The epistle of James is known as one of the "general" epistles. While it begins with salutations and greetings like any other letter, the non-specific discussion in the body of the document reveal that it was not written for any specific congregation. James' style has most often been cited as a form of parenesis a string of admonitions or moral maxims bound together with very little narrative. However, this so-called "epistle" could just as easily had its origin as a Christian homily or sermon.

It was the tone of these maxims that caused Martin Luther to cast such disparaging remarks at James' epistle. Luther felt that James' emphasis on the "works" of faith (encompassing all of 1:19-2:26), on Christian activity, undermined Paul's emphasis on justification by faith alone. But even though (…