Martin Luther wrote in his 1599 preface that the St. James Epistle is really "''an epistle of straw''" compared to St. John's Gospel and his first epistle, to St. Paul's epistles, especially Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians, and to St. Peter's first epistle, because of its insistence on works as a requirement for justification to life and its rejection of faith alone without works (''sola fide''). He afterward removed the "straw" statement, insisting that the epistle was good. | Martin Luther wrote in his 1599 preface that the St. James Epistle is really "''an epistle of straw''" compared to St. John's Gospel and his first epistle, to St. Paul's epistles, especially Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians, and to St. Peter's first epistle, because of its insistence on works as a requirement for justification to life and its rejection of faith alone without works (''sola fide''). He afterward removed the "straw" statement, insisting that the epistle was good. |