Review: The Incomparable Christ

The Incomparable Christ by John R.W. Stott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Of the hundreds, if not thousands of books I have read, this has got to be one of the finest. I first chanced upon a daily devotional (written by a certain John Stott) that was donated to my school library. As the part-time librarian, I skimmed through a few pages to size up if the book should be put into circulation or sold. The result? I was so mightily impressed by the overall biblical theological format and the theological richness in the individual pages, that I ordered one copy for my personal use. The book? Through the Bible, Through the Year: Daily Reflections from Genesis to Revelation (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...)

Stott (and his editorial team) have married brevity with brilliant scholarship. The Incomparable Christ is made up of 4 sections, all of which pack so much substance into so very little (number of) pages. Stott somehow managed to keep me intellectually engaged and emotionally excited to continue reading when three quarters of the book contain topics that I naturally do not find much interest in. In sections 2 (church history) and 3 ("fathers of the faith"), I was continually reflecting about and even inspired by the content.

While not one of my favourite books of the bible, I have had to study parts of the book of Revelation extensively for the purposes of completing course requirements (and have also twice listened to D A Carson's 26 lectures on Revelation). I have found that most of the top scholars who have written commentaries on Revelation to be extremely difficult to understand; I often found myself wondering why did they have to make the commentary so complicated and cryptic. In section 4, Stott on the other hand, has taken a lifetime of research and study, conveying just the the cream of (probably after years of painful deliberation on the many conflicting views) his positions in a concise, highly accessible format.

While easily comprehensible, such a wide-breadth-ed book on the incomparable Christ calls us to read it many times over. It would be a pity to just leave it on our shelves. Thank you Pastor John, for leaving this most wonderful labour of love for generations to be challenged with and blessed by. I'd imagine that laypeople, scholars, and pastors all should find something from the book that they would be able to take away. For me, it was the majesty of the matchless Christ who lovingly calls me to come and die and follow him.

I received this book from InterVarsity Press for the purposes of providing an unbiased review. All views are my own.

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