Wade Johnston, Life Under the Cross: A Biography of the Reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis: MO, 2025.
This ancient “tale of two mothers” concerns far more than theological semantics—it is the difference between a God who sends and a God who comes.
This story points us from our unlikely heroes to the even more unlikely, and joyous, good news that Jesus’ birth for us was just as unlikely and unexpected.

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We live for the most part, on the strength of our moral fiber, under the law, by our zeal for God and all that which tickles our proud fancy.
Tim wanted everyone to know to the deepest part of their being that they were justified by Christ alone.
This is the Christian word: grace. Such grace is found only with this Lamb who is also our Shepherd.
This hymn is not for people who feel strong, but those who are weak.
The Lord knew how it felt to be a rejected stone.
What might Christians of the Reformation tradition think of claims like these about the nature of salvation?
What greater legacy could you claim than that of Mark? Listen to the Word. Learn from Jesus.
The drama of Scripture is about God renaming us by bringing us into his image-bearing family once again. And it would take “a name above all names” to accomplish it.
Paul is writing as a man who has already lived a life of law-keeping while denying the resurrection.
What if sin was truly removed and what if the one who took it from us had the power to conquer it’s curse and spit in the face of death?
This is the prelude of Easter. Is a dead Jesus still resting in the tomb? No!
It’s scary to share my struggle and to show that I have cracks because once I’ve shown my cards, I open myself up for judgment.