Wisdom and strength require bootstrap-pulling and the placing of noses to grindstones.
“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
How do the words “The righteous shall live by his faith” go from a context of hope in hopelessness to the cornerstone declaration of the chief doctrine of the Christian faith?

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Even though we are tempted to add our personal opinions to the meaning of Jesus' life and death, to increase the meaning of His sacrifice, there's only one thing that makes Christians "Christian." Christ crucified for us for the forgiveness of sin.
God says, “Cross,” and we say, “Glory!” Sometimes – a lot of times – he knocks the glory glasses off our faces.
The implications were clear: Jesus’ death destroyed the things that distinguished people as educated or uneducated, rich or poor, free or enslaved, black or white, pious or godless.
Christmas is, therefore, the beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry, even while he awaits a number of years to gather his disciples and inaugurate his preaching of the kingdom.
The Son of Eve disarmed Satan’s hold on humanity, not with an earthquake, atomic bomb, or brilliant essay, but with his dead body and final words, “It is finished.”
The real question we must ask about God’s will isn’t, “God, command us according to your will and we’ll do it,” but, “God, what are you willing to do for us who can’t do what you command?”
We might not appreciate that God chooses to save us by his word alone, but our discomfort doesn’t make the promise any less effective.
Where Erasmus saw fear and collapse, Luther saw the never-ending comfort of Christ and his gospel.
Terror and even hatred of God are the only things with which divine hiddenness can leave us.
It is a strange irony, but in a world drunk on violence, it is only on the cross of violence that there is hope for peace in our world.
This is a guest article brought to us by Dr. James Isaacs.
I’d like to offer a short reflection on the theme of “worldliness” as it appears in his later work and how that’s connected to an item of his Lutheran heritage: the theology of the cross.