Martin Luther and James

I am listening to a biography of Martin Luther, and the book describes his disgust with the practice of selling indulgences for a reduction of time in purgatory.  In essence the church was offering forgiveness for a price: "As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs."  I can understand his opposition to this commercialization religion when he found no such practice justified in the Bible, and surely Moroni was speaking of this kind of thing when he chastised us, "There shall be churches built up that shall say: Come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins.  O ye wicked and perverse and stiffnecked people, why have ye built up churches unto yourselves to get gain?" (Mormon 8:32-33)  Selling supposed religious services for money is simply priestcraft: "Priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world" (2 Nephi 26:29).

Martin Luther supposedly called the epistle of James an "epistle of straw" because of its lack of focus on faith and emphasis instead on works.  But to me as I look at the book it is surprising that Luther didn't find more value in it because of its condemnation of riches and the kinds of things that Luther opposed in the church.  For example, James wrote, "But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away" (James 1:10).  James also gave this scenario for his readers to consider: "For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?" (James 2:2-4)  To me this is the essence of the kind of thing that Luther was protesting; the church gave more "respect" to the rich man because it would essentially sell more forgiveness to the person with money that the poor person.  What he saw in the church violated the very teachings of the word of God.  James continued his rebuke of the rich in these terms: "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.  Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days" (James 5:1-3).  This seems to me to be exactly how Luther would have condemned Rome for its opulence--cankered and unconcerned with true spiritual matters.  Perhaps Luter should have given the book of James a second chance.