile, Israel too is given the promise that its coming Shepherd will gather his scattered sheep and bring redemption to the ends of the earth. The enlargement of Jerusalem promised with the new covenant in Jeremiah 31 and 32 is anticipated elsewhere, sometimes in passages that even recast the traditional roles of the oppressor (Egypt and Assyria) as the oppressed who are delivered from bondage and taken as God’s own people (Isa 19:18–23). Isaiah 60 sets before us the vision of ships from all over the world entering Israel’s harbor, laden this time not with implements of war but with rich treasures. “Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising” (v. 3). A royal procession of the nations and their kings, into gates that never close (v. 11), echoes the Sabbath enthronement of God in the beginning, with the parade of the creature-kings before the Lord in the day-frames of Genesis 1 and 2. Psalm 2 evokes the courtroom scene, with the creature-kings arrayed before the Sabbath splendor of the Great King and his anointed one (Messiah), but in war rather than tribute, with the Great King laughing at the self-confident posturing of the earth’s rulers who reject the Messiah, yet promising salvation from this coming judgment for “all who take refuge in him.”

Michael Horton, The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 446-447.

The Name That Is Above Every Name -- An Exposition of Philippians 2:1-11

“The Name That Is Above Every Name”

One of the most famous and well-known passages in all the Bible is the famous hymn to Christ (the Carmen Christi) of verses 6-11 of Philippians 2. Martin Luther writes in his famous essay The Freedom of the Christian, that this passage is a prescribed rule of life which is set forth by the Apostle Paul, who exhorts us to devote our good works to the welfare of our neighbor out of the abundant riches of faith. John Calvin tells us that anyone who reads this passage but fails to see the deity of Jesus and the majesty of God as seen in his saving works, is blind to the things of God.[1] The passage contains a very rich Christology, but is included in this letter not to settle any debate over the person and work of Jesus, but rather, to instruct Christians how to imitate Jesus in a profound and significant way. The Carmen Christi also speaks directly to modern Americans by reminding us that the self-centered narcism of American culture is not a virtue, but runs completely contrary to the example set for us to follow by Jesus in his incarnation.

To read the rest, follow the link below

Biblical Theology, Biblical EventsKim RiddlebargerDecember 14, 2022Philippians 2:1-11, The carmen ChristiComment

Warfield on the "Victorious Life"

A conference entitled “Victory in Christ” was held in Princeton, NJ, in 1916. This was very near the den of the “Lion of Princeton,” one Benjamin Breckenridge Warfield. The Lion was not amused to have a cadre of “higher life” teachers trespass on his home turf. In his essay, “The Victorious Life,” Warfield sets his sights on one Charles Trumbull, a well known higher-life proponent and the editor of the Sunday School Times. You can find this essay in its entirely here (Warfield, "The Victorious Life"), or in Studies in Perfectionism (P & R).

A couple of quotations should suffice to understand the reason for Warfield’s ire with Mr. Trumbull—A badly distorted view of the Christian life gleaned from John Wesley, in which justification and sanctification are grounded in two distinct acts of faith.

To read Warfield’s comments, follow the link below:

B. B. WarfieldKim RiddlebargerDecember 12, 2022The Victorious Life, High Life TeacherComment

"Deliverance from the Wrath to Come" -- Episode Four of My Series on Paul’s Thessalonian Letters

Episode Synopsis:

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

To listen to the podcast and view the show notes, follow the link below

Lest We forget -- A Date That Will Live in Infamy (December 7, 1941)

This is a re-post from the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941

My parents spoke often of the shock of learning of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on the afternoon of December 7, 1941. It was an event which brought the United States into World War 2 and which defined their entire generation.

Throughout the years I have been privileged to talk with several men who were at Pearl Harbor the morning of the attack. To a man they expressed the same reaction; Initial shock, increasing anger and a desire for revenge, then relief and thankfulness for their own personal survival, followed by the grim realization that a long and bloody war had only just begun.

My father was an FBI agent during the war and spent his time monitoring various points of entry into the US (mostly cargo ports in Philadelphia, Miami, but also the US/Mexico border near El Paso). For him, the war years were tedious and routine, but he saw his work as necessary and important.

My father-in-law, a rancher from a small town in Nebraska, served in the Army Air Corps in the Pacific Theater. He lived his entire post-war life in the shadow of his war experience. He saw things men should never see and had some wonderful stories to tell about his South Pacific adventures. Throughout his life he stayed in touch with the men of his bombardment group (he serviced the B-24s his group flew into combat). His war service defined him.

That generation of citizen soldiers won a brutal and costly war against the forces of fascism and totalitarianism. Many of them were better men than I, and sadly, very few of them remain alive. But in a three hour span eighty-one years ago, their world changed. Many of us grew up in the shadow of that changed world—in freedom, prosperity, and relative peace, in large measure because of what they accomplished.

Let us not forget them, nor their service and sacrifice—even eighty-one years later.

History and CultureKim RiddlebargerDecember 7, 202281st Anniversary of Pearl HarborComment

"The Manifestation of God's Love" -- Article Two, First Head of Doctrine, Canons of Dort

Article 2: The Manifestation of God's Love

But this is how God showed his love: he sent his only begotten Son into the world, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (1 John 4:9; John 3:16).

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In the opening articles, the authors of the Canons are careful to explain that any possible deliverance from our sinful condition (guilt, condemnation and the inability to do anything to save ourselves) arises from something good in God--specifically his love for his rebellious creatures--and not because there is something “good” in us which God sees and which motivates him to act to save us.

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The Canons of DortKim RiddlebargerDecember 7, 2022God's Love for Sinners, John 3:16 in the Canons of DortComment

The Basics: The Sufficiency of Scripture

The sufficiency of Scripture is closely related to the inspiration and authority of the Bible. When we speak of the inspiration of Scripture, we refer to the fact that the various books of the Bible have their origin in the will of God. The books of the Bible have been breathed forth by God the Holy Spirit through the agency of human writers (2 Timothy 3:16). When we speak of the authority of the Bible, we mean that since the Holy Spirit is Scripture’s divine author, the Holy Spirit alone is able to bear witness to the truthfulness and divine origin of God’s word. The church does not give the Bible its authority. Rather, the church can only recognize that authority which Scripture already possesses because God has breathed it forth.

When we speak of Scripture as “sufficient,” we mean that the Bible reveals everything God wants us to know about his will, and how to be saved from his wrath. The Bible was given for a very specific purpose. The Bible does not teach us everything that might be useful or practical to know, nor was it intended to do so. The Bible was not given to satisfy sinful human curiosity, nor will we find answers to all of the mysteries of life. The secret things belong to God (cf. Deuteronomy 29:29).

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The BasicsKim RiddlebargerDecember 5, 2022Comment

The Psalm of Moses -- "YHWH, Our Dwelling Place" An Exposition of Psalm 90

Life in a Fallen Word Is Nasty, Brutish, and Short

Life is fleeting. The average life span of an American is 78.2 years (75.6 for men, 80.8 for women). That seems like a long time until we consider that the last veteran of World War One (1914-1918) is long since dead and World War 2 ended seventy plus years ago. My high school class is holding its fiftieth reunion this year. 9-1-1 occurred more than two decades ago. When viewed in that light, an average life span of nearly 80 years is not all that long. Yet, time keeps marching on. As each and every day goes by we struggle with our sins, we face suffering and calamity, we wonder what tomorrow holds (given the mysterious providence of God), and we worry about facing the wrath of God when we die. In Psalm 90, Moses speaks to this struggle of daily life as he exhorts us to number our days and to live this life in light of eternity.

When you study the Psalter, you find select Psalms associated with various authors (David, the sons of Korah, etc.) and Psalms with different content and purposes (royal Psalms, wisdom Psalms, Psalms used in worship in the Jerusalem temple), and so on. In this exposition, we will look at the historical background to the composition of Psalm 90, then we will work our way though the text of the Psalm, and finally, we will look at the application of this Psalm to the Christian life.

The Only Psalm Written By Moses

Psalm 90 is the only Psalm written by Moses, which likely makes Psalm 90 the oldest Psalm in the Psalter. As for the historical background to this Psalm, recall that Moses lived about 1500 BC, and David about 1000 BC., so the origin of this Psalm goes back to that time described in the closing chapters of the Book of Deuteronomy when the people of Israel arrived on the plains of Moab, just across the Jordan River from the promised land of Canaan before they crossed the Jordan and conquered Jericho. This puts the composition of Psalm 90 about 500 years before the temple was built in Jerusalem, and well before Israel’s kingdom extended all the way from Damascus to Egypt (under David and Solomon). This is why Psalm 90 has such a different feel than the other Psalms.

Psalm 90 is the first Psalm in Book Four of the Psalter (i.e., Psalms 90-106). Most of the Psalms in Book Four are anonymous (the so-called “orphan Psalms”), except Psalm 90 which was written by Moses, and several Psalms which are attributed to David. The Psalms in Book Four tend to deal with difficult questions about human frailty and the meaning of life, the nature of justice and God’s faithfulness, and the difficult question of why it is that God does not immediately punish the wicked. These difficult questions about life in a fallen world were raised in Psalm 89 (which closes out Book Three of the Psalter, and which is a Psalm of lament because of Israel’s sin). These questions are addressed, in part, throughout the various Psalms found in Book Four.[1]

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Musings (11/30/2022)

Riddleblog Updates:

The Reformed Confessions tab has been edited and updated to support the new series on the Canons of Dort
Thanks much to Nick for the updated (and improved) Blessed Hope Podcast artwork.

Musings (links):

To read the rest of my “musings” follow the link below

MusingsKim RiddlebargerNovember 30, 2022Christian nationalism, Reading Bavinck, Hart on Ben FranklinComment

"God's Right to Condemn All People" -- Article One, First Head of Doctrine, Canons of Dort

Article 1: God’s Right to Condemn All People

Since all people have sinned in Adam and have come under the sentence of the curse and eternal death, God would have done no one an injustice if it had been his will to leave the entire human race in sin and under the curse, and to condemn them on account of their sin. As the apostle says: “The whole world is liable to the condemnation of God” (Rom. 3:19), “All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), and “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).

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The Canons of Dort open with due consideration of the human condition after Adam’s fall into sin, guilt, and the curse (death), as set forth in numerous biblical passages, three of which are cited in Article One: Romans 3:19; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23.

But far too often, people do not begin with a biblical perspective on matters of sin and grace, but with a number of flawed cultural assumptions usually tied to optimism regarding human nature, especially those associated with American democracy— “everyone should have a say in things.” This difference in presuppositions explains why there is so much resistance and indignation whenever a Reformed Christian dares mention the “five-points of Calvinism” in a non-Reformed context. Reformed folk understand our redemption from the guilt and power of sin as a divine rescue of people who cannot save themselves, and would not do so even if they could. People who are dead in sin cannot resurrect themselves by an act of will. People who are born guilty for Adam’s sin and a corresponding sinful nature have no interest in Jesus Christ or his gospel. They see no need of redemption, they do not fear judgment since they view themselves as basically good people who truly possess the power to do what God asks of them.

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