The Letter of James (New International Commentary on the New Testament (NICNT))

This was an excellent commentary. Part of really understanding the commentary is the vast use of ancient works that Dr. McKnight uses. I, admittedly, was not as familiar with the full suite of works that were used in this commentary. These include ancient Jewish works that are not biblical canon, but were prominent works at the time. There is also quite a bit of referenced, secular work that was prominent at that time, which includes works of Seneca and much more.I really enjoyed the continuity of the book, so much of James' thoughts seem to be fragmented, but Dr. McKnight connected everything well and showed a flow throughout the book. Another highlight of the commentary for me was the helpful explanation of the relationship between faith and works that is often so highly contested amongst Christians.

This is one of the best commentaries on James, and likely the most lengthy. It gives a lot of background information and detail. McKnight holds the view that James wrote James and at an early date, so it's a pretty orthodox commentary. However, he really stays consistent to the idea that James is written to the Messianic community. Therefore, he departs from time to time from what one sees in a lot of other commentaries. As a result, you may find yourself pleasantly surprised occasionally in this work. Wouldn't it be disappointing if all commentaries said exactly the same thing?He spends a lot of time on James chapter 2 and the supposed contradiction between Paul and James on justification by faith. His material in this section is a little different than the typical view and is well worth reading. I was really impressed with the background information that he brings up here and there throughout the commentary, probably more than I've seen in other works on James.Moo (Pillar series) is probably more readable, but shorter. I'd like to give this commentary 4-1/2 stars, but they don't allow that here in the reviews. Mcknight's work on James almost merits a perfect 5, but there were some sections where after discussing all the options, he doesn't seem to mention which option he prefers and why.If you are looking for a pretty exhaustive commentary on James, this might be your best bet. For those who don't want such a massive work, Moo is the better purchase.

You can't go wrong with this commentary series, and McKnight is one of the best in the field of New Testament scholarship who also cares deeply that the best scholarship serves the church and its leaders . Clear. Accessible. Insightful. Useful. McKnight is especially astute at bringing the Jewishness of James to the fore. Highly recommended!

I like NICNT because it is more scholarly than most but not as longwinded as with the extraneous details as Word Biblical. This is the first NICNT commentary that felt bogged down and longwinded with all the explanation of the passage. It seemed to go on too much. I like being made aware of those, but us NICNT to cut down on it and get a different angle than Word.All in all a good commentary, just be prepared that it is handled a bit different from the others I have encountered in this series.

Well Dr. McKnight you've done it. Congratulations! You have written a comm. that is both brilliantly sensitive to the original audience; but also to the church at large. Your desire to remain contextual; is beyond reproach. I find this comm. even-handed, responsible and sensitive to its handling of the current and much of the past consensus on this letter. Yet, one. over and over is exposed to new insights--and insights which are allowed--by just letting the text speak for itself. One cannot help but feel that this commentator is Not afraid to allow the text to dictate the discussion. I so appreciate this. You ,sir, have my vote. Great job.

McKnight's commentary on James is tremendously worthwhile and is much more useful for me, as a pastor, than its predecessor in the NICNT series. This commentary contains great detail on the historical situation of James and the churches whom he addresses, plenty of application and challenge for the contemporary church, and a thorough (yet not too technical) understanding of the role of Greek vocabulary, grammar, and syntax in interpreting the book. If you are considering whether or not to update your NICNT library with this volume, my advice is to go for it.

A well-referenced critical exegesis of James. This often portends a book impenetrable by the general public, but such is not the case here. Instead, it is highly accessible to the laity, like myself. I greatly enjoyed reading this book, and learned much from it.

This excellent commentary on James is what I would expect from Scot McKnight.His treatment blends scholarship with helps for the pastor and Bible teacher.I can't think of any serious student of the Bible who won't benefit from this book.

This volume replaces the previous NICNT by Adamson.At just short of 500 pages, this hard bound commentary is a massive resource on a small book. In fact it is almost exactly twice the number of pages written by Adamson.McKnight approaches the epistle with great academic authority, using an enormous bibliography and weighs all disputable matters giving due thought to each weighty issue.You will get a reasoned approach to the whole book, with access to the most modern and helpful material and probably the least biased result.For example in the matter of the elders visiting the sick and praying for them, McKnight looks at all the possible meanings and comes to a conclusion that whether we like it or not the early church believed in divine healing so we must take the scripture as it comes rather than try to rewrite it to fit our theology!You are a better person than me if you can sit and read this from cover to cover, but every page is a resource that will last me a lifetime. The usual introductory section on the identity and purposes of the author is excellent and you will quickly engage with whole sections of the work. This is a volume that I will "court" - visiting its pages from time to time and learning from it. It becomes not only an addition to my collection of commentaries on James (Martin, Adamson, Nystrom & Davids) but it now becomes the default.It is very hard to find a better series than the NICNT

Plenty of depth yet understandable. It makes sense of a book that can seen to have no path through it.

Since McKnight lands on the side of the rich being non-believers (see 1:9ff), and there not being a diversity of rich and poor in the diaspora, I find his commentary less helpful than I would have liked; to be fair though, scholars are divided about 50/50 on the issue.I find McKnight to be too wordy at times, and getting off-track from the text, but overall still find it an invaluable resource along with Moo and Blomberg & Kammel, which he references, as I preach through the book of James.