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 as directly to th...
Apr 21, 2025•41 min•Season 3Ep. 29
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 victory will beco...
Apr 07, 2025•55 min•Season 3Ep. 28
E pisode 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, nevertheless, the questi...
Mar 24, 2025•59 min•Season 3Ep. 27
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 was raised from the dead ...
Mar 10, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Season 3Ep. 26
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 these verses were proof...
Feb 24, 2025•47 min•Season 3Ep. 25
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 from which tongues spontan...
Feb 10, 2025•53 min•Season 3Ep. 24
Episode Synopsis: What the Bible says about love, and the way most Americans think about love, are usually two vastly different things. Our contemporaries tend to think of love as a powerful emotion, most often associated with romance and intimacy. Images of hearts and cupids on Valentine’s Day are ingrained in us from an early age. Love is also tied to a utopian dream when people experience a powerful sense of brotherhood and unity when they join together for a worthwhile cause. Sadly, these im...
Jan 27, 2025•46 min•Season 3Ep. 23
Episode Synopsis: Almost all peoples and cultures seem to have some sort of utopian dream–a world of universal peace, prosperity, and harmony. John Lennon’s Imagine anyone? The problem with all utopian visions is that ours is a fallen race. Because we are a fallen race we all too often find ourselves divided along racial, socioeconomic, political, and theological lines. Much like the citizens of first century Corinth, we too struggle to find true unity in a world rife with division of all sorts....
Jan 13, 2025•59 min•Season 3Ep. 22
Episode Synopsis: One of the most divisive theological controversies of my lifetime was the charismatic movement with its stress upon baptism in the Holy Spirit as evident in speaking in tongues. Whenever the charismatic renewal spread to a new church, it immediately divided the church into two camps–those who experienced what they claimed was a new work of the Holy Spirit which manifested itself in the speaking with tongues, and those who thought such a thing was demonic and who did everything ...
Dec 23, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Season 3Ep. 21
Episode Synopsis: One of the saddest indicators of human sinfulness is found in the last half of 1 Corinthians 11. The sacrament of Christian unity (the Lord’s Supper) had instead become the occasion for further division in the Corinthian church. Paul laments that in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper the rich were exploiting the poor, the body of Christ was not properly being discerned, and the Supper was being celebrated in such an improper way that what was being done was not the Lord’s Sup...
Dec 09, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 3Ep. 20
Episode Synopsis: As a cosmopolitan city and home to many varieties of Greco-Roman paganism, Corinth was a cutting edge place for first century fashion and culture. From what we know regarding the city’s ethos at the time, there was growing tension between traditional gender roles and a desire for women to express themselves in non-traditional ways long associated with polite Greco-Roman society. One obvious way to show this quest for personal freedom was for a woman to wear her hair down (long ...
Nov 25, 2024•51 min•Season 3Ep. 19
Episode Synopsis: We’ve come to 1 Corinthians 10:14-11:1, as Paul wraps up his discussion of idolatry. In the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, Christian believers drink the cup of blessing and eat the broken bread–described by Paul as a participation in Christ’s body and blood. Since so many in Corinth were still hanging on to remnants of their pagan past, from what Paul says here it seems many were still attending both the Christian sacrament as well as pagan sacrifices. To those claiming to wor...
Nov 11, 2024•50 min•Season 3Ep. 18
Episode Synopsis: If you have ever wondered what it would be like for Paul to teach you how to read and understand the Old Testament in light of the coming of Jesus Christ, in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 , the apostle does exactly that. The birth of Israel stems from deliverance from their bondage in Egypt, followed by the Passover, and then the Exodus through the Red Sea before heading into the Sinai wilderness on their way to the promised land of Canaan. For Paul, this is an important period in Isra...
Oct 28, 2024•51 min
Episode Synopsis: If we were to find Paul’s notes for an upcoming lecture on “my philosophy of ministry,” we would probably find the words of 1 Corinthians 9:19–23, "For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside th...
Oct 14, 2024•52 min•Season 3Ep. 16
Episode Synopsis: The church in Corinth was plagued by factions. One source of division was ethnicity–the church was made up of Jews, Greeks, Romans, and likely a number of other nationalities. Then there were the factions formed by church members who identified with Paul, Peter, or Apollos, as their favorite teachers. There were also deep cultural divisions between the wealthy and the poor who found it difficult to socialize with one another even within the body of Christ. But in this section o...
Sep 30, 2024•58 min•Season 3Ep. 15
Episode Synopsis: In 1 Corinthians 7:17-40, Paul teaches what I call the “you can’t unscramble eggs” doctrine. What should a new Christian do when they come to faith in Jesus Christ? Do they quit their current “secular” job to devote themselves full-time to Jesus Christ and to the work of ministry? Should they rush into marriage to avoid the lusts of the flesh? Or conversely, should they seek to end an engagement because the time of the end might be drawing near? What about those widowed, single...
Sep 16, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 3Ep. 14
Episode Synopsis: Paul’s Gentile mission was a huge success. A number of new churches were established throughout the eastern Mediterranean world–including fast growing churches in important cities such as Corinth, Thessalonica, and Ephesus. But with the spread of the gospel into a previously unevangelized world dominated by Greco-Roman culture and religion, came a whole set of pastoral problems–problems which were not specifically addressed in the Old Testament or in the teaching of Jesus. A nu...
Sep 02, 2024•52 min•Season 3Ep. 13
Episode Synopsis: Sex and marriage were pressing issues in Corinth. Gentiles who came to faith in Jesus Christ during Paul’s Gentile mission were learning the biblical sexual ethic for the first time. Grounded in the creation order, the Ten Commandments, and the teaching of Jesus, it did not take long for the Corinthians to understand that sex was not merely a pleasurable bodily function, but biblical sexuality has a strong moral foundation. That meant that much of the common sexual attitudes an...
Aug 19, 2024•49 min•Season 3Ep. 12
Episode Synopsis: It has been said that prostitution is the world’s old profession. In reality, tending a garden and naming animals is. But if you lived in first century Corinth you lived in a city well-known for its prostitutes and rampant sexual immorality. This creates a difficult situation for Christians who live there and who have been taught by Paul that sexual relations are limited to marriage. Paul has learned that some in the Corinthian church justified using the services of prostitutes...
May 22, 2024•48 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Episode Synopsis: Corinth was a booming city with lots of new money and great stress upon the power and prestige that goes with it. One way to enhance your public image was to take advantage of those who had something you wanted or needed, or to shame a rival or get a leg up on someone you didn’t like, was to sue them in civil court. Corinth was a very litigious place with one citizen complaining that there were far too many lawyers in the city. The legal system in Corinth was rigged to favor th...
May 14, 2024•55 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Episode Synopsis: When passing through Ephesus, where Paul was living at the time, members of Chloe’s family informed Paul of a situation in the Corinthian church of such a serious nature that Paul is taken aback. A man in the Corinthian church (presumably known to the church but unnamed by Paul) is cohabiting with his father’s wife. Such conduct was scandalous to the point that even the sexually libertine Greco-Roman pagans were offended by it. While the man’s conduct was shameful, what trouble...
Apr 25, 2024•48 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Episode Synopsis: Paul expressed a fair bit of righteous anger in his letter to the Galatians–calling those taken in by false teachers foolish people who have been all-too easily bewitched by false teachers. In 1 Corinthians 4, the apostle again expresses his frustration, speaking sarcastically of those who think of themselves as rich (when they are poor), and as kings who act as though they rule the church (when they are not). But Paul will have none of it. It matters not to him what the immatu...
Apr 12, 2024•50 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Episode Synopsis: So what will it be? Milk or meat? Are the Corinthians spiritual toddlers? Or are they mature Christians? Since they are being drawn to the factions forming within the church (“I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos”) it is clear that no matter how mature they think they are, in reality they are immature. Their lack of progress in Christian maturity provokes a response from Paul who challenges the Corinthians to consider who they are in Christ and how that should impact the way they ...
Mar 29, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Episode Synopsis: Paul did not come to Corinth as a typical sage, sophist, or philosopher. He was an unimpressive rabbi and made no attempt to embrace Greco-Roman rhetorical techniques to keep an audience entertained and wanting more. Paul’s mission to the Gentiles was not about him, it was about the message he preached, Christ and him crucified. When Paul arrived in Corinth he was weak and fearful. He impressed no one with his charisma or eloquent speech. But he did know that the power and wisd...
Mar 15, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Episode Synopsis: The cross of Jesus Christ is utter foolishness to those who are perishing in their sins. Yet, Paul tells the Corinthians that through message of the cross God reveals his wisdom and power. In the closing section of the first chapter of his first Corinthian letter, Paul explains how and why the preaching of Christ crucified confounds all those who seek mere human wisdom from sages, holy men, philosophers, prophets, and gurus across the ages, all of whom claim to be seeking after...
Mar 02, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Episode Synopsis: Paul has gotten some rather bad news. Members of Chloe’s family (presumably people Paul had known from his time in Corinth) had come to Ephesus (where Paul was currently laboring). They informed him of serious troubles back in Corinth. People were quarreling to the point that factions had developed in the church, with various groups identifying as followers of Paul, while others claimed to be loyal to Apollos, or to Peter. Some even claimed to be merely followers of Jesus. No d...
Feb 16, 2024•49 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Episode Synopsis: In the opening 9 verses of Paul’s first Corinthian letter, Paul sets the stage for what is to come. Although he was in Corinth for some eighteen months and knew many of those to whom he is writing quite well, his apostolic authority was being challenged by some in the congregation. Paul must address this matter by reminding the Corinthians of his apostolic office and calling. Although we might expect a stern rebuke given what Paul has heard about what was going on in Corinth, i...
Feb 02, 2024•50 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Episode Synopsis: Paul’s first Corinthian letter was written to deal with divisions in the Corinthian church. He’s received a letter from the Corinthians asking him about how to deal with the Greco-Roman pagans around them, as well as how to handle professing Christians who either did not understand, or implement the apostle’s instructions. In Ephesus, where Paul was residing, someone who had just come from Corinth passed on to Paul the news that the Corinthians had misunderstood his written res...
Jan 19, 2024•1 hr 29 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Episode Synopsis: I’m very excited to kick off season three of the Blessed Hope Podcast because we are taking up one of the most interesting and challenging letters in all the New Testament–Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. This is a letter which is practical in the best sense of the term and we will spend a great deal of time going through it in some detail. One of the first things we will notice in Paul’s First Corinthian letter is that he is not writing a systematic treatise (as he does...
Jan 06, 2024•59 min•Season 3Ep. 1
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 amillennial students to ...
Oct 26, 2023•52 min•Season 100Ep. 8
