I was encouraged and challenged by reading Paul David Tripp’s War of Words: Getting to the heart of your communication struggles. Focusing on the theoretical nature of the heart struggles revealed in our words, this book is based on four main ideas:

• God has a wonderful plan for our words that is far better than any plan we could come up with on our own.
• Sin has radically altered our agenda for our words, resulting in much hurt, confusion, and chaos.
• In Christ Jesus we find the grace that provides all we need to speak as God intended us to speak.
• The Bible plainly and simply teaches us how to get from where we are to where God wants us to be. (page 5)

The book was useful in exposing the problems behind sinful ways of speaking. Two particular statements stood out to me in this respect: "Another way to say this is that our words often reveal that we are not so much trusting in the Lord as we are trying to be him. We are attempting to do with our words what only he can do" (page 47) and "The war of words is really a war for sovereignty. Who or what rules your heart? Whoever or whatever it is, it will control your tongue as well" (page 84).

It also spoke to finding the solutions in Jesus, who has provided both forgiveness for the ways we have failed in our speech and what is necessary to speak in a way that fulfills His design. Tripp brings the gospel to bear on our words by writing things like "The wholesome talk of the body of Christ at home, church, or work is rooted is the glorious realities of the gospel. The Word has come and brought with him everything we need to live a life of godly talk. Because he has come, we can have hope that our words will follow the pattern of the Great Speaker rather than the Great Deceiver" (page 48).

After establishing our communication as being based on our vertical relationship (with God), it addresses horizontal relationships (with others). It focuses on communicating as ambassadors, and speaking with the end of lovingly pointing others to God rather than using speech as a cathartic tool.

Although I found the ideas of the book to be wonderful, I did not enjoy the stylistic elements of the book. The writing style wasn’t horrible, but I did not find it particularly engaging, witty, or elegant either.

I was a bit perplexed by some of the typography choices made by the publisher. For example, serif fonts were used in chapter titles, and the book title, except on the cover, tended to be written using multiple fonts (sometimes within a word), mixing serif and sans-serif. The main text was also fully-justified in such a way that there was frequent hyphenation; at least once three lines in a row ended with hyphenations (page 141). Combining the frequency of hyphenation with the author’s frequent use of em dashes (often coincidentally ending a line), was a distraction to me.

Stylistic choices can have a significant impact on the experience of reading. While I loved the content, I felt like the reading was slower and less enjoyable than it could have been.

I read a copy available at the public library, and I hope someday to add it to our personal library because I think it would be beneficial to go back to it again.

Related:

Westminster offers a variety of formats (including the paperback I read, an audio book, and some related videos) for War of Words⁂.

You might also be interested in my review of The Mortification of Sin.