Book Review: James by Michael Eaton

“I regard Michael Eaton as the greatest
theologian in the world today.
He is an outstanding communicator
who makes his writings very refreshing indeed.”
Dr. RT Kendall
“Preaching Through The Bible: JAMES: Biblical truth for every believer” is an exposition of the book of James. The exposition is based upon the Hebrew and Greek texts. James is reader-friendly and the chapters are pretty short. It is a book with high standards – a guide to holiness of living and spiritual restoration.

“James’s readers were in bad spiritual trouble. It is obvious when we read James’ letter that they had became proud and critical people. They discriminated against the poor. They did not control their tongues. They were arrogant towards their employees. They were also facing many trials and troubles. God was not answering their prayers. Success was not coming their way.”

As Christians we should not be surprised when trouble or fiery ordeals come our way but we normally are. We really don’t like trouble or problems but what does it do for us? Trouble
1. Helps us grow spiritually
2. It shakes us and disturbs our complacency
3. Makes us realise just how much we need Jesus
4. Helps us discover our weaknesses
5. It humbles us and enables us to see ourselves

Every trial is bearable.
Praying for wisdom is important – without doubting. God is very willing to give “everybody” wisdom. He shows no partiality. “His offer to us is not affected by nationality, class, sex, niceness or respectability, intelligence, education, appearance, how much we deserve, our past record – nothing makes him reject us.” What is the wisdom that James is talking about? It is the wisdom that comes from above. The Bible tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. We shall be given the mind of Christ.

James tackles many practical, relevant issues such as poverty and wealth, discrimination, temptation, lazy believers, getting involved with the needy, wisdom, being like Jesus and so on. The “tongue” is a very crucial topic because it can set a fire ablaze and has the power of life or death. Cleansing the tongue is the fastest way to grow spiritually.

Our talk reveals the state of our heart. “What comes up from a water-spring is what is truly down there in the earth. What grows upon a tree shows what the nature of the tree is. And what comes out of our mouth shows what is hidden in the inmost places within our lives.” The tongue needs to be turned into a means of blessing. It has to be medicine not poison. Use the tongue to build other people up in the Lord. We need to learn how to create friendliness. We need to use persuasive, encouraging, well-timed, accepting, wise, optimistic, confident, gentle, affectionate, forgiving words.

Holiness is mainly a matter of love. Love is seen in what we say and what we do: talking and walking. 2 Corinthians 6:11 - 13

Have a go at reading “James”. It’s an amazing book!