Luther has been famous for many things, one of which is his disapproval of a few of the New Testament letters, notably James. He contemplated removing the book of James from the cannon of Scripture. He disliked the emphasis that James placed upon action, feeling that it cast a doubtful light upon the reformation battle cry 'salvation through faith.'
It seems, at least in my estimation, that he succeeded in that regard.
James' letter is still in our Bibles (and not even in a separate section at the end of the Bible as Luther did in some of his translations), but it's 'teeth have been pulled.' I have heard it interpretted away on numerous occasions, and even heard one radio preacher flatly contradict some of the things he read from it; yet one has only to look at the Church to see that 'grace' has become a thinly veiled code for a life of self-focus.
Luther has indeed succeeded.
(Okay, okay, so I am judging him outside of historical context, my diatribe isn't aimed at him, it is aimed at us!)
1 comment:
Oh, you sad little Reformed people! Thank God for James, I love him. "Saved by faith." I agree. What is the nature of saving faith? This question still has me going. What is the nature of discipleship? Watching the movie Luther was revealing. Luther's "Faith" was very action oriented in that he stepped outside of the only known salvific means of salvation known to a Christian! He needed faith! Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship (first few chapters) reveal this. Tozer's I Call it Heresy do too. Have you ever read Genesis & wondered why God tested Abraham after he had given him the "promise" & then repeated the promise to him as if his passing the test through obedience made the promise conditional? It's revealing. James refers to it. Modern Reformed theology is funny. They'll tell someone how to get saved: Say, "Jesus is Lord." But are quick to tell them, "Lord means God, not Lord." Funny, Lord can mean God, but not Lord? I should have studied Greek. I just read through Romans & Paul consistently refers to Jesus as Lord. Am I to assume Paul meant God in each of those instances? Paul, why are you making things so confusing!? As it stands, they continually force Paul into their presuppositions. Tozer: "You are not saved by your works; however, you are not saved apart from them." Bonhoeffer: "Only those who believe obey; only those who obey believe." Paul: "Jesus is LORD." Jesus: "Follow me." Williard: "God is opposed to earning, not effort." Recently I spoke with a pastor who listened to NT Wright say, "We are using a 16th century hermeneutic to answer 20th century problems. What we need is a 2nd century hermeneutic in order to answer 21st century issues." Jesus is Lord & James' brother.
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