Epistle of James: Difference between revisions

The epistle aims to reach a wide Jewish audience.<ref>{{cite book |last= Painter|first= John|date=2005 |title= James and Peter models of leadership and mission in Chilton Bruce & Evans Craig The Missions of James, Peter, and Paul |location=Leiden, Netherlands. |publisher= Brill|page= 209|isbn= 9004141618}}</ref> During the last decades, the epistle of James has attracted increasing scholarly interest due to a surge in the quest for the historical James,<ref>{{cite journal |last= Chilton B. and Evans C. A. Eds. |date=2005 |title= James and the Gentiles in The Missions of James, Peter, and Paul: Tensions in Early Christianity|journal= Supplements to Novum Testamentum|issue= 115|pages= 91–142}}</ref> his role within the [[Early Christianity|Jesus movement]], his beliefs, and his relationships and views. This James revival is also associated with an increasing level of awareness of the Jewish grounding of both the epistle and the early Jesus movement.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bibliowicz |first=Abel M. |date=2019 |title= Jewish-Christian Relations – The First Centuries (Mascarat, 2019)|url=https://www.academia.edu/29628872 |location= WA|publisher= Mascarat|pages= 70–72|isbn=978-1513616483}}</ref>

The author is identified as “James"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”Christ" (James 1:1). James ([[Jacob (name)|Jacob]], {{lang-langx|he|יַעֲקֹב|Ya'aqov}}, {{lang-ellangx|grc|Ιάκωβος|Iakobos}}) was an extremely common name in antiquity, and a number of early Christian figures are named James, including: James the son of [[James the Great|Zebedee]], [[James the Less]], James the son of [[James, son of Alphaeus|Alphaeus]], and [[James, brother of Jesus|James the brother of Jesus]] (reported to also be the son of Alphaeus). Of these, James the brother of Jesus has the most prominent role in the early church, and is often understood as either the author of the epistle,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Luke Timothy |title=The Letter of James |publisher=Doubleday |year=1996 |isbn=9780300139907 |location=New York |pages=93}}</ref> or the implied author.

The earliest recorded references to the Epistle of James highlight the contentious nature of the epistle’sepistle's authorship. [[Origen]] may be the first person to link the epistle to "James the brother of Lord",<ref>Origen, (''Comm.Commentary on Romans'' 4.8.2),</ref> though this is only preserved in Rufinus’s[[Tyrannius Rufinus|Rufinus]]'s Latin translation of Origen.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brooks |first=James A. |date=2000 |title=Introduction to James |journal=Southwestern Journal of Theology |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=13 n. 9}}</ref> [[Eusebius]] writes that "James, who is said to be the author of the first of the so-called catholic epistles. But it is to be observed that it is disputed".<ref>Eusebius, (''[[Church History (Eusebius)|Historia ecclesiae]]'' 2.23.25).</ref> Jerome reported that the Epistle of James "is claimed by some to have been published by some one else under his name, and gradually, as time went on, to have gained authority".<ref>Jerome, (''[[De Viris Illustribus (Jerome)|De viris illustribus]]'' 2).</ref>

The link between James the brother of Jesus and the epistle continued to strengthen, and is now considered the traditional view on the authorship of the work. The traditional view can be divided into at least three further positions that relate also to the date of the epistle:<ref>{{Cite book |last=McCartney |first=Dan |title=James, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament |publisher=Baker Academic |year=2009 |isbn=978-0801026768 |location=Grand RapidsMichigan |pages=14–18}}</ref>

# The historical James wrote the letter prior to the Galatians controversy (GalGalatians 2:11–14), and prior to the Jerusalem council (Acts 15);

Many who affirm traditional authorship think James had a sufficient proficiency in Greek education to write the letter himself.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bauckham |first=Richard |title=James: Wisdom of James, disciple of Jesus the sage |publisher=Routledge |year=1999 |isbn=9780415103701 |location=London |pages=24}}</ref> Some argue that James the brother of Jesus made use of an [[amanuensis]], which explains the quality of Greek in the letter. Dan McCartney notes this position has garnered little support.<ref>McCartney, ''James'', 28-29.</ref> Others have advocated for a two-stage composition theory, in which many ofsayings in the sayings of epistle originate with James the brother of Jesus. They were collected by James’James' disciples and redacted into the current form of the letter.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davids |first=P. H. |title=The Brother of Jesus: James the Just and His Mission |publisher=John Knox Press |year=2001 |isbn=0664222994 |veditors= |location=LouisvilleKentucky |pages=66–67 |chapter=James’sJames's Message: The Literary Record}}</ref>

[[John Calvin]] and others suggested that the author was the James, son of Alphaeus, who is referred to as James the Less (often identified as James the "brother" of Jesus). The Protestant reformer [[Martin Luther]] denied it was the work of an [[Twelve apostles|apostle]] and termed it an "epistle of straw".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/history/7_ch04.htm|title=HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH*|website=www.ccel.org}}</ref>

{{See also|Antilegomena|}}

A prevalent view within scholarship considers the Epistle of James to be [[pseudonym]]ous.{{sfn|Perkins|2012|pp=19ff}} The real author chose to write under the name James, intending that the audience perceive James the brother of Jesus as the author. Scholars who maintain pseudonymous authorship differ on whether this was a deceitful<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ehrman |first=Bart D. |title=Forged: Writing in the Name of God – Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are |publisher=HarperOne |year=2012 |isbn=978-0062012623 |location=New York |pages=192–99}}</ref> or pious<ref>{{Cite book |last=David R. |first=Nienhuis |title=The Catholic Epistles and Apostolic Tradition: A New Perspective on James and Jude, ed. Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr and Robert W. Wall |publisher=Baylor University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-1602582156 |location=WacoTexas |pages=185 |chapter=James as Canon-Conscious Pseudepigraph}}</ref> practice.

The following arguments are often cited in support of pseudepigraphy:

# The Greek in the Epistle of James is rather accomplished, leading many scholars to believe that it could not have been written by Jesus’ brother. While it has been noted that James’sJames's hometown of Galilee was sufficiently Hellenised by the first century CE to produce figures such as the rhetorician [[Theodorus of Gadara|Theodorus]] orand the poet [[Meleager of Gadara|Meleager]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=deSilva |first=David A. |title=The Jewish Teachers of Jesus, James, and Jude: What Earliest Christianity Learned from the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0195329001 |location=Oxford |pages=46}}</ref> there is no evidence (outside the Epistle of James) to suggest that James attained a Greek education.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jackson-McCabe |first=Matt |title=Pseudepigraphie und Verfasserfiktion in frühchristlichen Briefen |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |year=2009 |isbn=978-3-16-150042-8 |editor-last=Frey |editor-first=Jörg |location=Tübingen |pages=622 |chapter=The Politics of Pseudepigraphy and the Letter of James}}</ref>

# The Epistle of James appears to borrow from [[1 Peter]], and if this is the case, James must be dated after 1 Peter (often dated between 70–10070 and 100 CE).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allison |first=Dale C. |title=A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle of James |publisher=Bloomsbury T&T Clark |year=2013 |location=New York |pages=67–70}}</ref>

The original manuscript of thisthe letterEpistle of James is lost. The earliest extant [[manuscript]]s of James date to the mid-to-late 3rd century.<ref name="McCartney2009">{{cite book|last=McCartney|first=Dan G|title=Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: James|year=2009|publisher=Baker Academic|location=Grand RapidsMichigan|isbn=978-0801026768|editor=Robert W Yarbrough and Robert H Stein}}</ref>

[[Josephus_on_Jesus#"James,_the_brother_of_Jesus"_passage|According to Josephus]],<ref>Josephus, (''Jewish Antiquities'' 20.197–203),</ref> James the brother of Jesus was killed in 62 CE, during the high priesthood of Ananus.,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bauckham |first=Richard |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/42201146 |title=James the Just and Christian origins |date=1999 |publisher=Brill |others=Bruce Chilton, Craig A. Evans |isbn=90-04-11550-1 |location=Leiden, Netherlands |pages=199–232 |chapter=For what offence was James put to death? |oclc=42201146}}</ref> although [[Clement of Alexandria]] and [[Hegesippus (chronicler)|Hegesippus]] provide a different account of James' death, c. 69 CE.<ref> Eusebius ''Hist. Eccl.'' II, Ch. 23</ref> Those who hold to traditional authorship date the epistle to sometime before 62 CE, in the forties or fifties, making it one of the earliest writings of the New Testament.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

*[[Codex Vaticanus]] (325-350325–350){{sfn|Riesner|2007|p=1255}}

*[[Codex Sinaiticus]] (330-360330–360){{sfn|Riesner|2007|p=1255}}

*[[Codex Alexandrinus]] (400-440400–440)

*[[Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus]] (ca{{c. |450}})

An ancient manuscript containing this chapter in the [[Coptic language]] is: [[Papyrus 6]] (~AD 350).<ref name = Aland>{{Cite book

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2pYDsAhUOxAC

The Epistle of James is a public letter ([[epistle]]), and includes an epistolary prescript that identifies the sender (“James”"James") and the recipients (“to"to the twelve tribes in the diaspora”diaspora") and provides a greeting (JasJames 1:1). The epistle resembles the form of a Diaspora letter,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Doering |first=Lutz |title=Reading the Present in the Qumran Library: The Perception of the Contemporary by Means of Scriptural Interpretations |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |year=2005 |isbn=978-90-04-13761-5 |location=Atlanta |pages=44 |chapter=Jeremiah and the 'Diaspora Letters' of Ancient Judaism: Epistolary Communication with the Golah as Medium for Dealing with the Present}}</ref> written to encourage Jewish-Christian communities living outside of Israel amid the hardships of diaspora life.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hearon |first=Holly E. |date=2016 |title=To the Twelve Tribes in the Diaspora': Faith and Faithfulness in the Letter of James |url=https://ixtheo.de/Record/1643494015 |journal=Biblical Research |volume=61 |pages=27–45}}</ref> James stands in the tradition of the Jewish genre of "Letters to the Diaspora", including the letters of the members of the family of Gamaliel, the one preserved in 2 Maccabees 1:1-91–9, or some copied by Josephus, all of which are characterised by a double opening and an abrupt ending.<ref>K.-W. Niebuhr. (1998). “Der"Der Jakobusbrief im Licht frühjüdischer Diasporabriefe”Diasporabriefe". NTS 44, 420-443.</ref><ref>F.O. Francis. (1970). “The"The Form and Function of the Opening and Closing Paragraphs of James and 1John”1 John". ZNW 61, 110-126.</ref>

Other scholars have noted the epistle's affinities with Greco-Roman philosophical literature.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jackson-McCabe |first=Matt |title=Reading the Epistle of James: A Resource for Students |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature Press |year=2019 |location=Atlanta |pages=45–71 |chapter=The Letter of James and Hellenistic Philosophy}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kloppenborg |first=John S. |date=2010 |title=James 1:2-15 and Hellenistic Psychagogy |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/nt/52/1/article-p37_3.xml |journal=Novum Testamentum |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=37–71 |doi=10.1163/004810010X12577565604134 |issn=0048-1009}}</ref> The author's use and transformation of Q materials resembles the Hellenistic practice of ''aemulatio''{{lang|la|aemueelatio}}, in which the author must "rival and vie [''{{lang|la|aemulatio''}}] with the original in the expression of the same thoughts” (thoughts".<ref>Quintilian, ''Inst''. 10.5.5).</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=John S. |first=Kloppenborg |title=The Catholic Epistles and Apostolic Tradition: A New Perspective on James and Jude |publisher=Baylor University Press |year=2009 |location=WacoTexas |pages=87 |chapter=The Reception of the Jesus Tradition in James}}</ref> Other studies have analysed sections of James in light of Greco-Roman rhetorical conventions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Watson |first=Duane F. |date=1993 |title=James 2 in Light of Greco-Roman Schemes of Argumentation |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0028688500020312/type/journal_article |journal=New Testament Studies |language=en |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=94–121 |doi=10.1017/S0028688500020312 |s2cid=170259453 |issn=0028-6885}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Watson |first=Duane F. |date=1993 |title=The Rhetoric of James 3:1-12 and a Classical Pattern of Argumentation |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/nt/35/1/article-p48_4.xml |journal=Novum Testamentum |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=48–64 |doi=10.1163/156853693X00040 |issn=0048-1009}}</ref>

The exact historical circumstances that occasioned the epistle are unknown. Those who understand James 2 as a polemic against Paul or Paul’sPaul's followers suggest an occasion for the letter aimed at opposing Pauline justification.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Margaret M. |title=Reading James with New Eyes: Methodological Reassessments of the Letter of James |publisher=T&T Clark |year=2007 |isbn=9780567279668 |location=London |pages=75–98 |chapter=The Letter of James as a Document of Paulinism?}}</ref> Others have argued that James' discussion on faith and works does not have Pauline categories in view.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=List |first=Nicholas |date=2020 |title=Problematising Dependency: Soteriology and Vocabulary in James and Paul |url= |journal=The Expository Times |language=en |volume=131 |issue=9 |pages=383–391 |doi=10.1177/0014524620903678 |s2cid=213753372 |issn=}}</ref>

Some scholars have suggested that the epistle was written to both Christian and non-Christian Jews, who continued to worship together before the parting of the ways between Christianity and Judaism.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Allison |first=Dale C. |date=2015 |title=The Jewish Setting of the Epistle of James |journal=In die Skriflig |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=1–9 |doi=10.4102/ids.v49i1.1897|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kloppenborg |first=John S. |date=2007 |title=Diaspora Discourse: The Construction of Ethos in James |journal=New Testament Studies |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=242–70 |doi=10.1017/S0028688507000148|s2cid=143909889 }}</ref> The warning against cursing people (JasJames 3:9–10) has been read in light of this historical reconstruction, and Dale Allison has argued that “James"James reflects an environment in which some Jews, unhappy with Jewish Christians, were beginning to use the ''{{transliteration|hbo|[[Birkat haMinim|Birkat ha-minim]]''}} or something very much like it”it" to curse Christians.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Allison |first=Dale C. |date=2011 |title=Blessing God and Cursing People: James 3:9-10 |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |volume=130 |issue=2 |pages=399 |doi=10.2307/41304208|jstor=41304208 |s2cid=161277475 }}</ref>

Poverty and wealth are key concerns throughout the epistle, and these issues are likely to reflect the epistle's historical context.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holloway |first=Paul A. |title=The Blackwell Companion to the New Testament |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2010 |editor-last=Aune |editor-first=David E. |location=Oxford |pages=572 |chapter=The Letter of James |doi=10.1002/9781444318937.ch33|isbn=9781444318937 }}</ref> The author shows concern for vulnerable and marginalised groups, such as "orphans and widows" (JasJames 1:27), believers who are "poorly clothed and lacking in daily food" (JasJames 2:15), and the oppressed waged-worker (JasJames 5:4). He writes strongly against the rich (JasJames 1:10; 5:1–6) and those who show partiality towards them (JasJames 2:1–7).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Edgar |first=David |title=Has God Not Chosen the Poor?: The Social Setting of the Epistle of James |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2001 |isbn=9781841271828 |location=London}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.|source=''Epistle of James'' 5:14,15<ref>{{bibleverse|James|5:14–15}}</ref>}}

James and the [[M Source]] material in Matthew are unique in the canon in their stand against the rejection of works and deeds.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hagner|first=Donald A. |date=2007 |title= Paul as a Jewish Believer in Skarsaune and Reidar Hvalvik, eds., Jewish Believers in Jesus: The Early Centuries|location= Peabody, Mass.Massachusetts|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |pages= 96–120|isbn=978-0-664-25018-8}}</ref> According to Sanders, traditional Christian theology wrongly divested the term "works" of its ethical grounding, part of the effort to characterize Judaism as legalistic.<ref>{{cite book |last= Sanders|first= P. |date=1977 |title= Paul and Palestinian Judaism|url= https://isbnsearch.org/isbn/9781506438146|publisher= Fortress Press|page= 236|isbn=1506438148}}</ref> However, for James and for all Jews, faith is alive only through Torah observance.{{dubious|date=May 2024}} In other words, belief demonstrates itself through practice and manifestation. For James, claims about belief are empty, unless they are alive in action, works and deeds.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hartin |first1= Patrick J. |date=2015 |title= The Letter of James: Faith Leads to Action|journal=Word & World |volume= 35|issue= 3|pages= 229}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do."|source=''Epistle of James'' 1:22–25<ref>{{bibleverse|James|1:22–25|NIV}}</ref>}}

{{blockquote|Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. |source=''Epistle of James'' 1:27<ref>{{bibleverse|James|1:27|NIV}}</ref>}}

{{blockquote|Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.|source=''Epistle of James'' 2:12–13<ref>{{bibleverse|James|2:12–13|NIV}}</ref>}}The epistle emphasizes the importance of acts of charity or works to go along with having the Christian faith by means the following three verses in Chapter 2 of his Epistle:

-2:18.{{blockquote|What Butshall someit profit, manmy brethren, if willa man say: Thouhe hasthath faith, andbut Ihath havenot works.? Shew me thyShall faith withoutbe works;able andto Isave willhim?|James shew thee, by works, my faith.2:14}}

-2{{blockquote|But some man will say:20 Thou hast faith, and I have works. Shew me thy faith without works; and I will shew thee, by works, my faith.|James 2:18}}

{{blockquote|But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?|James 2:20<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catholic Epistle of St. James the Apostle {{!}} EWTN |url=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/catholic-epistle-of-st-james-the-apostle-12348 |access-date=2023-04-29 |website=EWTN Global Catholic Television Network |language=en}}</ref>}}

James is unique in the canon by its explicit and wholehearted support of Torah observance ([[Mosaic law|the Law]]). According to Bibliowicz, not only is this text a unique view into the milieu of the Jewish founders – its inclusion in the canon signals that as canonization began (fourth century onward) Torah observance among believers in Jesus was still authoritative.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bibliowicz |first=Abel M. |date=2019 |title= Jewish-Christian Relations – The First Centuries (Mascarat, 2019)

|url= https://www.academia.edu/29628872 |location= WAWashington|publisher= Mascarat|pages= 70–73|isbn=978-1513616483}}</ref> According to modern scholarship James, Q, Matthew, the Didache, and the pseudo-Clementine literature reflect a similar ethos, ethical perspective, and stand on, or assume, Torah observance. James call to Torah observance (James 1:22-27) ensures salvation (James 2:12–13, 14–26).<ref>{{cite book |last=Bauckham|first=Richard|date=2007 |title= James and the Jerusalem Community in Skarsaune and Reidar Hvalvik, eds., Jewish Believers in Jesus: The Early Centuries|location= Peabody, Mass.Massachusetts|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |pages= 64–95|isbn=978-0-664-25018-8}}</ref> Hartin is supportive of the focus on Torah observance and concludes that these texts support faith through action and sees them as reflecting the milieu of the Jewish followers of Jesus.<ref>{{cite book |last= Hartin|first=Patrick J. |date=2008 |title=Law and Ethics in Matthew's Antitheses and James's Letter van de Sandt, Huub and Zangenberg, eds. Introduction in Matthew, James and the Didache |location= Atlanta, GAGeorgia |publisher= SBL|page= 315,365|isbn=978-1589833586}}</ref> Hub van de Sandt sees Matthew's and James' Torah observance reflected in a similar use of the Jewish Two Ways theme which is detectable in the Didache too (Didache 3:1–6). McKnight thinks that Torah observance is at the heart of James's ethics.<ref>{{cite book |last= McKnight |first= Scot|date=2011 |title=The Letter of James in New International Commentary on the New Testament |location= Grand Rapids, MIMichigan|publisher=Eerdmans |pages= 34–6|isbn=978-0802826275}}</ref> A strong message against those advocating the rejection of Torah observance characterizes, and emanates from, this tradition: "Some have attempted while I am still alive, to transform my words by certain various interpretations, in order to teach the dissolution of the law; as though I myself were of such a mind, but did not freely proclaim it, which God forbid! For such a thing were to act in opposition to the law of God which was spoken by Moses, and was borne witness to by our Lord in respect of its eternal continuance; for thus he spoke: 'The heavens and the earth shall pass away, but one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law.{{' "}}<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|5:18|NRSV}}</ref>

James seem to propose a more radical and demanding interpretation of the law than mainstream Judaism. According to Painter, there is nothing in James to suggest any relaxation of the demands of the law.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Chilton B. and Evans C. A. Eds. |date= 2005|title= James and the Gentiles in The Missions of James, Peter, and Paul: Tensions in Early Christianity|journal= Supplements to Novum Testamentum|issue= 115|pages= 222 }}</ref> "No doubt James takes for granted his readers' observance of the whole law, while focusing his attention on its moral demands."<ref>{{cite book |last=Bauckham |first=Richard |date= 2001|title= James and Jesus in The brother of Jesus in James the Just and his mission, eds. Chilton Bruce and Neusner Jacob |location= Louisville, KYKentuckt |publisher= Westminster John Knox Press |page= 1105|isbn=0664222994}}</ref>

ThisJames verse1:5 has particular importance in the [[Latter Day Saint movement|Latter Day Saint tradition]]. [[Joseph Smith]] claims that the reading and contemplation of this verse inspired him to ask God for wisdom, leading to his [[First Vision]], and thus what his followers consider to be the [[Restoration (Latter Day Saints)|Restoration]]—the creation of the LDS church.<ref>{{cite book |title=''[[Pearl of Great Price (Mormonism)|The Pearl of Great Price]]'' |publisher=[[Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] |access-date=24 June 2019 |chapter=Joseph Smith—History 1|chapter-url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1.12-13?lang=eng}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Flint |first1=B. C. |title=The Book of Mormon (From ''What about the Book of Mormon?'') |url=http://www.churchofchrist-tl.org/mormon.html |publisher=[[Church of Christ (Temple Lot)]] |access-date=20 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420182348/http://www.churchofchrist-tl.org/mormon.html#how |archive-date=20 April 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=James 1:5–6 |journal=[[Liahona (magazine)|Liahona]] |date=January 2017 |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2017/01/youth/james-1-5-6?lang=eng |access-date=22 June 2019 |publisher=[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Community of Christ Lessons— Children |url=https://www.cofchrist.org/common/cms/resources/Documents/Lectionary%20Lessons/CHILDREN-Lessons-YearB-Dec2017-Feb2018..pdf |publisher=[[Community of Christ]] |pages=7–8 |access-date=22 June 2019 |date=3 December 2017 |archive-date=2 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191202174038/https://www.cofchrist.org/common/cms/resources/Documents/Lectionary%20Lessons/CHILDREN-Lessons-YearB-Dec2017-Feb2018..pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

During the [[Reformation]] era, Martin Luther took issue with the epistle on theological grounds, finding James' description of faith and works incompatible with his understanding of justification. Reportedly, he once went as far as to assert "I almost feel like throwing Jimmy{{efn|"Jimmy" is short for "James", which is how the Epistle of James is often referred to.}} into the stove", a metaphor for his being tempted to remove the Epistle of James from the Bible.<ref>Martin Luther, Career of the Reformer IV, ed. Helmut T. Lehmann and Lewis W. Spitz, Luther’s Works 34 (St. Louis: Concordia, 1960), 317</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/the-epistle-of-straw-reflections-on-luther-and-the-epistle-of-james/|title=The "Epistle of Straw": Reflections on Luther and the Epistle of James}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Schaff|first=Philip|title=History of the Reformation|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc7.ii.iv.iv.html|quote=The most important example of dogmatic influence in Luther's version is the famous interpolation of the word alone in Rom. 3:28 (allein durch den Glauben), by which he intended to emphasize his solifidian doctrine of justification, on the plea that the German idiom required the insertion for the sake of clearness.464 But he thereby brought Paul into direct verbal conflict with James, who says (James 2:24), "by works a man is justified, and not only by faith" ("nicht durch den Glauben allein"). It is well known that Luther deemed it impossible to harmonize the two apostles in this article, and characterized the Epistle of James as an "epistle of straw," because it had no evangelical character ("keine evangelische Art").}}</ref> Luther nonetheless chose to include James fromin his German translation of the Bible, though he moved it (along with Hebrews, Jude, and Revelation) to the end of the Bible.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=George |first=Timothy |date=1986 |title='A Right Strawy Epistle': Reformation Perspectives on James |journal=Review & Expositor |volume=83 |issue=3 |pages=373 |doi=10.1177/003463738608300303|s2cid=13308580 }}</ref>