A Whole Lotta Musings (April 4, 2025)

Riddleblog and Blessed Hope Podcast Updates:

  • Since the current Blessed Hope Podcast series on 1 Corinthians has but one more episode to record, a word about the future schedule for the Blessed Hope Pod. I’ll be taking a break to work on a book project, before picking back up with 2 Corinthians—one of the most overlooked but profound letters in the New Testament. Then, Lord willing, it is on to Romans!

  • I’m trying to make access to resources easier, so here’s a new Riddleblog page with collected Pauline Studies and Resources. I’ll be adding to it regularly, so check back.

Thinking Out Loud:

  • Corey Booker probably should not have watched Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. All his 25 hour filibuster stunt accomplished was a sleepless night and hoarseness. Voters are sick of stunts and performative politics. Good thing there are no preaching filibusters. Too many preachers think the longer the sermon, the better. I’ll bet several could go 25 hours like Booker.

  • Love the torpedo bat! But it is not new however. Several hitters used them last year and they’ve been used in Spring training and minor league games. The Yankees have been hitting a ton of home runs to start the season, but that might be because half the Milwaukee Brewers pitching staff was on the DL, and their replacements (in their first three games against the Yanks), let me say it kindly, stunk.

  • People who put up the decorative ten foot tall plastic skeletons in their yards for Halloween might want to take them down soon after. We’ve still got several standing in our neighborhood. Putting a Santa hat on the skeleton was clever when left up through Christmas (the first year), but still doesn’t let you off the hook for being too lazy to take it down over a year later.

  • Just tried the new Chick-Fil-A Roadhouse BBQ chicken sandwich. It was really good!

  • There was a Joe Biden sighting recently. I can’t help but wonder if in his lucid moments he misses being president. Dr. Jill, on the other hand, probably misses being president in all her lucid moments.

  • No surprises in the recent JFK files dump. The CIA was up to no good in Cuba, presidential historian Arthur Schlesinger warned JFK about the CIA’s growing influence in Washington, the CIA had a file on Oswald since he was a Marine who defected to the Soviet Union, and JFK didn’t like Mossad or the fact that Israel was building an atomic weapon. But no evidence has surfaced which raises any doubt whatsoever about Oswald being the lone gunman and the assassin of JFK.

Currently Reading:

James Ware’s new book, The Final Triumph of God, is a detailed commentary on 1 Corinthians 15. The volume focuses upon Paul’s treatment of Christ’s resurrection and is must reading for anyone interested in Pauline studies or apologetics. Ware is professor emeritus of Religion at the University of Evansville. The scope and thoroughness of The Final Triumph exceeds any other commentary that I know of on this chapter and Paul’s arguments contained therein. It is filled with exegetical gems and Ware interacts with both ancient and contemporary sources.

Working through Paul’s letters as I have been doing of late, I’ve grown weary of the tiresome and vapid assumptions of critical scholars on a number of issues. As Peter said, Paul’s letters are hard to understand in places (2 Peter 3:16). So it is not a matter of ignoring the fact that there are historical and interpretative difficulties in Paul’s letters which merit scholarly debate. But it is a matter of Ware repeatedly taking on critical scholars on their own terms and leaving them completely disarmed.

Ware takes dead aim at those who argue that Christ’s resurrection was non-bodily—that Jesus rose as some sort of spiritual entity sans tissue and bone. Whether that be Greco-Roman pagans of Paul’s day or the cadre of New Testament scholars who hold to similar views in ours, Ware makes a compelling case (and to my mind, insurmountable) that Paul’s use of the term (ἐγείρω), “he was raised,” can only refer to one who rises up from a prone position as if awakened and then stands up. Paul does not mean that a phantom-like Jesus “rose” to heaven like a balloon which escapes from a children’s birthday party. Squirm and contort how they will, based upon Paul’s terminology, the only way Christ’s resurrection was non-physical is to ignore how the term is used elsewhere (especially in biblical and classic sources), or to assert falsehoods as though confidently asserting them makes them true. If you’ve dealt with critical scholars before, you know the drill—there must be some sort of a non-supernatural way to read the biblical text. While they admit that “of course, Christianity affirms that Jesus rose from the dead” they do so with a smug incredulity peeking out through their words. They tell us this doesn’t mean a miracle occurred—like Jesus being raised from the dead in a transformed physical body. Ware conclusively demonstrates that this is exactly what Paul means in1 Corinthians 15:4 and elsewhere.

Ware does the same to those who assert that Paul never taught a future bodily resurrection of those who have died in Christ. The exegetical evidence is inescapably clear that Paul’s eschatology anticipates that just as Jesus was raised bodily from the dead (as the firstfruits), so too will all those who trust in him since they are included in the harvest. Yet a number of critical scholars align themselves with the views of those ancient philosophers whom Paul is opposing in chapter 15 of the Corinthian letter—that the resurrection of Jesus and the future resurrection of his followers are of a non-physical, “spiritual” nature. In fact, as Ware demonstrates, the denial of the future resurrection is the chief problem which underlies Paul’s First Corinthians epistle, implying that the philosophical categories and pre-understanding of many critical scholars are just like those of the ancient Corinthians by holding to a specious dualism between flesh and spirit (the ole platonic dualism) or to materialism (like the Epicureans).

As yet another example of his take down of the critical consensus, Ware addresses the flimsy case made by many that Jesus’s kingdom is temporary and that when he hands the kingdom over to the Father (vv. 24, 28), his work is done and that he and his followers enter into a spiritual and mystical heavenly bliss. Never mind how this destroys Nicene Orthodoxy and ignores Paul robust Trinitarian theology, which is seen by critics as a historical relic and an obstacle to properly understand the historical Jesus. Such an understanding allows critical scholars to affirm the value and historical influence of Christianity, while at the same time presenting the Christian faith as but one religion among many which brings benefits to its followers and to the cultures of the world. Ware demonstrates beyond all reasonable doubt that the kingdom which Jesus hands over to the Father is eternal.

I could go on and on, but let me just say, this is one of those books I’ve marked up thoroughly (with my trusty red pen), and read slowly and carefully. I savored going through it just like I would savor a fine single malt. Needless to say, Triumph of God is must reading. One caveat—it does require some ability to read New Testament Greek, or the patience to skip over such to the translation which is provided.

This is a wonderful magnum opus from an emeritus professor!

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March 2025 Musings (3/7/2025)

Video: Reagan v. Trump on Tariffs

I miss this man so much! I am a Reagan conservative down to my gills and not a MAGA populist, so am currently politically homeless since Trump has effectively booted conservatives from the Republican party. This is the sort of wisdom and common sense so desperately lacking in the MAGA movement. This is Reagan at his best.

MusingsKim RiddlebargerWare on 1 Cor 15, Trump's tariff mythology, torpedo bats, Trueman on the bleak future, Reagan versus Trump2 Comments