Luther neither removed the Apocrypha from the Bible nor discouraged its use. Rather, he received and preserved the ancient distinction inherited from the fathers: the Apocrypha is valuable, edifying, and worthy of reading, but it is not Holy Scripture and therefore cannot serve as the foundation of Christian doctrine.
The confessors at Augsburg remind us that every generation of Christians is called to bear witness to the gospel amid the challenges and pressures of its own age. As they confessed Christ before emperors and kingdoms, so the Church continues to confess Him before the world today.
When Jesus washes you with baptismal water, you can rest assured that the Lion of Judah is on the move.

All Articles

Luther neither removed the Apocrypha from the Bible nor discouraged its use. Rather, he received and preserved the ancient distinction inherited from the fathers: the Apocrypha is valuable, edifying, and worthy of reading, but it is not Holy Scripture and therefore cannot serve as the foundation of Christian doctrine.
Christianity does not ultimately rest on the assertion that God delivered a perfectly dictated text whose divine origin can be demonstrated by claims of flawless transmission.
From the very beginning, the community that God was forming was going to be much more inclusive than anyone could have imagined.
No one is harder to convert than a religious expert.
Despite evidences to the contrary, chaos does not reign. Jesus does.
Do not disregard Luther’s early disputations, but appreciate their specificity and recognize their pastoral and theological continuity with his later works.
The heavens are neither geocentric, nor even heliocentric, but Christocentric. It is the cross and the crucified and risen Jesus who has the whole world, and each of us, in his nail scarred hands.
Even when the bitter places sink down deep into our bones, the Restorer never relinquishes his grip on you.
May we, as preachers, rise and proclaim that Jesus Christ is sufficient for all our spiritual hunger.
God has told us everything necessary for faith. However he has not told us everything there is to know.
To not speak of hell is also to forget or ignore the great benefits of Christ and his saving work.
"Every one must stand and give account before God for himself; and no one can excuse himself by the action or decision of another, whether less or more.”