This is an excerpt from Chapter 6 in Sinner Saint: A Surprising Primer to the Christian Life (1517 Publishing, 2025). Sinner Saint is available today from 1517 Publishing.
On its journey from Byzantium to Constantinople to Istanbul, this special place helps us understand the broader arc of Christian history, which goes on until Christ's return.
We needn’t fear statistics and studies as palm readings into a certain future. God is God, and his Spirit is alive through his Word.

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Martha’s pain is not met by a to-do list. Jesus’ reply is not that she should try harder or change her behavior
God will establish justice and righteousness even in the midst of the most uncertain and evil times. This we know because of the hope based upon the promise.
Jesus saves us from the love of money which sent the rich young man away sad.
Whereas Moses faithfully rescued God’s people from slavery in Egypt and led them to the Promised Land of Canaan, Jesus has rescued us from the slavery of sin and the tyranny of the Devil to lead us to eternal life.
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.
Man and woman together are complete. Apart, they are incomplete. The two correspond and form “one flesh” when combined in sexual relationships and as helpmates.
Angels minister to us, but Jesus becomes one of us and calls us His brothers and sisters, sharing in our flesh and blood.
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.
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
This complaining is a rejection of the LORD and all He has done to rescue them, guide them, and provide for them as He leads them to the Promised Land.
James makes it sound like prayer is actually effective, that God listens, God answers in line with our requests. Does James realize the questions he is raising?