Josephus does not tell us that Christianity is true, and Christians do not need Josephus to tell them that Christ is risen. But Christianity makes claims about things that happened in public history under identifiable rulers, priests, and governors. For that reason, testimony from outside the church matters.
Today, the longing for cultural Christianity on both the left and the right hearkens back to an older version of Christendom that was a mixed blessing for the church in the western world. The cultural mediation of Christian views on created order has certainly benefitted the civilization we’ve inherited. But the gospel itself isn’t something that can be reduced to cultural mediation either. Instead, the gospel as a message stands apart from all human accomplishments and achievements, no matter how beneficial they might be.
The student of Scripture should always have a map open next to their Bible as they read. If possible, they should also travel to Israel, not to make a pilgrimage, but to see the context of the land in which these stories took place. These are not fairy tales made up about fictional fantasy lands; these are stories about real people in real places interacting with a real God.

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One could reason that God might, at least, give the church a little worldly power.
While the insights in each chapter are uniquely personal to the individual writers, the overarching theme is one of the sufficiency of Christ.
Grace is God’s caring disposition toward His human creatures. And it is shown fully and purely in the work of Jesus for us.
Today, Jesus' road to Jerusalem turns into your congregation. He calls you and your hearers to follow Him all the way home.
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.
Honor would be shown to the least. Power would be shown by its opposite. The way of glory was marked with humility.
The way to salvation does not consist in works invented by men, but that which leads to God is believing and trusting in Him.
Our Lord is not only the King of creation but the King of creativity.
Jesus saves us from the love of money which sent the rich young man away sad.
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.
God’s promise never to separate us from the love of Jesus means that our security, and our confidence, and our forgiveness—even for our part in past divisions—depends entirely on His faithfulness and not ours.