14—Forty Days with James: The Epistle of Straw

<p>For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ <a href="https://www.douglasjacoby.com/14-forty-days-with-james-the-epistle-of-straw/" target="_blank"><strong>website.</strong></a></p><p>Luther’s translation of the N.T. (1522)</p><ul><li>Separated 4 books from the other books of the N.T.—almost an appendix.</li><li>Other books he removed to the end were Heb, Jude, Rev—but at least he included them in the translation.</li><li>He also made a tweak to Rom. 3:28 (<i>allein</i> durch den Glauben—adding the word "alone").</li><li>He could not accept Jas 2:24. At least he was honest about this doubt.</li></ul><p>Why did Martin Luther have such a low opinion of James?</p><ul><li>He liked James in some ways: “I praise it and hold it a good book, because it sets up no doctrine of men and lays great stress on God’s law.” After all, he did include it in his translation – just not with the 23 NT books he thought were inspired.</li></ul><img src="https://www.douglasjacoby.com/wp-content/uploads/ML-300x225.jpg" alt="" /><ul><li>Compared to the legitimate NT books, James is “an epistle of straw.”</li><li>He said James contained nothing of the gospel.</li><li>It is not of apostolic authorship. [All N.T. documents are apostolic, but many are not written by apostles: Mark, Luke, Acts, Hebrews, James, Jude.]</li><li>James opposes Paul and mixes up law and works. It is erroneous vis-à-vis faith and works.</li><li>"Many sweat hard at reconciling James with Paul ... but unsuccessfully. `Faith justifies' [Paul's teaching] stands in flat contradiction to `Faith does not justify' [James 2:24]. If anyone can harmonize these sayings, I'll put my doctor's cap on him and let him call me a fool." [Yet Luther was reading his own theology into the text and thus finding a "contradiction."]</li><li>There is no mention of the passion or resurrection.</li><li>Jesus is mentioned only twice—but James “teaches nothing about him.” [Actually, as biblical scholar Rudolf Kittel (1853-1929) observed, “No writing in the NT outside the Gospels is so