In verses 16 and 17 James goes on to say, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. All good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, with whom is no variableness or shadow cast by turning.” In this verse giving refers to the act of giving, and the gift refers to the thing given. The lights here refer to the heavenly luminaries. The Father is the Creator, the source, of these shining bodies. With Him there is no shadow cast by turning, as there is with the heavenly orbs in the moon turning its dark side to us, or in the sun being eclipsed by the moon, for He is not variable, not changeable. As such, He is incapable of being tempted of evil, nor does He tempt anyone.
According to verse 17, both the giving and the gift are from above, coming down from the Father of the lights. Years ago, I thought that the lights in verse 17 were spiritual lights and that here James was saying that God is the Father of these spiritual lights. But in recent years I found out that these are not spiritual lights; rather, they are heavenly bodies, such as the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars.
How can God be called the Father of these heavenly bodies? He is called the Father of these lights because they were created by Him. According to Acts 17, everything created by God has been produced by Him. In this sense, He is the Father of whatever He has produced. Because the heavenly bodies were created by God, He is the Father of the lights, luminaries.
James says that with the Father of lights there is no variableness, no variation, or shadow cast by turning. Years ago, I understood this to mean that because God never turns, never changes, there is no shadow of darkness. However, even when I held this understanding there was a doubt within whether this was the real meaning here. Is James saying that because God never changes, with Him there is no darkness? Eventually, I learned that in this verse James is referring to the move of the heavenly bodies, such as that of the planets in their orbits or rotation. Such movements may cause darkness, as during an eclipse of the sun. But God does not change. With Him there is no variableness as there is with the heavenly orbs.
Now we can understand that James refers to the orbs in the solar system to show us that the Father, the One who has begotten us, is stable. With Him there is no turning. Therefore, we should not say that we are tempted by God. Because God is stable, He does not tempt anyone, and He cannot be tempted. Based upon the realization of God’s stability, James emphasizes the fact that our begetting Father never tempts us. On the contrary, whenever we are tempted, we are tempted by our lust. Then lust, having conceived, gives birth to sin. Sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. Lust is the factor of temptation that produces sin, and sin brings in death.
In verse 18 James says of God the Father, “Having purposed, He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a certain firstfruit of His creatures.” The fact that God purposed means that He brought us forth of His own will, by His intention, to carry out His purpose by begetting us that we might be the firstfruit of His creatures.
Sin, the source of darkness, brings forth death. But the Father of lights brought us forth to be the firstfruit of His creatures, full of the vigorous life that matures first. This refers to the divine birth, our regeneration (John 3:5-6), which is carried out according to God’s eternal purpose.
According to verse 18, God brought us forth by the word of truth. The word of truth is the word of the divine reality, the word of what the Triune God is (John 1:14, 17). This word is the seed of life, by which we have been regenerated (1 Pet. 1:23).
James says that God has brought us forth by the word of truth so that we should be a certain firstfruit of His creatures. God will renew His entire creation to have a new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center (Rev. 21:1-2). He first regenerated us to be the firstfruit of His new creation by imparting His divine life into our being through the implanted word of life, that we might live a life of perfection. This should be the seed of practical Christian perfection. This life will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the living center of God’s eternal new universe.