BIG IDEA:
THE SOVEREIGN WILL OF GOD BLESSES US FROM START TO FINISH
INTRODUCTION:
Rather than God being the source of tempting us to evil, He must be recognized as the giver of every good gift and the one who has sovereignly granted us spiritual life.
Craig Blomberg: If God is not directly responsible for producing anything evil, then it logically follows that what he is directly responsible for creating or giving can be only good. The most fundamental biblical background for this concept is Genesis 1–3. Everything that God fashioned on the six days of creation he observed to be “good” (1:4, 10, 12, etc.). Their corruption came only later, as the result of human sin (ch. 3). But God’s plans will not be thwarted; human history will end with the re-creation of a new heavens and a new earth (Rev 21–22).
Of course, many events in this life that seem to come from God also seem undesirable. At such times, Christians must remember the two main principles of vv. 17–18.
- First, God does not change in the way that heavenly bodies or earthly shadows do (cf. esp. Mal 3:6–7). Therefore, he who created the heavens and earth can be trusted to continue to provide only good things for his children (cf. esp. Mt 7:11).
- Second, the preeminent example of his wonderful provisions is our rebirth (for firstfruits applied already to Israel, see 23:19), which, as James has already highlighted, more than compensates for anything we experience that seems to us far less than perfect (cf. esp. Ro 8:18; 2Co 4:17).
David Doriani: God gives good gifts, not impossible tests. We must view tests as gifts, not traps.
Alec Motyer: According to verse 12, there is a way forward into life. It consists of making the right choices in the moment of trial and temptation, enduring and, since the crown comes to those who love God, keeping alive the glow of love for him in our hearts, come what may. It means making our decisions out of love for him; holding on through thick and thin for love’s sake. But, according to verse 14, this is impossible. We have a nature (heart) which gives rise to desires, insistent and alluring, leading to sin and death. However are we to step forward to life when the whole thrust and pull of our nature is to sin and death? How are we to love and keep loving God when our hearts are springs of death-bearing wishes? To these questions verse 17 replies: Every good we need is in, and from, him.
James traces this basic position out in three steps.
- First, he explores the bounty of God (17a);
- next, his changeless nature (17b); and,
- thirdly, one particular and utterly basic way in which the bounty of the changeless God has operated towards us (18).
I. (:17) BLESSING OF GENERAL GRACE: EVERY GOOD GIFT COMES FROM GOD (WHO IS GOOD AND IMMUTABLE)
A. Goodness of General Grace
- Look at Grace from the Perspective of the Act of Giving
“Every good thing bestowed“
- Look at Grace from the Perspective of the Result of that Act, the Gift itself
“and every perfect gift“
Spiros Zodhiates: All of God’s gifts have as their end the accomplishment of God’s purpose in our lives, and that is perfection.”
Craig Blomberg: The verse links verbally with 1:4 (on “perfection”) and 1:5 (on a “giving” God). James may thus still have wisdom in mind here as God’s preeminent gift. Verbal and conceptual links with 3:17–18 (on “wisdom from above”) further support this suggestion. A key gift could also be the Holy Spirit, especially if James is thinking of Jesus’ promise in Lk 11:13.
B. Giver of General Grace
- Lofty Heaven
“is from above“
- Majestic God
“coming down from the Father of lights“
Reference to His creative activity over all of nature
Craig Blomberg: God is the one who created the lights of heaven—the sun, moon, and stars.
Robert Gundry: James introduces the phrase “of lights” to prepare for a description of God as stable, in contrast with the heavenly bodies, which are in constant motion—hence the variation in their positions above and the consequent shifting of shadows here below—and which were widely thought to be personal beings whose movements determine events on earth (astrology). God’s stability contrasts also with the instability of the doubter in 1:5–8. James cites the stability of God—Christians can count on his generosity—to encourage their own stability in temptations.
R. Kent Hughes: God’s being called “the Father of lights” points to his essential nature as light and to his moral goodness. Paul tells us that God’s “invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20). God’s goodness is at the center of what we see in God’s handiwork. When on a clear night we look out past the moon and the spinning planets of our solar system to the relentless blanket of stars and the luminous backdrop of the Milky Way, a message dazzles our eyes from a zillion points of light: God is not only powerful, he is perfect and good! “God is light,” said John, “and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). There is only goodness in God, and no evil at all.
Understanding that the term “the Father of lights” proclaims God’s goodness, we are prepared for the stupendous truth of the next phrase: “with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” We earthlings, with our feet planted here on earth, are subjected to constantly changing light. The sun rises, and our shadows fall long to the west; it stands high at noon, brightening all; and as it sets, our shadows are to the east, until they fade to nothingness. Day and night light perpetually change. The moon waxes full and wanes to a crescent. Light is reflected and refracted differently moment by moment.
But it is not so with the goodness of God. With God “there is no variation or shadow due to change.” God’s goodness is always at high noon.
Process theology falsely portrays a changing, relativistic God. Evangelicals properly debate the exact meaning of some of the attributes of God, such as his omniscience or omnipotence. But no committed Christian can debate or doubt the unchangeable goodness of God.
An old music teacher was once asked in greeting, “What’s the good news today?” The old man, without saying a word, walked across the room, picked up a tuning fork, and struck it. As the note sounded, he said, “That is A. It is A today, it was A five thousand years ago, and it will be A ten thousand years from now. The soprano upstairs sings off-key, the tenor across the hall is out of tune.” He struck the note again and said, “That is A, my friend, and that’s the good news today!”
The good news today and for all eternity is this: God is infinitely good. He has never had and will never have more goodness than he has now. He is unchangeably good. He stands like an eternal sun in a cloudless sky radiating unbroken goodness upon us. God will always—eternally—be good to us.
Dan McCartney: It is instructive that James uses such a personal and relational image of God not just as “creator” of lights, but also as “father.” This is in line with the reproductive metaphor running through this paragraph (1:18: God “brought us forth,” i.e., gave us a new life as his children), but it is also a clear reminder of the Christian emphasis on God’s fatherhood in relation to believers. God’s general fatherhood is found elsewhere in Judaism, but his designation as personal father is a distinctive emphasis of Jesus that is unique or nearly so. It is rarely if ever applied personally in Second Temple Judaism outside of Christianity, but James shares Jesus’s faith in God’s personal fatherhood (1:27; 3:9).
C. Guarantee of Continued General Grace = Immutable Nature of God
- “with whom there is no variation“
completely consistent; never changes; can be counted on
David Nystrom: The terms used here are technical terms denoting the movements of the heavenlies. In other words, unlike the planets and the stars, which shift and waver, there is no change in God. As Father, God is ultimately reliable. He does not change, whether in the specific (he is always and will always be the one who gives good things) or the general (God is unchangeable and good).
- “or shifting shadow“
Spiros Zodhiates: The heavenly bodies change, they move about in space, and their benevolence to us varies, but not so with the One who is light, who is space, who is time, who is the Creator of them all, and no one can cast a shadow on Him… There is no night so dark that His light cannot shine upon you. “I am the Lord, I change not” (Mal. 3:6). “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (I John 1:5).
G. Coleman Luck: But these physical lights are subject to alternations of light and darkness. Even the shining sun has its ‘spots.’ But there are no spots–no variableness–within the perfect light of the great Creator.
Evan Baltz: And so we are encouraged by these words, because we understand that God will not change. He will continue to give us good gifts. He will never take back what He has given us. His rules will never change. His promise will never be forsaken. Our salvation through Christ can never be revoked or pulled out from under us. God is our benevolent Father, our unchanging Creator, and our anchor, which is firm and secure, even in a world that is changing so quickly.
Peter Davids: God does not change, but people fail to receive wisdom because they waver (1:6–8) and even accuse God for their own failings (1:13–15). This verse ties together several lines of thought. But its creation reference points forward to the next step in the argument.
II. (:18) BLESSING OF SAVING GRACE: REGENERATION (SPIRITUAL LIFE) COMES FROM THE SOVEREIGN WILL OF GOD (WHO IS GOOD AND POWERFUL)
John MacArthur: In this verse James adds another piece of evidence (to those in vv. 13–17) that God is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for our temptations, much less our sin—namely, proof from the nature of regeneration itself. The new life that the Lord gives to those who believe in Jesus Christ is a godly holy, Christlike life. It is the life of God in the soul of man. By the new birth, a believer is re-created, given a completely new nature that has no part in sin or evil. Our own lust begets death (v. 15); the gift of God in Christ begets life. . .
In 1:18, James answers four questions about regeneration, the new birth, that shed light on the proof that God is not responsible for our temptations or for the sins that result from succumbing to them. Rather, He is responsible for our righteousness.
- WHO DOES IT? “in the exercise of His will”
- WHAT IS IT? “He brought us forth”
- HOW DOES IT HAPPEN? “by the word of truth”
- WHY IS IT DONE? “so that we would be . . .”
Douglas Moo: We take it, then, that James appeals to the spiritual ‘new birth’ of Christians as a particularly striking illustration of the good things God gives. This new birth is motivated by the sovereign determination of God, whose will, unlike the creation he made, is unvarying. The instrument through which God accomplishes this spiritual birth is the gospel, the word of truth. And the purpose of this birth is that Christians should stand as the ‘first instalment’ (firstfruits) in the universal redemptive plan of God – ‘good gifts’ that he has yet to give.
Alec Motyer: The idea of a divinely-given ‘new start’ is expressed in many ways in the Bible. Jeremiah, for example, stressing that obedience to the Lord’s law is the leading characteristic of the new life, speaks of a heart on which the law of God is written (Je. 31:31–34), i.e. a heart tailor-made for obedience. Ezekiel too speaks to the gift of a new heart (Ezk. 36:26), a heart expressive of the true human nature which the Lord intended—therefore a ‘heart of flesh’ replacing the heart of stone which sin had produced. Paul speaks of a new creation (e.g. 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:22–24). James looks straight back to the teaching of the Lord Jesus, who spoke to a baffled Nicodemus about being ‘born again’ (Jn. 3:3–8) or ‘born from above’. Here indeed is the new start presented in its most vivid terms. Earthly life originated with human parents, who bequeathed to us human nature in all its fallen hopelessness and helplessness. But there is another birth, coming to us, irrespective of the age we have reached in human life, and wholly apart from our own or any other human agency: a birth of the Spirit (Jn. 3:5–8). With this new birth there comes new life, new energies, new prospects and, above all, a new relationship with God, by whose will the birth has come about. . .
This is one of the most glorious truths in the whole Bible. It reaches us that salvation is truly all of God: for until new life is imparted we are ‘dead in trespasses and sins’ (Eph. 2:1), and as totally unable as anything that is dead to respond to God in repentance and faith. If anything is to be done, he must do it; if any blessing or change is to come to us, it must come from outside; if any agency is to be at work, it must be other than ours, for we are dead, and our only activity is to increase in corruption. Here is the greatness of the divine mercy, the sufficiency of the divine strength and the depth of the divine condescension. He has come right down to us in our death; he has raised us up into life; and it is all due to a rich mercy prompted by a great love (Eph. 2:1, 4–5). It is no more possible for us to be agents or contributors to our new birth than it was for us to be so in our natural birth. All the work, from initial choice to completed deed, is his—and so is all the glory. But there is something else as well: inherent in this great truth of the new birth is the security of our salvation. Were salvation to depend on my choice, it would be as uncertain as my will which fluctuates, blows hot and cold, and reflects my divided, fallen nature. But it is his choice: of his own will be brought us forth by the word of truth. And until his will changes, his word alters or his truth is proved false, my salvation cannot be threatened or forfeited.
A. Accomplished by God’s Sovereign Decree
“In the exercise of His will“
Thomas Manton: That which engaged God to the work of regeneration was merely his own will and good pleasure: “Of his own will begat he us;” Rom. ix. 18, “He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.” God’s will is the reason of all his actions; you will find the highest cause to be will, love, and mercy. God can have no higher motive, nothing without himself, no foresight of faith and works; he was merely inclined by his own pleasure: John xv. 16, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.”
George Guthrie: “God’s will” is a common biblical idea speaking of God’s sovereign choice rooted in his own determination (Job 23:13; Ps 113:11). This “birthing” is how God determined to express his grace to us.
John MacArthur: Not only theologically but logically, that is the only way life could be given to those who are dead. The dead have no awareness or understanding of sin, no desire to turn from it (John 3:19–20), and no power or resources to change if they wanted to. They do not, of course, even know that they are dead. Regeneration could only happen by the sovereign will and power of God, the Source and Giver of spiritual life. . .
The new birth results from God’s sovereignly coming down to a sinner and by His grace cleansing him, planting His Spirit within him, and giving him a completely new spiritual nature. He then has “put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (Eph. 4:24).
B. Accomplished by God’s Creative Power
“He brought us forth“
Peter Davids: Having established that God can properly be said to bear or bring forth, we still have the question of what he does bring forth:
(1) humanity as the peak of creation (Elliott-Binns, “James I. 18”; Windisch, 9–10; Hort, 32; Spitta, 45–47; Cadoux, 21–23),
(2) Jews as chosen out of creation (Mayor, 155–159), or
(3) Christians as the first in God’s process of redeeming creation (Dibelius, 104–105; Mussner, 94–95; Adamson, 76–77).
We agree with Elliott-Binns that the author intended some reference to creation: Philo (Ebr. 8; Leg. All. 3.31, 51) does speak of God’s begetting the world (the reference to the “Father of lights” in 1:17 is certainly an allusion to Gn. 1:3; Ps. 33:6; Is. 55:11; Wis. 18:15; Sir. 43:26), creation in Genesis was “by the word” of God, and ϰτίσμα does refer to the whole creation, not just humanity (Elliott-Binns, “James I. 18,” 154–155, believes this last point is “the nearest approach to anything decisive”). Yet is it not the case that redemption in the NT is often seen as a new creation, the creation terminology being used for effect? It is this fact that has persuaded most recent commentators that the regeneration reference is intended, although Laws, 78, entertains the possibility that both creation and redemption are in view.
C. Accomplished by God’s Instrument of Regeneration = the Gospel Message
“by the Word of Truth“
Craig Blomberg: “By the word” (λόγῳ) is an instrumental dative of means, showing the method God chose to bring us into the company of the redeemed. The genitive “of truth” (ἀληθείας) is descriptive, depicting the “word” by which we have been reborn as “true.” This word of truth most likely equals the gospel message—the story of Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection—and its significance.
Dan McCartney: The “word” as a reference to the gospel of truth has its roots in Jesus’s “seed” parables (see Matt. 13:18–43, where the “seed” of the parable of the sower is interpreted as the λόγος [logos, word] of the kingdom, the gospel). In John 17:17 Jesus’s prayer makes it explicit: “Your word is truth.”
Ralph Martin: In the OT God’s word and truth are frequently joined (Deut 22:20; 2 Sam 7:28; 2 Kgs 10:6; 17:24; Pss 15:2; 118:43; Jer 23:28; Dan 8:26; Zech 8:16; Prov 22:21; Eccl 12:10). In the Pauline corpus the phrase “word of truth” means the proclamation of the gospel or the apostolic mission and ministry (2 Cor 6:7; Eph 1:13; Col 1:5; 2 Tim 2:15).
D. Accomplished for God’s Goal of Spiritual Life and Ownership
“that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures“
Spiros Zodhiates: In the Old Testament the first fruits, therefore, were the peculiar possession of God. Among His entire creation we are peculiarly His possession, for we were not only created by Him, but also re-created. A little boy who had lost his toy boat found it for sale in a store, and when he bought it, he took it in his hands and hugged it, saying “My little precious boat, you are now twice mine; once I made you and once I bought you.”
George Guthrie: We are set apart as God’s special people for the destiny to which God has birthed us and designated us.
R.V.G. Tasker: The Christians living in James’ day are described as a kind of first fruits of this new creation, probably because there would be a greater harvest to come as a result of subsequent Christian missions.
John Painter: James shares with Paul a redemptive view of reborn humans as the firstfruit of God’s creatures. The rest are yet to follow—the residue not only of humanity but also of all God’s creatures (see in particular Rom. 8:21–23; 11:16; 16:5; 1 Cor. 15:20, 23; 16:15; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Clem. 24.1; 42.4). This is nothing less than the hope and guarantee of the renewal of the creation or, better, the culmination and completion of God’s creative purpose.
David Platt: The picture of firstfruits carries the idea of a foretaste of that which is to come. What God has done in our lives to change our hearts by His goodness is only a preview of the day to come when He will make all things new in all creation. And the work He has done in our new birth will one day lead to a new heaven and a new earth where there will be no more trials and no more temptations.
Peter Davids: God naturally brings forth for a purpose: εἰς τò following βουληθεὶς underlines this good purpose clearly (BDF, § 402 [2]). The Christian is to be “a type of firstfruit” (for the use of τίς to soften a metaphorical expression see BDF, § 301 [1]). The OT background is that of the firstfruit of people, animals, and plants, which belonged to God and were either redeemed or offered to him (Ex. 22:29–30; Nu. 18:8–12; Dt. 18:3; 26:2, 10: Lv. 27:26; Ezk. 20:40; cf. Greek parallels: Homer Od. 14.446; Hdt. 1.92; Thuc. Hist. 3.58). Israel was pictured as God’s firstborn (Ex. 4:22; Je. 2:3; Philo Spec. Leg. 4.180; Ex. Rab. 15:6) and thus specially belonging to him (G. Delling, TDNT I, 484–486). This picture, both as the first ripe fruit which promises the coming full harvest and as the special possession of God (often also thought of as the best of the harvest as well), was frequently used in the NT both temporally (Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 15:20; 16:15) and theologically (Rev. 14:4; 2 Thes. 2:13) with a soteriological sense (cf. Dibelius, 106).
David Doriani: James probably has three Old Testament principles touching firstfruits in mind:
- All the produce of flock and field come from God. But the firstfruits were especially his. The rest of the food was for daily use, but the firstfruits came to priest and tabernacle.
- The firstfruits were only the best (Ex. 23:19; 34:26).
- The firstfruits were an annual confession that God supplied the year’s bounty, that he was faithful to his covenant people yet another year.