The following entries are excerpts from Chad Bird’s new book, Untamed Prayers: 365 Daily Devotions on Christ in the Book of the Psalms (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 311 and 335
Why did the church dedicate a day to St. Michael anyway? Who is he, and what does he do?
The Antichrist offers another continual presence. It is every whisper that tempts us toward autonomy, that tells us to carry it alone, that insists suffering is meaningless.

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Luther understood when the Word of God came it did not offer sinners a choice.
Christ has taken our failures and defeats and exchanges that yoke for his own.
This is a Q&A for 1517 Publishing’s newest release, “How Melanchthon Helped Luther Discover the Gospel,” by Lowell C. Green. This release also marks the launch of our new Melanchthon Library.
The way to salvation does not consist in works invented by men, but that which leads to God is believing and trusting in Him.
Martha’s pain is not met by a to-do list. Jesus’ reply is not that she should try harder or change her behavior
We must be careful in how we use Bible verses to establish Scriptural truth both to others and to ourselves.
Grace does not emancipate us from any requirement of obedience. Rather, grace allows Jesus to be obedient on our behalf that the righteous demands of the law can be fulfilled.
There are plenty of reasons why you do not already do whatever you want out of fear of the law, and you will find these reasons persist and remain long after the gospel has its way with you.
To repent in his name is done thus: in those who believe in Christ God through the same faith works a change for the better, not for a moment, nor for an hour, but for their whole life.
Except for the Augsburg Confession, Melanchthon’s Loci communes of 1521 were the most important of his writings.
God uses the unlikely, the unexpected, and sometimes even the unsavory to deliver us and to crush the heads of his enemies
For Luther, Erasmus’ Christ-less, Spirit-less theological conclusions demonstrated that behind his supposed humanistic optimism lay a profound despair and pessimism.