Bible resources

Welcome to the Bible resources page!

The Sola Panel

I write fortnightly about the Bible, theology and ministry at the Sola Panel.

On this site

Articles on specific books of the Bible

• “Until” is not as significant as it’s made out to be (Romans 11:25)
• A prayer request from an Aussie living in the Mother Country
• Addiction and Romans 6
• Address at the Funeral of C. Lionel Windsor (28 Nov 1916 – 18 Feb 2008)
• Are the Gentiles included in Israel?
• Be careful what you promise
• Bronwyn speaks about submission in marriage
• Cross-shaped Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1)
• Desire: reconnected (Song of Songs 7-8)
• Divorce in Matthew 5:31-32
• Do you have to be baptised to be saved?
• Does baptism always involve getting wet?
• Doing, Believing and Preaching (Romans 10)
• Empires in the Middle-East
• Faithfulness, Big and Small
• Funeral Message for Angela Janice Richards, aged 1½
• God’s plan, Israel’s failure (Romans 9)
• God’s Word versus Religion (1 Kings 17-18)
• God’s Word versus the Kingdom (1 Kings 21)
• God’s Word versus the Prophet (1 Kings 19)
• God’s word, God’s people (Romans 11)
• God, the universe and all that: Part 1
• God, the universe and all that: Part 2
• God, the universe and all that: Part 3
• God, the universe and all that: Part 4
• God, the universe and all that: Part 5
• Hairstyles and the New Testament (Robert Cavin)
• Hebrew Verbs and the Sovereignty of God
• Is God Green #1: God, the World and Us
• Isaiah in 7 hours – complete list of talks
• Isaiah in 7 hours – Introduction to Isaiah
• Isaiah in 7 hours – Isaiah 1-12
• Isaiah in 7 hours – Isaiah 13-27
• Isaiah in 7 hours – Isaiah 28-35 and 36-39
• Isaiah in 7 hours – Isaiah 40:1-51:11
• Isaiah in 7 hours – Isaiah 51:12-Ch. 55
• Isaiah in 7 hours – Isaiah 56-66
• Jesus and Cancer
• Jesus at work: trading places
• Jesus, the Son of Man, as presented in the Gospel of John
• Kings of Israel and Judah
• Lead us not into temptation (Matthew 6:13)
• Malachi 2:10-16 and the ‘Offspring of God’
• New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation 21:1)
• Overpopulation
• Paul’s Apostolic Ministry as Presented in the Book of Acts
• Philippians 3:12-4:1
• Postscript: Why the New Perspective claims that “righteousness” means “covenant faithfulness” – and why it’s wrong
• Re-reading Doug Campbell
• Review of David J. Rudolph / A Jew to the Jews
• Sermon series: Get With The Program
• The Bible doesn’t say
• The Books of Chronicles – an overview
• The covenants in Galatians 3:15-22 – Introduction
• The Doubting Believer
• The fulfilment of Isaiah 6
• The mediator in Galatians 3:20
• The Minister and the Ministers
• The New Testament Book of Acts – an overview
• The olive tree is not about Gentiles joining Israel (Romans 11:17-24)
• The problem with Galatians
• The Purpose of the Law in Galatians 3
• The ratification of the covenant in Galatians 3:17
• The singular seed of Galatians 3:16
• The Structure of the Book of Isaiah
• The Suffering and Joy of the Minister
• The Syrophoenician woman
• The wisdom of the minister
• The word ‘covenant’ in Galatians 3:15
• Timeline for the book of Isaiah
• Timeline for the book of Isaiah – Mark II
• Two kinds of covenant at Sinai: law and mediation
• What does “all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:26) mean?
• What is the significance of circumcision in Genesis?
• Women Preaching to Mixed Adult Congregations: A detailed reading of 1 Timothy 2:8-15 in reply to John Stott’s position
• Word and Action

Articles on biblical topics

• “Justification” and “righteousness” are not the same
• “Until” is not as significant as it’s made out to be (Romans 11:25)
• A key point at which N.T. Wright is just plain wrong
• Acovenantalism: the series
• And while I’m at it – here’s another Easter sermon illustration
• Are the Gentiles included in Israel?
• Be careful what you promise
• Before you criticise any past writer, remember…
• Bibliography for the series on acovenantalism
• Brian Rosner on Paul and the Law
• Christianity and evolution – the real problem
• Covenants in Cloudcuckooland and the Greek Old Testament
• Covenants in Second Temple Judaism
• Cross-shaped Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1)
• Debating order in the Trinity
• Desire: reconnected (Song of Songs 7-8)
• Doctrines Under Threat 1: Nothing’s Right without Justification
• Doctrines Under Threat 2: Union with Christ
• Doctrines Under Threat 3: Nowism
• Evangelicals and the slave trade
• Faithfulness, Big and Small
• Free Easter Day Sermon Illustration / Introduction
• Funeral Message for Angela Janice Richards, aged 1½
• God’s Word versus Religion (1 Kings 17-18)
• God’s Word versus the Kingdom (1 Kings 21)
• God’s Word versus the Prophet (1 Kings 19)
• God, the universe and all that: Part 1
• God, the universe and all that: Part 2
• God, the universe and all that: Part 3
• God, the universe and all that: Part 5
• Happy 400th Birthday, King James Bible
• Heavy metal for kids on iTunes – Ben Pakula
• How should you look for ‘covenantal’ ideas in Paul?
• I’m sayin’ something
• Improve your Biblical Word Power – 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 your biblical word power 4: Atonement
• Improve your theological word power: Imputation
• In praise of holiness
• Indicative and Imperative in the Letters of Paul
• Innasense
• Is Anyone Righteous?
• Is God Green #1: God, the World and Us
• Is God Green #2: God, the World and Jesus
• Is God Green #3: God and the Future of the World
• Is God Green Part 1: God, the World and Jesus
• Is God Green Part 2: God and the Future of the World
• Is the wisdom literature of the Old Testament an exercise in natural theology?
• It ain’t over till it’s over
• Jedi masters and the body of Christ
• Jesus and Cancer
• Jesus at work: trading places
• Jesus, the Son of Man, as presented in the Gospel of John
• Justification and Sanctification: Biblical Definitions and Modern Misunderstandings
• Keeping the Solas Together
• Loving what God Loves
• Luther On Law
• Paul and the Law by Brian Rosner – free download of lecture series
• Paul’s Apostolic Ministry as Presented in the Book of Acts
• Permanent link to acovenantalism series
• Pet food, pornography, and the law
• Postscript: Why the New Perspective claims that “righteousness” means “covenant faithfulness” – and why it’s wrong
• Re-reading Doug Campbell
• Remember the Horn of Africa
• Replacing the Spirit with the sacraments
• Rereading Doug Campbell to help us preach the gospel
• Review of David J. Rudolph / A Jew to the Jews
• Righteousness: neither substance nor status
• Scripture and the Authority of God – again
• Sermon series: Get With The Program
• Silence about the Spirit
• So you think you can serve?
• Some important features of Paul’s use of the word ‘covenant’
• Suffering and decision-making
• Talks on the Authority and Sufficiency of the Bible
• The arrogance of a theological liberal
• The Bible alone: what does that mean in practice?
• The Bible doesn’t say
• The covenants in Galatians 3:15-22 – Introduction
• The covenants in the background to Paul’s letters – a summary
• The Development and Significance of the Remnant in the Old Testament Prophets
• The Doubting Believer
• The End of the World as We Know It
• The Federal Myopia
• The Fulfilment of the Covenants: an Acovenantal Perspective on Paul
• The Gospel and Ageing
• The Greatest Expectations
• The Individual and the Community in Paul
• The language of Chalcedon
• The Life of Jesus on TV
• The mediator in Galatians 3:20
• The Minister and the Ministers
• The most authentic – and heartwrenching – Christmas message I’ve heard this year
• The New Perspective on Paul: Summary and Reflections
• The olive tree is not about Gentiles joining Israel (Romans 11:17-24)
• The problem with John Piper’s view of justification
• The Purpose of the Law in Galatians 3
• The quality of “Righteousness” is not strained
• The ratification of the covenant in Galatians 3:17
• The sectarian covenants of Qumran and the New Perspective
• The singular seed of Galatians 3:16
• The Suffering and Joy of the Minister
• The two covenants with Abraham – Part 1 (Genesis 12)
• The two covenants with Abraham – part 2 (Genesis 15, 17 and 22)
• The two-fold covenantal relationship in the prophets: with Israel, for the nations
• The wisdom of the minister
• The word ‘covenant’ in Galatians 3:15
• The worst role model in history?
• Thomas Cranmer the Protestant reformer during the reign of King Henry VIII
• Two kinds of covenant at Sinai: law and mediation
• Using your biblical word power: Justification through Atonement
• What did the apostle Paul really care about? At a glance…
• What is the significance of circumcision in Genesis?
• What is this thing we call the local church?
• What Saint Paul Rarely Said
• What’s the precise meaning of the word ‘covenant’ in the Old Testament?
• Women Preaching to Mixed Adult Congregations: A detailed reading of 1 Timothy 2:8-15 in reply to John Stott’s position
• Word and Action

Miscellaneous

• The meaning of the Last Supper: Luke 22:7-38 (A Sermon)
• Galatians 3:28 – “Neither Male Nor Female”:What does this verse mean when it comes to male-female roles and relationships? Is it a “Magna Carta for humanity” that teaches complete functional equality of every human being in all areas of life? And what have Christians down through the ages taught about this verse? Michelle Philp explores the meaning of this much-quoted verse in its context, and assesses the history of interpretation of Galatians 3:28 from the early Christians to the present, with special reference to the phrase “neither male nor female”.Synopsis:
  

  This examination of the history of interpretation of Galatians 3:28 reveals that until the nineteenth century commentators understood Paul to be teaching a ‘complementarian view’ of equality for salvation which does not remove social distinctions/roles. No orthodox commentators on this text from the Patristic period through to the Reformers argued for a view of equality that blurred or removed distinctions. The departure from this historic interpretation is shown to have occurred in the nineteenth century under the influence of the Enlightenment concepts of equality where equality in one thing necessitated sameness in all things. The ensuing tension with other Pauline texts that assume distinctions were explained away using historical-critical methods from the same era. Drawing on the nineteenth century egalitarian understanding of Gal. 3:28 it is seen how feminist interpreters move a further step away from the traditional understanding due to their imposition of feminist culture on their hermeneutic.

• Titus 2:3-5: Hand-me-ons: A sermon by Sandy Grant
• Is the Bible Clear? The Bible, the Reformation and Postmodernism.
• The Bible and Homosexuality – A summary of the current (2005) debate.
• Open Letter to Brian Farran, Anglican Bishop of Newcastle, from Sandy Grant, St Michael’s Anglican Cathedral, Wollongong (Monday 11 February, 2008). Sandy Grant writes concerning Brian Farran’s public Statement regarding the GAFCON conference organised by conservative Anglicans and critical of the Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen’s involvement in it.
• Women teaching men the Bible – what’s the problem? A paper by Sandy Grant in response to Graham Cole.
  • Also available in PDF.
• God in a Box? Stuart Starr, from Figtree Anglican Church, helps Christians to ask some important questions about the “discovery” of Jesus’ tomb.