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.

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This is the third in a series meant to let the Christian tradition speak for itself, the way it has carried Christians through long winters, confusion, and joy for centuries.
Christmas is not only about a cradle in Bethlehem, it’s also about a cross outside Jerusalem where salvation was won for us.
Here is the true story, the one worth remembering: You are a gift.
Children are not meant to carry crowns. They are not meant to rule. The burden crushes them in slow, invisible ways.
This story is not meant for six-year-olds, but it is meant for us, though we should hardly handle it.
The doctrine of the Trinity is not so much the story of a “who-dunnit” as it is the story of the “who-is-it.”
God is a judge, but unlike you, God is just!
Jesus is very difficult to bring down. That’s the power of it.
It is impossible to live our lives in a way that would convince God of our value because he already knows our value. He is the one who gave it to us.
Instead of a “how-to” manual, the Bible is a “what-you-didn’t-do” story.
Below is the Thinking Fellows Essential Reading List with contributions from each of the Thinking Fellows hosts.
Nature ends in stinging judgment from its Creator.