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Thursday, March 12, 2020

THE SOURCE & PURPOSE OF GOOD: JAMES 1:16-18

Verses 16-18: Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

“Do not be deceived1” is a directive to stop being deluded and led astray by their inaccuracy of ascribing God as the One who tempts a believer to commit sin (1:13). In order to correct their doctrinal error, James states that ‘every good thing’ and ‘perfect gift’ comes from above and that He never provides temptation for evil.

To further reinforce his argument, he states the ‘Father of lights’ is from Whom these gifts come down. Most commentators refer to ‘lights’ as the heavenly bodies (sun, stars, moon). It is true that He is the Creator of these heavenly bodies, yet James is about to show how dissimilar His character is with His created orbs.

Let us consider what the apostle John stated about the ‘Father of lights’: “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5), and combining this with Dr. Marvin Vincent apt explanation:

Light is immaterial, diffusive, pure, and glorious. It is the condition of life. Physically, it represents glory; intellectually, truth; morally, holiness. [Emphasis His]2

Therefore, since He is undoubtedly the Father of all that is glorious, truthful and holy, how could we ever believe that He tempts us to fall into sin?

James continues by assuring us that there is no variation or changing in His character and that He will never be less than truthful or holy in His dealing with us. And with the final phrase ‘shifting shadow,’ James completes the contrast of the heavenly orbs with the Father’s character. Namely, that when the sun sets, its light is no longer seen by us—while the Father’s light (His character) is always consistent.

His First Fruits

The phrase ‘in the exercise of His will’ is one word in the Greek.3 It could be literally translated: “Having willed it.”4 This word expresses “decisions of the will [made] after previous deliberation.5 This is a clear statement of God’s Divine plan regarding His provision for us. And specifically, His greatest gift: eternal life. For James says that “He brought us forth by the word of truth.”

This verb ‘brought forth’ is unique to James only in the New Testament. It should be remembered that he used the same verb in verse 15. There he stated that when sin is full grown it brought forth death. James now contrasts the results of sin in the life of believers with the work of God in the life of the believer: while sin brought forth death, God brought forth life—eternal life.

But God used the word of truth to accomplish this—His powerful gospel message. His gospel has the power to initiate the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). The Apostle Paul proclaimed the fact of this spiritual phenomenon:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16) [Emphasis added]

And the Apostle Peter also affirms this Biblical fact:

For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring Word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)

James states that a result of our salvation is that we would be “first fruits among His creatures.” This would have resonated clearly with his Jewish readers, as MacArthur explains that this was, “originally an OT expression referring to the first and best harvest crops, which God expected as an offering”6 (cf. Exodus 23:19; Leviticus 23:9–14; Deuteronomy 26:1–19).

And so when the apostle Paul refers to Jesus Christ as the ‘first fruits’ of those resurrected from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20), he is declaring that Jesus is the best of the harvest of those who conquer death. And so we also who follow after Him shall defeat death, having been brought forth by the power of the gospel. The phrase “kind of first fruits” is literally some first fruits, and implies that James’ Jewish readers shall be some of Christ’s first fruits to be brought forth from this present Church age.7

James specifies that these first fruits of the Church Age are “His creatures.” For the Apostle Paul maintained that this includes all believers in the present age who are in Christ:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

From these verses, we understand the eternal purpose of the glorious and holy God, our Father. Having provided salvation for us who have believed in His Son, to become His first fruits, the best of the harvest—a standard of living that can only be accomplished by our faithfulness in our daily moment-by-moment walk of faith.



[1] Planáō in the Greek [πλανάω] a Present Passive Imperative

[2] Vincent, Marvin R. (n/d). Word Studies in the New Testament. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2:312.

[3] Boúlomai in the Greek [βούλομαι] is an Aorist Passive Participle

[4] Lenski, R.C.H. (2001). Commentary on the New Testament. Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 10.546.

[5] Arndt, W., Gingrich, F. W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (1996, c1979). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature (146). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 146.

[6] MacArthur, J. (2010). The MacArthur Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, p. 1877 note.

[7] Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament. Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, James 1:18.

 

© 2023 David M. Rossi

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