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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Below is the Thinking Fellows Essential Reading List with contributions from each of the Thinking Fellows hosts.
Jesus came for little children, and that is what we are. We are children of God.
Jesus loved us and gave himself up to save us. He would not abandon you to your hurt or cast you away because of the hurt you caused others.
God’s creatures on four legs are some of the greatest storytellers of the Scriptures.
This article is part of Stephen Paulson’s series on the Psalms.
Jesus has instituted his living-breathing disciples, his shepherds in his church, to declare the full forgiveness of sins.
The mere fact of “having faith” or saying that “you believe” is not as important as in what or in whom your faith rests.
To obtain this righteousness, you have to admit you don’t have it and could never produce it on your own because you are unrighteous.
True religion or true faith is heavenly. It understands that mankind’s only hope has to come from outside of itself.
The central message of Christianity is not a worldview, a way of life, or a program for personal or societal change; it is a person and the message of the cross.
When joined with a good Reformation theology of vocation and the freedom of a Christian, Fujimura’s vision for culture care is something all Christians can embrace, regardless of whether they are artists in the formal sense.
This article is part of Stephen Paulson’s series on the Psalms.