Martin is the NT editor of the WBC series, so he is very comfortable with the format of the series, which isn't the best, but Martin is able to work well with it in this volume, as he did in his volume on 2 Cor and co-authored volume on Philippians. This is right up there with McKnight (NICNT) and Johnson (AB) as the best commentaries on James. Martin's introduction covers all the difficult questions of sources and style/genre of James and historical setting. His exposition is detailed, and as always, Martin's translation is engaging and avoids the wooden translations of some commentators.

Edit Review

Phillip J. Long

July 24, 2012

The introduction to the book of James is about one-third of the book, and well worth reading despite being a bit dated. Martin sees a two-stage process for the production of the letter, first a collection of sayings going back to “James the Jerusalem Martyr” was made. These sayings were then edited (polished?) by a Hellenistic writer to produce the letter as we have it. This accounts for the Jewish / Wisdom aspects of the books as well as the Hellenistic / Moralists aspects. Martin’s commentary is one of the better on this list for treating the Greek text. Throughout the commentary the Greek is cited (without transliteration), Martin comments on both lexical and syntactical elements of the text. The Word series concludes each commentary section with an “Explanation,” here Martin draws on his exegesis to draw theological and pastoral conclusions. [Full Review]

Edit Review

Scot McKnight