Stephen Jackson on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
Sam Freney on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
Marty Foord on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
Dianne Howard on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
Mike Bull on Daniel 2-7, Harry Potter and Narnia
The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel! by Tony Payne (4 comments). Regular Sola Panel readers will no doubt have detected a little slowness and quietness over the past six weeks or so. … more
Kids’ culture watch spot: Facing fear by Gordon Cheng (3 comments). By popular demand (two people asked), here is my next script for a culture watch spot I did with the kids … more
Daniel 2-7, Harry Potter and Narnia by Gordon Cheng (1 comment). It's a Sunday as I write this, and I'm speaking on Daniel 2 and 7 later this morning at a friend's … more
A constituent on same-sex marriage by Sandy Grant (34 comments). Last year, the Australian Parliament agreed that its Members of Parliament (MPs) should seek the … more
A tribute to John Stott by Sandy Grant (2 comments). Friends, I'm not ashamed to say I shed a tear when I opened up my computer on Thursday morning to read … more
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 3): On giants’ shoulders by Scott Newling (26 comments). This is the third post in this series; you can read part one, and more
Bible reading with kids by Sandy Grant (0 comments). I was asked for recommendations for resources that would encourage parents to read the Bible with their kids, especially … more
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 2): Stepping aside (not out) so others can step up (not in) by Scott Newling (3 comments). This is the second post in this series; you can read the first post, Unassuming … more
One more sip of the coffee by Tony Payne (8 comments). Sandy Grant is a man of integrity. Back in the early days of Sola Panel, I wrote a post … more
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 1): Unassuming generations by Scott Newling (30 comments). There is a model of ‘intergenerational theological decline’ that has been doing the rounds of late, and perhaps you … more
Paul is one of the Staff Editors at Matthias Media. He is married to Cathy and has three fantastic kids. He loves student ministry, reading, writing music and playing the saxophone, and is looking forward to meeting Jesus face to face.
What about Revelation chapter five,. there we have the image of 24 elders offering up bowls of incense, ” which are the prayers of the Saints.” the 24 elders represent the Old and New Testament Church.
If the prayer of a righteous man availeth much..how much more the prayers of just men made perfect, who encompass us as a cloud of
witnesses.
They are not dead , they are alive in Christ Jesus and nothing can separate them from us.
That is what Communion of Saints means in the Nicene Creed.
Go to the catacombs and see the inscriptions..right from the beginning the first Christians prayed to the Saints and for the
dead.
I believe, Robert, that the key word in your description of Revelation 5 is ‘image’. It’s picture language emphasising that the whole of creation and in particular the whole people of God (as represented by the 24 elders) are offering praise to God.
This is not the same as dead saints interceding on behalf of living Christians.
Dear Gordon,
Whilst I think your explantion is plausible..one has to look at the consistant exegesis of the Scripture in Christian history.Seems a strange God, who would allow prayers for the dead in the normative Judaism of Our lords day, and early Christianity and then wait 1500 years to abolish them.
Hi Robert
I think you’ve misunderstood Revelation 5. The prayers of the ‘saints’ are the prayers of Christian people, still living on earth. That is the way the NT consistently uses saints (or, ‘holy ones’).
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