An Epistle of Straw?

Scripture — James 1:17-18, 22-27 (NRSV)

Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. . .

But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act – they will be blessed in their doing.

If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Devotion

There are a lot of things Martin Luther is famous for. (No, not Martin Luther King Jr. He’s famous for a lot of things too, but I’m talking about the man he was ultimately named for.) Martin Luther was one of the major contributors to the movement we today call the Protestant Reformation; he was a famous theologian, a famous hymnwriter, and one of the most discussed people in the sixteenth century.

Also, he hated the Biblical epistle of James.

Maybe “hate” is too strong a word, but Luther is on record as calling James an “epistle of straw” (meaning, in reference to 1 Corinthians 3:12-13, stuff that just wasn’t really useful). At least Luther thought so in comparison to Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, and other books which he felt taught the core of the gospel: that we are saved by grace through faith and not by our works. Luther struggled with James because he thought it was preaching a kind of works-righteousness and because he knew that people he opposed within Roman Catholicism often cited James to make their points.

I tell you all of this to tell you something else. When I was in seminary about twenty-five years ago, one of my fellow students was a man who was an adult convert to Christianity. I mean, we were all in our mid-twenties, so by “adult” I probably actually mean “19-year-old,” but he had not grown up in the church and did not have a Christian background until, in his late teens, he encountered the Bible. When he did, he found particular resonance with the epistle of James.

For Luther, who was concerned he had worked himself to death trying to earn God’s favor, James was not the epistle he needed. But for my friend—a kind and caring person by nature who accepted that God was loving but wanted to know what Christianity was for, what it could do, what kind of Kingdom it would lead to—James was the perfect epistle. Reading James brought him to true and living faith in Christ.

James reminds us that we can have all of our theological ducks in a row and still not make the difference in the world that Jesus calls us to make—not saves us on account of our making, but calls us to make as his saved and faithful disciples. Now in his mid-fifties, my friend graduated from seminary all those years ago, spent about fifteen years as a pastor, and then became a hospice chaplain. Thousands of lives were touched because he once, long ago, read James’s injunction for us all to be “doers of the word and not merely hearers,” caring for others in their distress.

And after all, as James says, “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.” The grace is always there, always Christ’s and not our own, if you just look for it.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Doers of the Word: Working for Those in Need (James 1:22–27).