The Crossway Classic Commentaries

James

by

Thomas Manton

Series Editors

Alister McGrath and J. I. Packer

James

Copyright 1995 by Watermark

Published by Crossway Books

A division of Good News Publishers

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

Generally, Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

Art Direction: Mark Schramm

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Manton, Thomas, 1620–1677.

James / by Thomas Manton.

p. cm.—(Crossway classic commentaries)

1. Bible. N.T. James—Commentaries. I. Title. II. Series.

BS2785.3.M36 1995 227’.91077—dc20 94–47149

ISBN 0–89107–832–0

First British edition 1995

Production and Printing in the United States of America for

CROSSWAY BOOKS

Norton Street, Nottingham, England NG7 3HR

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN 0 85684 119–7

Contents

Series Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Series Preface

The purpose of the Crossway Classic Commentaries is to make some of the most valuable commentaries on the books of the Bible, by some of the greatest Bible teachers and theologians in the last five hundred years, available to a new generation. These books will help today’s readers learn truth, wisdom, and devotion from such authors as J. C. Ryle, Martin Luther, John Calvin, J. B. Lightfoot, John Owen, Charles Spurgeon, Charles Hodge, and Matthew Henry.

We do not apologize for the age of some of the items chosen. In the realm of practical exposition promoting godliness, the old is often better than the new. Spiritual vision and authority, based on an accurate handling of the biblical text, are the qualities that have been primarily sought in deciding what to include.

So far as is possible, everything is tailored to the needs and enrichment of thoughtful readers—lay Christians, students, and those in the ministry. The originals, some of which were written at a high technical level, have been abridged as needed, simplified stylistically, and unburdened of foreign words. However, the intention of this series is never to change any thoughts of the original authors, but to faithfully convey them in ...