Forget the Channel

Author: Lionel Windsor

  • Finally, a real blog

    This site has been through a number of metamorphoses. It began as a place where I posted Greek and Hebrew vocabulary-learning tools. After a while I added a few articles and essays and random thoughts. In the last few years, I’ve been using the site to inform people about my studies and how to support…

  • Talks on the Authority and Sufficiency of the Bible

    Here are two talks I recently gave on the doctrines of the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. Unfortunately the more detailed application is missing from the first talk because the laptop that was recording the talks ran out of battery partway through my talk! However, there’s still about 50 minutes of material in both talks.

  • Hairstyles and the New Testament (Robert Cavin)

    This is from my friend and colleague Robert Cavin: When we were on vacation in the south of England a few weeks ago, we stopped at Bath, England on the way home. Why? It’s the site of an ancient Roman bath. The place has the only naturally occurring, thermal hot springs in England. So, in…

  • Want to support excellent Christian kids’ music? Give a few $$ (or ££) to Ben Pakula.

    When I say excellent, I mean it in all senses I can think of: musically, lyrically and theologically. We–I mean me, Bronwyn, our 8 year old, 6 year old and 3 year old–love Ben Pakula’s music. It’s so true, and it’s so awesome. Those fantastic truths about our powerful God and his plan for salvation…

  • Loving what God Loves

    From the Sola Panel: The UK government has launched a review into occupational Health & Safety laws (OH&S). It seems to be a very popular move. Health is good. Safety is good. But the multiplication of rules purportedly designed to enforce it often leads to madness. Most of us are aware of safety rules that…

  • The Greatest Expectations

    On the Sola Panel: Once I got to church on time, but God arrived 20 minutes late. On the other hand, occasionally I’ve been to church and God didn’t manage to turn up at all. At least, that’s the impression you’d form if you judged by expectations. The times I remember when nobody expected God…

  • The Purpose of the Law in Galatians 3

    What is the purpose of the law according to Galatians 3? (This post is part of a series) The immediate question in Galatians 3:17 is that of the status of the Sinai covenant. Paul’s opponents seem to have been arguing that the Gentiles could only be blessed if they joined the covenant people and submitted…

  • Re-reading Doug Campbell

    Here’s something I’d like to say: I’ve just picked up a copy of Douglas A. Campbell’s The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul (Grand Rapids / Cambridge: Eerdmans, 2009). Initially, I was a bit daunted. It’s a very big and scary book, running to 1218 pages. But I’ve just realised that…

  • A prayer request from an Aussie living in the Mother Country

    From the Sola Panel I was listening the other day to a satirical comedy show on British Radio. The presenter was making a point about human relationships. The bulk of his satirical piece consisted of a reading from Genesis 2:18-25, in full, from the King James Version of the Bible (“And the Lord God said,…

  • The mediator in Galatians 3:20

    Galatians 3:20 is literally translated: A mediator is not of one, yet God is one. The word “one” can mean either “one (as opposed to many)”; or it can mean “united (as opposed to divided)”. What does it mean in this verse? And what does this verse have to do with Paul’s argument about the…

  • Postscript: Why the New Perspective claims that “righteousness” means “covenant faithfulness” – and why it’s wrong

    Here’s a very insightful post from Lee Irons critiquing the theory that “righteousness” means “covenant faithfulness”. I’ll quote a sizeable chunk of Irons’ conclusions because they’re highly relevant to both of my series on righteousness and covenant: As you can see, the New Perspective claim that “the righteousness of God” is a cipher denoting “God’s…

  • The ratification of the covenant in Galatians 3:17

    We have seen that the “seed” of Galatians 3:16 is referring to Genesis 17:8. In Galatians 3:16, Paul is explaining to the gentile Galatians that the “seed” of Genesis 17:8 is the “one” nation Israel, not the “multitude” of nations who will also have Abraham as their father (Genesis 17:5). In Galatians 3:17, Paul goes…

  • Improve your Biblical Word Power – the series

    I’ve put up a single page linking to all the articles in my “Improve your Biblical Word Power” series, originally published on the Sola Panel. Here are the posts in the series: Improve your biblical word power 1: Righteousness Improve your biblical word power 2: Forensic righteousness Improve your biblical word power 3: Justification Improve…

  • The singular seed of Galatians 3:16

    What is the purpose of Paul’s argument in Galatians 3:16? (This post is part of a series) In Galatians 3:16, Paul exegetes a phrase from the Abrahamic narrative: “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. It does not say, ‘And to seeds’, as though to a multitude (ὡς ἐπὶ πολλῶν), but…

  • God, the universe and all that: Part 5

    From the Sola Panel This is the fifth instalment of a five-part series (Read parts 1, 2, 3 and 4) We’ve been looking at Psalm 8 and Hebrews 2, and have discovered that Jesus provides the solution to the puzzle of Psalm 8. Where do we see Jesus? We see him in the Gospels, those…

  • God, the universe and all that: Part 4

    From the Sola Panel This is the fourth instalment of a five-part series (Read parts 1, 2 and 3.) We’ve been looking at Psalm 8, and we’ve seen the puzzle it presents us with. On the one hand, we are nothing compared to the majestic God who created the universe. On the other hand, God…

  • God, the universe and all that: Part 3

    From the Sola Panel: This is the third instalment of a five-part series (read parts 1 and 2.) We’ve been looking at Psalm 8 and have discovered that stargazing should make us wonder why God the creator should have anything to do with us. At this point, if you were sceptical about the existence of…

  • God, the universe and all that: Part 2

    From the Sola Panel In the second instalment of a five-part series, I contemplate the extent of our significance in the universe. (Read Part 1.) We’ve been looking at Psalm 8, and we’ve discovered that stargazing helps us to see how insignificant we really are. Just think about the size of space for a moment.…

  • The word ‘covenant’ in Galatians 3:15

    What does the word διαθήκη (“covenant”) mean in Galatians 3:15? (This post is part of a series) Some interpreters understand the word to mean “last will and testament”.[1] In this understanding, when Paul speaks in “human terms” (κατὰ ἄνθρωπον) about a “human” covenant (ἀνθρώπον [. . .] διαθήκην) he refers to the secular Graeco-Roman practice…

  • The covenants in Galatians 3:15-22 – Introduction

    The argument of Galatians 3:15–22 is “generally reckoned among the most difficult in Paul”.[1] In Galatians, Paul is strenuously arguing against opponents who want the Gentile Christians to adopt circumcision and the law (i.e. become ethnic Jews) as a prerequisite for salvation in Christ (e.g. Gal 2:14, 4:21, 5:3, 11, 6:13). Wright, in the light…

  • The covenants in the background to Paul’s letters – a summary

    Before we look in detail at Paul’s use of the word “covenant”, it’s worth pausing briefly to review what we have learned about the use of the word “covenant” in the Old Testament, second-temple Jewish literature, and Greek sources. In particular, two important conclusions flow from our survey of the idea of “covenant” in the…

  • God, the universe and all that: Part 1

    On the Sola Panel: In the first instalment of a five-part series, I’m pondering what astronomy has to teach us. I’m a fan of space. I don’t actually know much about the details of astronomy or cosmology or astrophysics; I just think that the space is really cool. If there are any real scientists reading…

  • The sectarian covenants of Qumran and the New Perspective

    We asked, in our previous post in this series, whether we could detect a shift in the second temple literature away from the pervasive Old Testament understanding of the word “covenant” (“an elected relationship of obligation under oath”) towards a more sociological concept (akin to the New Perspective’s emphasis). The answer was “no” – apart…

  • Covenants in Second Temple Judaism

    We have seen, in our series so far, the way that the word “covenant” is used in the Old Testament. A covenant is not a catch-all term for “relationship”, but it refers to a specific kind of relationship: “an elected relationship of obligation under oath”. Furthermore, although some of the covenants are made between God…

  • Lead us not into temptation (Matthew 6:13)

    This was originally published on the Biblical Theology Briefings website (beginningwithmoses.org) in 2006. The Biblical Theology Briefings aim to provide worked examples of sermons that apply the insights of evangelical biblical theology. As part of a series on the Lord’s Prayer, I was charged with preaching a sermon on this line: ‘Lead us not into…