MARTIN LUTHER’S VIEW OF THE EPISTLE OF JAMES

Daniel W. Petty

Most people are familiar with Martin Luther’s famous statement about the epistle of James being an “epistle of straw.” This study will survey the background to Luther’s view of James. We will begin with an overview of key events in Luther’s life and the beginnings of the protestant reformation. Then we will consider a few important doctrinal views of Luther that will help us have a clearer perspective of Luther’s judgment about the epistle.

BRIEF HISTORICAL OVERVIEW: EARLY LIFE, EDUCATION, AND RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES

Childhood. Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben in the county of Mansfeld in northern Germany. Luther’s father, Hans, was the son of a Thuringian peasant, a free peasant. Hans became a miner who came to own several foundries in the copper mines located in the area. When it seemed that Eisleben would not offer sufficient opportunities to provide for his family, Hans Luther moved his familty to Mansfeld in 1484. He eventually became a man of considerable wealth and importance in the community. By 1511, he owned shares in six copper mines and two smelting furnaces, and was considered one of the outstanding citizens of Mansfeld.

Early Education and Discipline. Martin Luther’s earliest childhood education took place in the Latin school at Mansfeld. There and at home he received a religious education in the late-medieval Catholic teachings that were typical of the times. These included the belief in Mary and the saints, current popular superstitions and beliefs in personal devils and witches, as well as the popular visits to religious shrines. The curriculum studies to which Luther was subjected in Mansfeld were also typical of other late-medieval schools. There he was introduced to Latin, the classics, religion, and music.

Luther was raised under the strict discipline of those times. He is reported to have said that his mother once caned him for stealing a nut until the blood came, and that his father once whipped him until he ran away for a time. He also said: “At school I was caned in a single morning fifteen times for nothing at all. I was required to decline and conjugate and hadn’t learned my lesson” (Roland Bainton, Here I Stand, 17). As harsh as this discipline may seem to us, and as critical as Luther was of it years later, it seems that Luther’s experiences were not unusual.

Brethren of the Common Life. Luther was sent to Magdeburg in his fourteenth year (ca. 1497), where for a short period he studied in a school taught by members of the Brethren of the Common Life. This was probably in the well-known cathedral school in that town, at which some of the members of the Brethren taught. It was customary for boys to complete their elementary education as wandering scholars. The schools in the smaller towns often did not offer instruction in rhetoric and logic.

The Brethren of the Common Life was a semi-monastic order of laymen and clergy in the late-medieval period who emphasized living lives of piety according to the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount. The movement began in the Low Countries (Netherlands) in the late fourteenth century as a result of the work of Gerhard Groote (1340-1384). Perhaps the best-known member of the Brethren was Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), who is the likely author of The Imitation of Christ. While accepting traditional Catholic doctrines, this work tended to personalize religion by emphasizing inner spirituality and to minimize the importance of the formal or outward aspects of Catholicism. This work became one of the most widely read books of the day. The Brethren’s emphasis on practical piety led them to work toward reforming the clergy and educating the young. Through their schools and writings they influenced many humanists and reformers, including Luther.

Luther was sent to the beautiful Thuringian town of Eisenach where he completed his preparatory education between 1498 and 1501. At Eisenach Luther received advanced instruction in Latin, grammar, rhetoric, and poetry, at which he excelled and which prepared him for his studies at the university. Luther’s environment at Eisenach was also one of traditional Catholic piety. In this town of about four thousand people, nearly one out of every ten persons belonged to the clergy. Luther’s time there must have strengthened his inclinations toward religious interests.

University of Erfurt. In 1501 Martin Luther’s father sent him to the University of Erfurt for the purpose of studying for a legal career. The city of Erfurt was the most important commercial center in Thuringia, with a population of about 20,000 inhabitants. The burghers of the city had founded their own university and demonstrated their piety by constructing so many churches and other religious buildings that the inhabitants called Erfurt the little Rome. Almost every Catholic monastic order was represented there.

At Erfurt Luther studied in a liberal arts curriculum that also encouraged his religious interests. Luther studied grammar, rhetoric, logic, physics and philosophy. He was especially impressed by the nominalist philosophy of William of Ockham, which dominated the faculty of philosophy. Ockham stressed the difference between reason and faith, insisting that the knowledge obtained by faith in revelation was not demonstrable by reason. Luther thus became aware of the need for divine revelation as the only guide in the realm of faith and the only way people could know spiritual truth and be saved.

Luther received the bachelor of arts in 1502, ranking thirtieth in a class of fifty-seven. This degree entitled him to become a member of the teaching body at the university. After further advanced studies in the liberal arts, with the addition of mathematics, metaphysics, and ethics, Luther received the master of arts degree in 1505, ranking second in a group of seventeen candidates.

The Thunderstorm Experience. In May of 1505 Luther registered as a law student in the university, though he was apparently never happy with his decision. In July of the same year he became frightened when he was caught in a severe thunderstorm and was thrown to the ground by a flash of lightning. Luther called upon St. Anne and vowed that he would become a monk if his life were spared. Two weeks later Luther entered a monastery of the Augustinian order at Erfurt.

Augustinian Monastery. In the monastery Luther submitted to a strict life of discipline. The superior of the order was Johann von Staupitz, whose piety, kindness, and understanding were influential upon Luther. The Augustinian monastery was known throughout Germany for its emphasis upon learning as well as its ordered life. Its theological seminary was connected with the University of Erfurt. There Luther engaged in theological studies and prepared for ordination as a priest. In 1507 Luther was ordained and celebrated his first mass. He later stated that this occasion caused him great distress, due to his strong sense of the importance of the rite and his own unworthiness, as well as his father’s disapproving attitude toward his becoming a priest.

In 1508, while pursuing his studies at Erfurt, Luther taught one semester of theology at the new university that had been founded at Wittenberg by Frederick, the elector of Saxony, in 1502. Luther’s studies added to his growing doubts concerning his own righteousness and the monastic life. He worried that he could never be good enough and that a righteous God would not save him. His doubts about man’s ability to merit salvation intensified when he was sent to Rome on business for his order in the winter of 1510 and 1511. He was disappointed at the secularism, formalism, and religious indifference he found in the Roman church and came to realize the need for reform. Soon after his return to Erfurt in 1511, Luther was sent to Wittenberg, where he carried on his work until his death.

Teaching in Wittenberg. After his transfer to Wittenberg in 1511, Luther received the degree of doctor of theology in 1512 and took the position of lecturer in biblical theology. From 1513 to 1515 he lectured on the Psalms, from 1515 to 1516 on Romans, and from 1516 to 1519 on Galatians, Hebrews, and Titus. During these years of lecturing on the Bible Luther seems to have clarified his views on justification. He later stated that while studying Romans 1:17 in his office in the tower of the monastery, he became convinced that justification comes through faith alone. This discovery Luther called his entry into the “gates of paradise.”

Sale of Indulgences and the 95 Theses. In 1517 Johann Tetzel came into Saxony near Wittenberg selling indulgences on behalf of Archbishop Albert of Mainz. Pope Julius II (p. 1503-1513) had inaugurated a plenary Jubilee Indulgence to obtain funds for rebuilding the basilica of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome, and the indulgence was revived by Pope Leo X (p. 1513-1521). A special arrangement was made with the archbishop, who needed money to obtain the archbishoprics of Mainz and Magdeburg and the bishopric of Halberstadt. Half of the money raised by the sale of the indulgences was to go to repay the loan from bankers to the archbishop, and the other half was to go to the pope to help pay for the cathedral. Tetzel claimed that the indulgence gave complete forgiveness of all sin. Luther decided to make a public protest to these abuses.

On October 31, 1517, he posted Ninety-five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. The theses were propositions for debate, written in Latin, in which he condemned the abuses of the indulgence system and issued an invitation for theologians to debate the matter. The Theses were soon translated into German, printed, and circulated throughout Germany.

Heidelberg Disputation of 1518. In 1518, Pope Leo X sought to exert pressure upon Luther through the Augustinian order to which Luther belonged. Luther was ordered to appear before the council of the general chapter of the Saxon province at Heidelberg. At the Heidelberg Disputation on April 26, 1518, Luther had the opportunity to defend his new theological beliefs. He attacked the doctrine of the freedom of the will and the traditional medieval interpretation of theology, and refused to recant his views. Little came of the debate, but he did win over to his views many friends who came to hear him, including Martin Bucer, who later played a leading role as a reformer.

Diet of Augsburg, 1518. Martin Luther was summoned to appear before the imperial Diet of Augsburg in 1518. The Dominicans, of whom Johann Tetzel was one and who had already charged Luther with heresy, had persuaded the pope to demand Luther’s appearance in Rome within sixty days as a suspect of heresy. Knowing that a hearing in Rome would probably result in death or life imprisonment, Luther wished to be heard on German soil. Frederick the Wise, the elector of Saxony, honored Luther’s request and made arrangements at the imperial diet assembled at Augsburg to have the papal legate Cardinal Cajetan give him a hearing in that city. Luther was given a letter of safe conduct by the emperor.

At the Diet Luther met Cardinal Cajetan, who was the general of the Dominican order and one of the most learned theologians of the Roman curia. Luther attended three hearings before Cajetan. The cardinal tried to induce Luther to revoke his views on the doctrine of justification by faith, but Luther would not retract without being shown by reason on the authority of Scripture, the church fathers, and papal decrees that he was in error. Luther further asserted that the pope could err and was not the final authority in faith and morals.

Debate in Leipzig, 1519. In 1519 Martin Luther went to Leipzig to debate with Dr. Johann von Eck, of the University of Ingolstadt. Luther and Eck for several months had exchanged theses concerning the authority of Scripture, freedom of the will, and other related questions. In the last of these he had defiantly stated his doubts that the authority of the pope could be justified historically. Eck and Andreas von Carlstadt, Luther’s colleague at Wittenberg, began the debates. But Luther was soon drawn into the conflict. In the course of the debates, Luther asserted that (1) the pope exercises his authority by human, not divine, right and was therefore not infallible; (2) the church of Rome was not supreme over the other churches; (3) the church of Christ was a spiritual communion of saints; (4) church councils could and did err because they were composed of erring men and did not exist by divine right; and (5) Scripture was the ultimate, divine authority in all matters pertaining to religion (sola scriptura). In addition to these assertions, Luther was forced by the clever Eck into admitting the validity of many of John Hus’s ideas.

Expanding the Call for Reform. During the following year (1520), Luther carried the issue to the German people by publishing a series of pamphlets. In The Address to the German Nobility, Luther attacked the Roman claims of the authority of the papacy and hierarchy of the Catholic Church. He argued from Scripture for the priesthood of all believers and called on the princes to reform the church when necessary. In his Babylonian Captivity of the Church, he challenged the sacramental system of the Catholic Church. Luther emphasized the validity of only the Lord’s Supper and baptism, stating that he could find no mention in the Bible of the other five Catholic sacraments. In The Freedom of the Christian Man, Luther asserted the priesthood of all believers as a result of their personal faith in Christ. These pamphlets clearly set forth the issues and called for reform.

Luther Condemned as an Heretic. Also in 1520, a commission appointed by the pope drew up a papal bull of condemnation, listing forty-one errors ascribed to Luther. The bull, known as Exsurge domine, condemned Luther for heresy and demanded he retract his heresies within sixty days upon pain of excommunication. Luther’s books were burned at Cologne. In December 1520 Luther publicly burned the papal bull.

The Diet of Worms, 1521. Frederick the Wise and his supporters persuaded the new emperor, Charles V to give Luther a hearing at his first Diet that he had summoned at Worms. The emperor also gave Luther a letter of safe conduct both to and from Worms. As Luther made his journey to Worms, large crowds of people gathered to see him or hear him preach in the churches along the way.

When Luther appeared before the emperor he was asked whether he was the author of a number of books that had been placed on a table in front of him and whether he would recant any part of them. Luther responded that he had written the books and others as well. To the second question he stated that he wished to have some time to consider his reply. He was given twenty-four hours. The following day Luther appeared before the emperor in a crowded auditorium. When he was asked whether he would retract the heresies in his books, he finally defended his conviction in the words: “Unless I am convinced of error by the testimony of Scripture or by clear reason,...I cannot and will not recant anything, for it is neither safe nor honest to act against one’s conscience. God help me. Amen.”

After Luther’s departure from Worms, the Diet issued an edict against Luther. The Edict of Worms accused Luther of both heresy and disobedience to established political authority. It stated that the emperor was now forced to enforce the papal bulls against Luther. The Edict placed Luther under the imperial ban. All subjects were forbidden to help or communicate with him, and all his books were condemned and ordered to be burned. Not only was Luther now excommunicated from the Catholic Church, he was also outlawed by the Empire.

At the Wartburg Castle, 1521-22. At the Diet of Worms, Luther asked the archbishop for permission to leave for Wittenberg on the following day, once it became obvious that no compromise was possible. Permission was granted, but by a previously made secret arrangement, Luther’s party was intercepted by trusted friends in the Thuringian Forest, and Luther was spirited off to the Wartburg Castle, overlooking Eisenach, where he remained disguised as “Knight George” for nearly a year.

During the ten months that Luther stayed at the Wartburg, he wrote numerous letters, sermons, and pamphlets encouraging his friends and setting forth his views. In Concerning Confession, Whether the Pope Has Power to Order It, Luther argued from the Bible that the Christian has the right to confess his sins to God alone, and that priestly confession and absolution were unscriptural. In On Monastic Vows, he urged monks and nuns that their vows were not binding, that they should leave the cloister and live an active life of service to others, and that their vows of chastity was contrary to human nature and reason and that they should marry. Luther also prepared his first collection of short sermons or homilies as an aid to other preachers.

But undoubtedly the greatest product of Luther’s stay at the Wartburg was his translation into German of the New Testament, which he achieved in eleven weeks. This was the first translation not based on the Latin Vulgate. Luther used the second edition of Erasmus’ New Testament, published in 1519. Aside from its obvious importance as a translation of God’s Word for the German people in their own tongue, Luther’s translation also helped create a standard German for all Germany. Luther later translated the Old Testament into German, completed in 1534.

LUTHER’S BASIC BELIEFS AND PRESUPPOSITIONS

Now that we have surveyed some of the key events in Luther’s life, we are prepared to turn to some of Luther’s basic beliefs and presuppositions and consider how those positions in turn colored his view of the epistle of James. Before we do so, however, it would be good to have in mind at least some of the more straightforward portions of James that Luther had to confront. In James 2:20-26 it reads, “But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,’ and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works, when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without {the} spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”

Luther’s View of God: Theology of The Cross versus a Theology of Glory

Paul Althaus wrote that Luther’s “theology of the cross permeated all of Luther’s theological thinking.” He developed his theology of the cross early in his career. Luther prepared 28 Theses for the Heidelberg Disputation of 1518, just a few months after posting the ninety-five theses, and in these theses we find his earliest and most articulate expression of the term. During these years Luther struggled with trying to find a gracious God with whom he could stand in a justified relationship. He wanted to be assured of his right standing before God, but found the traditional approach in medieval Catholicism to be unsatisfactory. Luther came to emphasize the apprehension of God in the suffering and lowliness of the cross in contrast to the apprehension of God on the basis of the visible created world.

The late medieval church, influenced by such theologians as Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas, emphasized natural theology. According to these ideas, God revealed Himself in numerous ways, including human reason, and there were numerous ways to access the grace of God.

In the Heidelberg Disputation, Luther called any theology not based on the cross a “theology of glory.” He said, “a theologian of glory calls evil good and good evil. A theologian of the cross calls the thing was it actually is” (Lull 44). Luther believed that any theology based on anything apart from the cross misinterpreted the truth. It was wrong, Luther argued, for so-called theologians “to look upon the invisible things of God as though they were clearly perceptible in those things which have already happened” (Lull 43). Instead, true knowledge of God came by His self-revelation in Christ. While Luther acknowledged that God had revealed Himself in nature, he did not think this led people to God. Because humanity is in a depraved state of alienation from God, man could not come to know God fully in this way.

Luther used Exodus 33:18-23 to say that like Moses of old, man could only perceive the backside of God. God always remains a hidden God, both in His transcendence and in His revelation (Dillenberger 502). Only in the cross did God reveal His true character. By Christ’s suffering, God revealed Himself as a God who loved men and wished to show mercy to them. The message of the cross revealed the depths of human sin and condemnation. Thus one could only come to true knowledge of God by means of this judgment. Luther asserted that “man must utterly despair of his own ability before he is prepared to receive the grace of Christ” (Lull 42).

Luther’s View of Justification

The central doctrinal principle for Luther was that justification is by grace through faith. “Through faith” did not mean a means for apprehending grace but a mode of living by and in the power of God’s grace. In a 1519 sermon entitled “Two Kinds of Righteousness,” Luther distinguishes between what he calls “alien righteousness” and our “proper righteousness.” By alien righteousness Luther means “the righteousness of another, instilled from without. This is the righteousness of Christ by which he justifies us through faith...” Citing Romans 1:17, “For in it {the} righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘But the righteous {man} shall live by faith’,” Luther asserts that “Through faith in Christ, therefore, Christ’s righteousness becomes our righteousness and all that he has becomes ours; rather, he himself becomes ours.” Luther’s concept ruled out every attempt to justify or acquit oneself before God. One was made acceptable before God in the lively apprehension of God’s word of love and mercy. This conclusion brought to an end for Luther any religious attempt to justify himself before God in terms of the prescribed combination of sacraments and works as found in Catholicism. The first slogan of Luther’s reformation was sola fide, “faith alone.”

Luther’s View of Faith

What did Luther mean by faith? Faith was not, for Luther, the change from unbelief to belief, or from disbelieving in God’s existence to believing in it. Rather it was a matter of moving from belief in the mere existence of God to the lively apprehension of God’s reality in Christ–a genuine personal encounter with God. To believe that there was a God without knowing that He was a God for oneself was tantamount to atheism.

What is the origin of faith? Coming to have this kind of faith, Luther believed, occurs through the Word, but not in the sense of a mental acceptance of the word of God. Rather it is received through a somewhat mystical experience. In fact Luther believed that the will of man is not totally free to accept God or His word. In The Bondage of the Will, Luther’s reply to Erasmus which he considered to be his best book, these views were set forth. Luther did not mean that man is incapable of making meaningful decisions. He did mean that man has no capacity of will by which the self can act or will itself into a saving relationship with God. Man is estranged from God and he cannot by his own will and effort overcome it. The reason for this estrangement and incapacity is what is sometimes referred to as “the total depravity of man.” The corollary was the belief in divine predestination. While Luther does not seem to emphasize predestination in the same way that John Calvin did, the idea was certainly present in Luther’s thought and must be taken into consideration when trying to understand his view of justification by faith.

So considered, faith to Luther meant not the decision to assent to a proposition, but a basic reorientation and redirection of life. To Luther faith is a gift of God. In his Preface to Romans (1522), Luther wrote, “Faith...is something that God effects in us... Faith is a living and unshakeable confidence, a belief in the grace of God... This is what the Holy Spirit effects through faith... Offer up your prayers to God, and ask Him to create faith in you; otherwise, you will always lack faith, no matter how you try to deceive yourself, or what your efforts and ability” (Dillenberger, 23-24). It is not that grace is offered and then man decides whether or not to accept it. Rather God’s gracious act takes priority, and includes a redirection of man’s capacity to will and work. Luther apparently rejected believer’s baptism and continued to insist upon baptism of infants because he believed those who insisted upon believer’s baptism placed too much emphasis on the will of man.

Luther’s View of the Place of Works

For Luther, therefore, good works can never in any sense be determinative of one’s relationship with God. In a treatise called Freedom of a Christian (1520), Luther writes: “Yes, since faith alone suffices for salvation, I need nothing except faith exercising the power and dominion of its own liberty. Lo this is the inestimable power and liberty of Christians” (Dillenberger 64). “In doing these works...we must not think that a man is justified before God by them, for faith, which alone is righteousness before God, cannot endure that erroneous opinion” (Dillenberger 65). Good works rather follow from faith as day follows night, as good fruit comes from a good tree. “Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works” (Dillenberger 69). If there is faith, there will be works; if there are no works, there is no faith. Clearly, for Luther all good works should be seen as following as a result of one’s justification, but not in any way as contributing to, or as a condition of, justification.

Luther’s View of Scripture

The second slogan associated with the reformation was “scripture alone.” This meant that the sole source of authority for the Christian and for the church is derived from scripture. The Catholic Church considered itself to be the sole custodian of truth, the rightful interpreter of scripture. Indeed, the church was held to receive revelations apart from scripture, and the tradition of the church was placed on at least a par with scripture in authority. Luther objected to this view, insisting upon the sole authority of scripture.

In his confrontation with the Catholic Church Luther ultimately rested upon the conviction that the final and only authority in the life of the church was scripture alone. He rejected the idea that the Pope cannot err in matters of faith and that he alone can interpret scripture. He rejected the ultimate authority and infallibility of church councils since they have often contradicted one another. One of the best known incidents at which Luther stated this conviction was his appearance before Charles V at the Imperial Diet at Worms in 1521. When asked to repudiate his writings, he replied with these words:

Since then your serene Majesty and your Lordships seek a simple answer, I will give it in this manner, neither horned nor toothed. Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the Pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience... May God help me. Amen.

However, we must be careful at this point. Luther’s insistence on the principle of “scripture alone” was not meant in the sense of literal accuracy or verbal inspiration of the Bible, though he certainly would not have questioned the principle. Rather, Luther believed that scripture was significant in the light of that to which it bore witness, namely Christ. To Luther, scripture, by the power of the Spirit, was the agent through which faith was born and nourished, but only because it pointed to Christ. Scripture was not the word of God simply because it was divinely inspired, but because it revealed God in his gracious working through Christ.

Luther’s View of the Interpretation of Scripture

Luther indeed believed that scripture must be interpreted in light of its witness to Christ. As a result he did not consider all books of the Bible to be of equal value. The gospel to Luther does not consist in books of the New Testament or in doctrines, laws or regulations. Such things are beneficial and necessary, but to know these things is not the same as knowing the gospel. In the books of the New Testament may be found the proclamation of Christ–the proclamation of the gospel.

Thus in his Preface to the New Testament, which he placed in his 1522 German translation, Luther stated, “You are in a position now rightly to discriminate between all the books, and decide which are the best. The true kernel and marrow of all the books, those which should rightly be ranked first, are the gospel of John and St. Paul’s epistles, especially that to the Romans, together with St. Peter’s first epistle.” Luther advised every Christian to read these books first and most often, since in them one will discover accounts of “how faith in Christ conquers sin, death, and hell; and gives life, righteousness, and salvation.” He believed that in these books one finds “the true essence of the gospel.” He concludes that these are “the books which show Christ to you. They teach everything you need to know for your salvation, even if you were never to see or hear any other book or hear any other teaching.” Then he adds, at the very end of the Preface, “In comparison with these, the epistle of St. James is an epistle full of straw, because it contains nothing evangelical.”

Luther also included Prefaces to introduce certain New Testament books as an aid to understanding them. One of these was a Preface to the Epistles of James and Jude. In that Preface Luther stated that he regarded James as valuable in its emphasis on God’s law. However, he rejects its apostolic authority for two reasons. The first reason is that, in opposition to Paul and the rest of the Bible, it ascribes justification to works. “This defect,” he states, “proves that the epistle is not of apostolic provenance.” The second reason Luther gives is that “in the whole length of its teaching, not once does it give Christians any instructions or reminder of the passion, resurrection, or spirit of Christ.” “The true touchstone,” Luther declares, “for testing every book is to discover whether it emphasizes the prominence of Christ or not.” He further states, “What does not teach Christ is not apostolic, not even if taught by Peter or Paul. On the other hand, what does preach Christ is apostolic, even if Judas, Annas, Pilate, or Herod does it.”

Luther read the entire New Testament in the light of the Pauline message that the just shall live by faith and not by works of the law — or rather in the light of his own understanding of Paul’s teaching. Should any particular passage of scripture appear to stand in opposition to this interpretation, then it simply does not have the authority of the word of God. This is the principle Luther applied to the teaching of James 2:21ff. He wrote in 1542 that he had been accustomed to interpreting James according the rest of scripture, but since some did not accept his interpretation of this passage, he simply said, “Then I shall make rubble of it. I almost feel like throwing Jimmy into the stove, as the priest in Kalenberg did” (quote in Althaus 81, f.n.31). Luther wrote in 1543, “His [James’] authority is not great enough to cause me to abandon the doctrine of faith and to deviate from the authority of the other apostles and the entire Scripture” (quoted in Althaus 81). Once Luther remarked that he would give his doctor’s beret to anyone who could reconcile James and Paul (Bainton 259).

Still, he did not go so far as to reject the canonicity of James. Indeed, he himself at times attempted to reconcile Paul and James: “Faith is a living, restless thing. It cannot be inoperative. We are not saved by works; but if there be no works, there must be something amiss with faith” (Bainton 259).

The result of this approach of interpreting James and other New Testament books in the light of his understanding of Paul was a hierarchy of values in the New Testament. As of greatest value Luther regarded the Gospel of John, then the epistles of Paul and First Peter, and after them the other gospels. He placed Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation in a clearly subordinate position. In making such decisions about the canon Luther clearly went beyond interpretation and practiced what Paul Althaus called “theological criticism” of the individual parts of the canon. The standard of this criticism was the same as his general principle of interpretation: the doctrine of justification by faith alone.

In conclusion, this is the fundamental weakness and ultimate fallacy of Luther’s approach. Either you accept the scriptures as the inspired word of God and then work to understand them as one harmonious, unified whole, or you do as Luther did and place a particular interpretation upon the scripture and reject as unauthoritative those passages or books that don’t seem to square with your interpretation. There will always be hermeneutical problems (or challenges), but it is never acceptable to try to escape those challenges by simply writing off those portions of scripture that cause us problems.

Works Cited

Althaus, Paul. The Theology of Martin Luther. Trans. Robert C. Schultz. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966.

Bainton, Roland H. Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther. New York: New American Library, 1950; 1978.

Dillenberger, John, ed. Martin Luther: Selections From His Writings. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1961.

Lull, Timothy F., ed. Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989.