The Epistle of James: Proven Character through Testing

The epistle of James is a beautifully constructed Christian letter written by an author with a pastor’s heart. The writer is a skilled communicator. His style is both terse and graphic, employing a wide range of effective illustrations, making it easy to believe that he also taught God’s truth orally with considerable power. An indispensible element of the New Testament canon, the letter’s profound substance renders invalid Luther’s initial evaluation of the work as a “right strawy epistle.” The book of James is the voice of a great Christian leader whose grasp of the spiritual life and of human nature is equal to any in the canon of New Testament Scripture. The modern Church ignores James’s immensely practical admonitions at its own peril. In every way the epistle of James justifies the church’s historic, collective judgment that it belongs among the writings which are given by inspiration of God. Hodges’ commentary affirms the position of James in the New Testament canon and its usefulness for the church today.