Alligood is at pains to stress that glorification is not the result of our own efforts any more than sanctification or justification.
Forgiveness from Jesus is always surprising to us.
The Christ who rescues does not wait for you to be clean. He comes to clean you. He does not need your strength. He brings his own.

All Articles

When the church has gone astray, it has been the responsible (not slavish) approach to history that has helped correct the course.
Freedom from restraint, if it is to be of any use, must be matched by a sense of freedom for a particular purpose. Once set free, what is freedom for? Paul tells us.
Whether your hearers are lifelong church-goers or recent converts, following Jesus is not a casual pastime. It is not simply one more thing we do.
This creed is no mere squabble over words. Salvation is on the line.
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.
[This text] describes a journey to a foreign region where Jesus engages in a confrontational conversation with a legion of demons, performs a violent and scandalous exorcism, and leaves behind a community gripped by terror. Apparently, the only thing more frightening than a naked, graveyard-dwelling demoniac is this visitor from Nazareth who reigns over everything.
Baptism demolishes all boasting, for it is passively received and all that is received is pure gift. No one can, therefore, boast a better salvation than another.
When we brag about what Jesus does for us, we win the battle.
On Holy Trinity Sunday, God draws our attention, not to the inner workings of the Trinity, but the outer workings of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit keeps us in faith and pours us out into the world so others may also hear and believe.
The Holy Spirit gathers us together and keeps the church in the true faith, and He does it all by way of the Gospel.
While the Holy Spirit does work within us, He always comes to us from the outside, through the external Word and Sacraments.