Wade Johnston, Life Under the Cross: A Biography of the Reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis: MO, 2025.
This ancient “tale of two mothers” concerns far more than theological semantics—it is the difference between a God who sends and a God who comes.
This story points us from our unlikely heroes to the even more unlikely, and joyous, good news that Jesus’ birth for us was just as unlikely and unexpected.

All Articles

You are the friend in low places. It’s only from this place that you are free to look outside yourself for the remedy to the issues that plague you and humanity.
You’re not new because of what you do. You’re new and so you do new things, even in spite of yourself, because of your sinful nature.
There is no true life and meaningful community apart from forgiveness.
Jesus is the anti-Cain: a giver, not a taker.
This is an excerpt from “All Charges Dropped! Devotional Narratives from Earthly Courtrooms to the Throne of Grace,” written by Haroldo Camacho (1517 Publishing, 2022).
“There,” the Queen said, “That’s so much better than talking, isn’t it?”
God’s goodness spoke a promise of peace and mercy to the bewildered, a promise that rings out to this day.
At the heart of The Idiot is Dostoevsky's confession of faith and the confession of all Christians.
The world hates Jesus because he comes to lead us to love and forgive all, including our enemies.
The only solution to free will is the announcement from a preacher that the Father forgives us for Christ's sake.
Jesus does not put us on trial and make us pay for our own sin, but he, himself, is put on trial in our place.
Our Judge (the one who can condemn us) has become our Advocate (the one who doesn’t condemn us) because he is also our Substitute (the one who takes our condemnation).