Luther neither removed the Apocrypha from the Bible nor discouraged its use. Rather, he received and preserved the ancient distinction inherited from the fathers: the Apocrypha is valuable, edifying, and worthy of reading, but it is not Holy Scripture and therefore cannot serve as the foundation of Christian doctrine.
The confessors at Augsburg remind us that every generation of Christians is called to bear witness to the gospel amid the challenges and pressures of its own age. As they confessed Christ before emperors and kingdoms, so the Church continues to confess Him before the world today.
When Jesus washes you with baptismal water, you can rest assured that the Lion of Judah is on the move.

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Moses was sent to keep the house in order, but this Child is sent to bring the house home, and you are part of that house, the household of God.
Pastor Craft: Essays and Sermons is now available through 1517 Publishing
Our Advent anticipation of the coming of the Savior to liberate us from sin and its wage of death, from the condemnation of God’s Law and the wrath of a loving heavenly Father, is indeed a daring and defiant stance.
This Messiah is not a continuation—He is the fulfillment and the beginning of something new.
The creation of this word reminds us that the Magnificat, like Christmas itself, is charged from the start with joy and praise.
When Jesus assumes the body prepared for Him to do God’s will, the end of an old era has arrived, and with it, the beginning of a new.
He also took our own history and suffered all the agony and pain of our own lives.
Big or small, potential or certain, the despair we may grapple with during this time of year tends to find its end in the fact that things are not as they should be.
The thought of losing even one of those for whom his Son died pains God beyond belief, and the angels rejoice when even one of his children repents.
So what, if anything, makes us different from those who are waiting on the grassy knoll in Dallas, TX? Can we be any more sure of our belief in the resurrection?
Jesus is both the image bearer and the image giver. In Jesus’ incarnation we are redeemed and re-imaged.
Waiting is not easy, but after waiting a long time, one would at least expect us to be ready when the time came.