WISDOM FROM HEAVEN
The message of James for today
By Derek Tidball. Christian Focus. 224 pages
ISBN 1 85792 865 2
This is a commentary on the letter of James. It covers the entire letter, but not in the usual verse-by-verse manner. Rather, the author adopts a topic-by-topic approach, grouping together in each chapter of the commentary all the passages in the letter which deal with a single topic.
So, after a brief introduction to the letter, the first chapter deals with 'Trouble and how to meet it'. The author here gathers together the three passages in James which address the subject of trouble (1.1-4, 12-18; 5.7-11), and comments on them all. Subsequent chapters deal with 'Wisdom and how to obtain it'; 'Wealth and how to treat it'; 'Religion and how to practise it'; and so on. The result is a fresh and helpful approach to James, though doubtless something is lost in not pursuing James's own flow of thought, in ordering his letter in the way he did.
