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| Q: | A Reformed friend of mine told me today that in a biography of Martin Luther, he read that Luther denied the Apostolic authorship of James and Jude. What's going on here? | ||||||
| A: | 1) A direct and simple answer to the question is that Luther did indeed deny that the author of James and the author of Jude were apostles. See the American Edition (Luther's Works), Volume 35, pages 395-398. 2) More should be said. The author of James does not identify himself as an apostle. The question whether he is James the Son of Alphaeus (an apostle) or James the Brother of the Lord (not an apostle) cannot be answered with certainty. The author of Jude does not identify himself as an apostle, but as the Brother of James--perhaps to distinguish himself from the Apostle Jude (Thaddeus). Other writers of the New Testament who were not among the Twelve Apostles are Mark and Luke; perhaps also the author of Hebrews. The church, nevertheless, regards those books (as well as James and Jude) as apostolic because they were written by men who were in a close relationship with one or more apostles, and especially because their writing is in agreement with that of the apostles. 3) Luther did not deny these books a place in the New Testament (as he did reject the Apocrypha from the Old Testament). From his first translation of the New Testament to the last work he did on Bible translation (shortly before his death), he included them. He simply did not count them among the "chief books." Thus, he treated them in the way many theologians before and after him did, as "deuterocanonical." That is, they hold a secondary rank in the Bible. 4) When Luther wrestled with these and other books over questions of apostolicity or their place in the canon (accepted biblical books), he never questioned the inspiration and authority of God's Word. The only question was what is properly a part of God's Word. 5) As with questions of our faith, so with this question, Luther is never the final authority. | ||||||
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