Lisa and Josh and 100 bales of hay
James 1:17-27
Martin Luther called James “an epistle of straw” for its
less than solid declaration of the Gospel but every time I read it I hear Jesus speaking. I bet that’s because James knew his half-brother
better than Luther did even if Luther had the apostle Paul to tell him what he needed
to know. (Luther was born again while reading Romans and practically gushes
over Galatians) That might be why James reads more like Jesus in Matthew's Sermon on the
Mount than Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Of course we Lutherans
tend to read everything through the Pauline lens but that being said we’d be
well served to apply the lesson of James to the way we live the Gospel. A
person who participates in House for All Sinners and Saints suggested that the link to the tab “what
we believe” should be “come see what we do” and if you look at it that way the
epistle of straw is the brick and mortar of the Gospel house. “So be doers of
the word and not merely hearers.” (James 1:22) sounds a lot like “You will
know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:16-20)
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