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?
As soon as people understand what crucifixion means, the cross becomes offensive.
This is the third installment in the 1517 articles series, “What Makes a Saint?”

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This is an excerpt from Chapter 1 in Sinner Saint: A Surprising Primer to the Christian Life
If you struggle with doubt, take heart: You are not alone.
Why should we believe Jesus?
It's one thing to hope for a new reality; it's quite another to stand before it, no matter how wonderful.
It’s easy to understand the allure of the shroud. In a skeptical age, a physical relic that appears to bear the imprint of the risen Christ seems like proof positive of the faith.
Apart from the confession that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God who suffered and died for the forgiveness of sins and rose again to justify the ungodly, there is no Christian faith.
You cannot sever the saint from the sinner. Christians remain both simultaneously.
Jesus is very difficult to bring down. That’s the power of it.
This is an excerpt from Ditching the Checklist: Assurance of Salvation for Evangelicals (and Other Sinners) by Mark Mattes (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 5-7.
There is no one — not now, not ever — who cannot be included in the family of God through the efficacy of Christ’s saving power.
Wisdom lurks in the outer places. Rich gratitude sprouts from the impoverished and forgotten.
Huff did not stop there, though. Towards the end of the interview, he asked Rogan, "What do you think of Jesus?"