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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No matter how many times we hear this good news, it never stops being good news.
Salvation doesn’t hang in the balance of a voting booth.
The difference between God's gospel and man's could not be greater.
To preach Christ and him crucified is to keep the message simple and accessible.
The sinful nature loves self, and pride is its native tongue.
Jesus has instituted his living-breathing disciples, his shepherds in his church, to declare the full forgiveness of sins.
This article is part of Stephen Paulson’s series on the Psalms.
This is an excerpt from Chapter 4 of Clothed with Christ written byBrian W. Thomas (1517 Publishing, 2024). Now available for preorder.
In the Bible, we meet the God who also does not prance around naked as a jaybird.
As both law and gospel are proclaimed, judgment and deliverance are miraculously pronounced over the hearer.
What the gospel does is take people who were enemies of God and transform them into lovers of God
Free speech isn't dead yet, and when it comes to the proclamation of the gospel, it never will be.