How do the words “The righteous shall live by his faith” go from a context of hope in hopelessness to the cornerstone declaration of the chief doctrine of the Christian faith?
As soon as people understand what crucifixion means, the cross becomes offensive.
This is the third installment in the 1517 articles series, “What Makes a Saint?”

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As is often the case in Scripture, creation is about a renewed, restored, and redeemed relationship with the Creator.
What the gospel promises is not escape from our humanity, but resurrection from the dead.
Salutary funeral preaching seeks to set the life of the baptized believer who has died within the life of Christ incarnate, crucified, risen, and reigning.
I want the beginning of my funeral to be focused on Jesus, as well as the middle, the end, and every point in between.
The gospel of Jesus’ coming out of death and the tomb alive so that we might be restored to our identity as God’s children establishes the most enduring reality there is.
This is the patient love of God. He is stubborn about the salvation of sinners. He will not be rushed even if his name is mocked, and the trustworthiness of his promises are called into question.
Our children are not our own, but even more, our children are born in need. They are sinful, from conception and from birth.
Christ has received the mark of law that we might be marked with the gospel, with the sign of his holy cross on our heads and hearts as redeemed children of God.
While the world and other religions might be fine with considering him everything but, the foremost thing our Jesus came to be and still remains is Jesus, Savior.
Buried deep in our human psyche, there seems to be more than a need—almost a necessity—to celebrate the arrival of a new year. It’s like an unspoken, unlegislated cultural demand, as instinctual as moving to music or smiling at a newborn. Why? What deep human need is at work here?
What we are asked to believe as we ponder the birth of this child is that in his coming, a new creation has dawned.
The Advents of Christ (past, present, and future) elicit faith in the word of Christ, confirmed by his presence.