And the Book of Revelation

 

Luther said regarding the epistle of James:

           This is the word not suitable to be included in the books, as the disciple James said in chapter five of his epistle, ”Is any sick among you? 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. [1]

          Luther, raising objection on the above statement, said in volume Two of his book:

          If this is what James has said, I answer him that no disciple has the right to define and issue religious injunctions on his own account, because it was only Jesus who possessed that status.

          It is clear from the above that the epistle of James is not, according to Luther, inspired, and that injunctions given by the disciples are not supported by inspiration, otherwise the above statement would be absurd and meaningless.

Ward stated in his book printed in 1841:

          Pomran, an eminent scholar of the Protestants and a pupil of Luther, says that James has written false and absurd events at the end of his letter. He has copied from other books events which cannot be associated with the Holy Ghost. Such a book therefore must not be considered as inspired.

          Vitus Theodore, a Protestant preacher in Nuremberg, said that they had intentionally given up the Book of Revelation and the Epistle of James. He said that the Epistle of James is not to be censured where he has stressed the necessity of good deeds along with faith, but that this latter contains contradictions. The Magdeburg Centuries said that the Epistle of James, at one place, is unique among all the accounts of the disciples because he says that salvation does not depend on faith alone but that it also requires good deeds. He also says that the Torah was the Law of Freedom.

           It is clear from the above that these elders, like Luther, do not believe in the Epistle of James being inspired by the Holy Ghost.

[1]James 5:14.