As quotes Dr. Marty Stortz at a gathering of ELCA and ELCIC bishops.

Recall Luther removed the apocrypha from the Bible of his day, and debated removing seen other books, including James, Jude, Hebrews and Revelation, the four of which which are ordered at the end of the New Testament in German Bibles to this day.

Luther had a canon within the canon. Not all Scripture was considered equal. “The true touchstone,” Luther said, “for testing every book is to discover whether it emphasizes the prominence of Christ or not.” Even Eusebius disputed James’ canonicity. Jerome (c. 348 – c. 420), great translator of the Latin Vulgate Bible, wrote:

“James… was published under his name by another, although little by little as time went on it obtained authority.”

And yet a lot of Lutherans I bump into don’t see the Bible this way. They tend to treat every law in the Bible as equal to gospel. This idea of the canon within the canon is a new idea for them. Luther says the kernel of Scripture is the proclamation of justification by grace, through faith in Christ, so, he says, when Paul tells women they must never braid their hair, we can ignore him. It is up to our preachers to foster a deeper, more evangelical reading of Scripture.