The Reformers did not return to the sources because they believed the old was better than the new, nor because antiquity possesses authority simply by virtue of its age. They returned to the sources to recover the language and words that were actually written and spoken, especially those by great teachers and, most importantly, God Himself.
The certainty of faith is utter assurance because it depends upon nothing of your own. It is entirely trusting that God is a propitious, pardoning God—the God who justifies sinners by forgiving them.
Sinners get faith as a gift when Christ takes their captivity captive.

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The promise is trustworthy because God has proven Himself to be trustworthy.
God’s justification of us does not happen secretly in our spirits. God justifies you and me in His absolving Word
Rather than presenting Christ’s words as a rule or a threat, Luther reveals it to be the promise of God.
When the Holy Spirit is at work in the office of the holy ministry, the man is ridden by the Spirit and so his only concern is for preaching the Gospel, baptizing, absolving, and feeding sinners in the Name of Christ Jesus.
We were created by our heavenly Father to receive all things from Him as free gift.
She heard it before, but looking around she struggles to see how it matters.
That week, I began to doubt myself. Did I really believe?
It seems like the sky is falling every other day now. From politics to culture to religion to about anything else, there’s one purported cataclysm after another on the horizon.
If he was not flesh, who was hung on the cross? And if he was not God, who shook the earth from its foundations?
This had been a lonely year, though. She could keep herself busy for a while with friends and she could distract herself for a few weekends by leaving town, but something was definitely missing.
There’s some wild and untamed prayers in the psalms. But they’re fenced in by order, symmetry, predictability. They organize chaos. And they bring order and hope and stability to our chaotic lives.
Looking at our dining room table most days, you might think we were running a cartoon factory out of our house. Drawings. Everywhere.