Luther on James 1:16-18

Our pastor preached on this text this past Sunday and I have written some personal observations here. But, reflecting once more on the text, I decided to make a Luther observation as well in this blog.

It is well-known that, in his early reforming years, Luther was not a fan of several Biblical books, including the book of James. His famous statement about James being a "right strawy epistle" is often quoted by some to claim Luther disregarded James as part of the canon. That may be true in the early 1520s, but his view changed with time.

In his German translation made during his "imprisonment" in the Wartburg Castle (1521-1522), Luther did translate James. Yes, he moved it to the back of his Bible, but it was part of the collection. Later, his sermons were collected into what are known as his Church Postils, many of these preached between 1525 and1529. Contained in the postils is a sermon from the very text of James preached by my pastor. It was first printed in 1536. But, clearly, either by the late 1520s or mid-1530s, Luther had a different view of James. I cannot envision this reformer preaching a message from a text he did not recognize as being Biblical.

If you are interested in his message, you may read it here.

October 12-14, 1518: Interview with the Cardinal

As a result of his protest against indulgences posted on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther was subsequently called to appear before Roman Catholic Church officials and to recant his words. In the city of Augsburg on October 12, 1518, Luther met with the famed Dominican Papal representative, Cardinal Cajetan. The meeting began with Luther showing great respect toward the Cardinal but soon turned more contentious. The following excerpt of a portion of the account is from the famous biography of Luther, "Here I Stand", by Roland Bainton:

...Luther...came out with a blunt rejection of the decretal and of the authority of the pope who formulated it. "I am not so audacious that for the sake of a single obscure and ambiguous decretal of a human pope I would recede from so many and such clear testimonies of divine Scripture. For, as one of the canon lawyers has said, 'in a matter of faith not only is a council above a pope but any one of the faithful, if armed with better authority and reason.'" The cardinal reminded Luther that Scripture has itself to be interpreted. The pope is the interpreter. The pope is above a council, above everything in the Church. "His Holiness abuses Scripture," retorted Luther. "I deny that he is above Scripture." The cardinal flared up and bellowed that Luther should leave and never come back unless he was ready to say, "Revoco"--"I recant."

Luther wrote home that the cardinal was no more fitted to handle the case than an ass to play on a harp. (p. 73)

Years later Luther would write about this meeting and note:

"But I could not bring myself to say those six letters, REVOCO."