10.6.2012 LUTHER IX - CANON

...writings..acknowledged as canonical by the ancient church..

110.last..'in his investigations of these matters, it came to L's attention that from early days there had been opposition to hebrews, james, jude and revelation. he himself thought he found in these same writings expressions that seemed difficult to bring into harmony with evangelical truth. in some cases they seemed to lack what was, in his eyes, the most important truth. for these reasons he placed these four books at the end of the new testament. in his table of contents he divided them from the rest by a small space and did not carry through the numbering of the books.
the sequence of the later books is then:
epistle to timothy
to titus
to philemon
of peter
epistles of john

epistle to the hebrews
epistle of james
of jude
revelation of john

in his prefaces L explained this treatment. here he points out that the last four books had from early times been evaluated differently from the others. he also defined his objections to their contents.

especially well known is the fact that he valued the epistle of james less highly than others. i use the comparative 'less highly' deliberately, since it accurately reproduces his judgment. as early as in the 'resolutiones' of the leipzig disputation, he had noted his opinion that the style of this letter lacked 'apostolic majesty' and that it could in no way be compared with those of paul. by 1520 he is convinced that this epistle is not genuine. his preface to james begins thus:
'even though this epistle of james was rejected in the ancient church,
i nevertheless prize it.
i hold in its favor that it is a good letter,
because it proclaims no human doctrines and powerfully asserts the law of God.
with this he justifies his acceptance of the letter, but to make clear why he did not place it on an equality with other new testament writings he adds this:
'if i must speak my mind, then i will do it-although i will not quarrel with anyone who thinks differently-but for myself i cannot regard this letter as the writing of an apostle...therefore i cannot account this letter as one of the rechte hauptbucher....'

113.2...'what does L mean by the rechte haupt bucher of which he here speaks? he gives us a key to this expression in an appendix to his preface to the gospels, entitled, 'which are the best and noblest books of the new testament'.
it reads,
'from all that i have said to this point, you can determine who you must judge the different books and how you can determine which are the best. i would name the gospel of john, the letters of pau, in particular that to the romans, and the first epistle of peter, for these form the true core and marrow of the new testament. therefore we may rightly call these the most significant books and advise every christian to read these first and most often, until through repeated reading he becomes as familiar with them as with his daily bread.

'for in these books one does not find much written concerning the actions and miracles of Christ.
on the other hand, there is here set forth, in masterly fashion, how faith in Christ conquers sin, death and hell and gives us life, righteousness, and salvation. and that is the true gospel, as you have heard.

if i should have to give up either the actions or the preaching of Christ, then i should prefer to retain His preaching. for the works, by themselves, could not help me-it is His words which give life, just as He Himself said (john 6.63). since john speaks relatively little concerning Christ's deeds, by much of his preaching, while the other three evangelists write much about His work and less about His words, john's gospel stands as the glorious and principal gospel, greatly to be preferred and highly to be regarded above the others. so also we must place the letters of paul and of peter high above the gospels of matthew, mark and luke.

'to summarize:
the gospel of john and his first epistle, the letters of pau and especially those to the romans, galatians and ephesians, together with the first epistle of peter are the books which reveal Christ to you and teach everything you need for your salvation. with these you would have all that is necessary, even though you were never to see another book or hear another sermon. for this reason the epistle of james, compared to these which i have named, is truly an epistle of straw, for he has not retained the full gospel. but more of this...