Luther was like a newborn baby coming out of the womb. He still had the products of what he came through on him. He still retained a bit of the Roman service. But on the essentials, he "got it".
= = = =
Thankfully, he got the point of Hebrews exceedingly correct--JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH.
What else can his narrative from Abraham on be about!
Yes he did. He wasn't particularly fond of James but included it as Scripture. I too joke that James is one guy I would like to sock in the mouth from time to time because he appears so against the rest of the New Testament. In reality, James, understood rightly, is a wonderful book about how Christians should live. I was discussing it with some friends this very evening in a Bible study. James saw the truth that Christianity isn't vain religion. Rather, it is faith that works.
James 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 26If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. 27Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Here, we can see that James sees things no differently than Paul (though I do think Paul was the clearer writer in terms of the ages - I think James' initial audience knew precisely what James was saying to them).
Ephesians 2:8-10
8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
I think there is this idea that we somehow run from James and embrace only Paul. That is not true. We take Paul and James as BOTH equally authoritative and not contradictory in the least.
It takes Sola Scriptura to understand that though.