1. What if Jesus had said on the cross, “Earn it”?
  2. In that moment of greatest despair, we find the antidote for all our fears. We know we are beloved of God and there is salvation in Christ’s atoning death.
  3. Is salvation by the law or not? Moses or Jesus? Indeed, we find a fundamental parting of the ways put forward here, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
  4. The gospel tells me that the revelation of weakness in myself, my husband, and my son is the occasion for the revelation of God’s strength.
  5. Chains may have restricted Paul, but nothing can restrict the gospel.
  6. It was meant to be Karlstadt’s moment to shine, but all anyone remembered was Luther.
  7. When properly distinguishing law and gospel in the Word of God, it is important to use the God-given gift and abilities of the imagination as your ears.
  8. As Luther said, “Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf of spring.”
  9. The Holy Spirit unleashes his power through us, his vines, and we then get to watch as his fruits blossom and ripen.
  10. It’s not our eloquence or persuasive rhetoric that changes hearts, but the Word of God that pierces through the hardened shells of unbelief and breathes life into the dead bones of sinners.
  11. Church historians attempt to determine why Melanchthon made those controversial decisions.
  12. We live for the most part, on the strength of our moral fiber, under the law, by our zeal for God and all that which tickles our proud fancy.