The Father of Lights & The Wod of Truth
Having just corrected the false idea that God tempts anyone to sin, James turns in verses 16 to 18 to declare, positively, exactly who God is. He warns his readers, whom he addresses tenderly as beloved brethren, not to be deceived about God’s character, since even believers can wander into quietly suspecting that His kindness is conditional or unreliable. Against that deception James sets a magnificent truth. Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights, the maker of sun, moon, and stars, yet unlike those created lights,
He experiences no variation or shadow of turning. His goodness is not a passing season but His settled, unchanging nature, the very bedrock of His covenant faithfulness to His people. That unchanging goodness is displayed supremely in the new birth, which He brought about entirely of His own will, through the word of truth, the gospel of Christ, so that believers become a kind of firstfruits, both consecrated to God and a guarantee of the far greater renewal of all creation still to come.
