James / James

James. By Kurt A. Richardson. New American Commentary 36. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1997, 272 pp., $27.99; James. By David P. Nystrom. NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997,338 pp., $22.99.

The near simultaneous publication of two commentaries on the epistle of James, both written by able theologians with deep roots in the local church and both published in series directed toward the exploration of the contemporary significance of the ancient text, provides an excellent opportunity for a comparative evaluation.

Let us begin with Richardson's volume, which purports to be a "theological exposition' tp. 22) of James's letter. Although the standard introductory questions are addressed in the opening section, it is clear that Richardson has little interest in making a contribution on this level. The text is understood to have emerged from the pen of James, the brother of Jesus, and is said to evoke at once the literary qualities of an epistle, diatribe, and parenesis. By Richardson's own admission the structure of the letter is not readily apparent; nonetheless, the basic outline proposed by P. Davids on the basis of the 1970 study of F. O. Francis is accepted without further discussion.

Richardson's comprehension of his task as one that "presses beyond the strictures of exegetical minutiae toward the larger and more fundamental meaning of the epistle (p. 22) is evident from the outset. The reader will search in vain for a cogent explanation of the contours of James's missive and find instead a wide-ranging reflection upon the implications Richardson finds buried in the text. The entirety of James 1 is subsumed in Richardson's mind under the topic of wisdom, a quality that is attainable through faith and in turn strengthens faith. Jams 2 begins then with a clear break, introducing the first of four exhortations on authentic faith by showing how faith is to he lived out in relation to others within the Church. Strangely, for Richardson, the issue in Jas 2:14-26 has nothing to do with salvation or divine judgment, but with the practical value of faith without works: "faith without deeds is good to no one . . . without deeds the needy do not receive help" (p. 129). Since only Gad saves, Richardson cannot imagine that James could possibly assert that active faith is instrumental in salvation. Hence, he proposes a reading of the text in which the initial question of 2:14 is curiously redirected in the course of James's argument into a matter of faith's "uselessness" (v. 20) in providing for the poor: Next, James moves on in 3:1-12 to a discussion of the tongue as the key to a virtuous life of faith. From there, 3:13-4:10 are said to alert the readers to the source of correcting their warring desires and 4:11-5:6 delivers James's final attack on self exaltation. There remains only the closing section, Jas 5:7-20, which Richardson reads as an encouragement to the believers to take heart in their coming victory. The justification for this broad outline remains throughout unhampered by exegetical minutiae and, in the final analysis, the discussion of the epistle's contents reveals perhaps as much about the theological acumen of the commentator as it does about the ancient message of the early Christian author.

David Nystrom's assignment as articulated by the NIV Application Commentary series editors differed significantly from the approach adopted by Kurt Richardson. The fundamental starting point of this innovative series is the consciousness that the NT documents are occasional in nature, addressing specific situations that emerged in the unrepeatability of history. Nonetheless, the series editors insist, Scripture remains timeless in its significance, evoking the need to "bridge contexts" into the contemporary world. This model, which requires the commentator to write three sections far every passage-"Original Meaning," "Bridging Contexts" and "Contemporary Significance"-- for all its unwieldiness has the decided advantage that it encourages the reading of the ancient text from within its ancient context. Indeed, one will readily recognize that Nystrom has expended much greater effort in the historical understanding of James's letter than has Richardson. But does he thereby succeed in illuminating the text?

Interestingly, Nystrom adopts the same approach to the introduction and conclusion of James's letter with as little discussion of its merits as did Richardson. But for Nystrom, Jas 1:2-27 is less a unity woven around the theological concept of wisdom than a multi-layered introduction to the themes of the epistle directed towards personal morality. In contrast to the letter opening, Nystrom suggests, the letter body addresses a similar set of issues in the corporate context. In his explanation of this central section, Nystrom repeatedly appeals to the existence of false teachers who advocated favoritism, the pursuit of status, and an antinomian spirit, which together were the cause of bitter envy, ambition, and dangerous divisions. This artificial method of holding the text together known as "mirror reading may fail to convince the critical reader, but it is the only principle of coherence Nystrom offers beyond an occasional catchword connection. Like Richardson, Nystrom then endeavors to Lump the entirety of Jas 5:7-20 together as the last major section of the epistle, despite the clear unity of 5:7-11 with the immediately preceding pericope. Nevertheless, regardless of these shortcomings, the struggle to confront the issue of James's literary unity is engaged with a greater attention to exegetical detail in Nystrom's commentary than in Richardson's. The end resuit, however, only underscores the amount of work which remains to be done in the study of this frequently overlooked gem in the NT canon.