“James is an Epistle of straw because it has nothing of the gospel in it,” said Martin Luther. Now, to be fair to Martin Luther, he said other things about James in other books, but that’s the most infamous quote that’s come down to us about James. What did he mean by that? To use the expression straw, an Epistle of straw, must be understood in comparison with other writings in the NT—that instead of being wood, hay, and stubble and straw are gold and silver and precious stones, a figure that the