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Selected Verse: James 1:17 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Jas 1:17 |
King James |
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
gift . . . gift--not the same words in Greek: the first, the act of giving, or the gift in its initiatory stage; the second, the thing given, the boon, when perfected. As the "good gift" stands in contrast to "sin" in its initiatory stage (Jam 1:15), so the "perfect boon" is in contrast to "sin when it is finished," bringing forth death (Pe2 1:3).
from above--(Compare Jam 3:15).
Father of lights--Creator of the lights in heaven (compare Job 38:28 [ALFORD]; Gen 4:20-21; Heb 12:9). This accords with the reference to the changes in the light of the heavenly bodies alluded to in the end of the verse. Also, Father of the spiritual lights in the kingdom of grace and glory [BENGEL]. These were typified by the supernatural lights on the breastplate of the high priest, the Urim. As "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (Jo1 1:5), He cannot in any way be the Author of sin (Jam 1:13), which is darkness (Joh 3:19).
no variableness . . . shadow of turning-- (Mal 3:6). None of the alternations of light and shadow which the physical "lights" undergo, and which even the spiritual lights are liable to, as compared with God. "Shadow of turning," literally, the dark "shadow-mark" cast from one of the heavenly bodies, arising from its "turning" or revolution, for example, when the moon is eclipsed by the shadow of the earth, and the sun by the body of the moon. BENGEL makes a climax, "no variation--not even the shadow of a turning"; the former denoting a change in the understanding; the latter, in the will. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Every good gift and every perfect gift - The difference between good and perfect here, it is not easy to mark accurately. It may be that the former means that which is benevolent in its character and tendency; the latter that which is entire, where there is nothing even apparently wanting to complete it; where it can be regarded as good as a whole and in all its parts. The general sense is, that God is the author of all good. Every thing that is good on the earth we are to trace to him; evil has another origin. Compare Mat 13:28.
Is from above - From God, who is often represented as dwelling above - in heaven.
And cometh down from the Father of lights - From God, the source and fountain of all light. Light, in the Scriptures, is the emblem ot knowledge, purity, happiness; and God is often represented as light. Compare Jo1 1:5. Notes, Ti1 6:16. There is, doubtless, an allusion here to the heavenly bodies, among which the sun is the most brilliant. It appears to us to be the great original fountain of light, diffusing its radiance overall worlds. No cloud, no darkness seems to come from the sun, but it pours its rich effulgence on the farthest part of the universe. So it is with God. There is no darkness in him Jo1 1:5; and all the moral light and purity which there is in the universe is to be traced to him. The word Father here is used in a sense which is common in Hebrew (Compare the notes at Mat 1:1) as denoting that which is the source of anything, or that from which anything proceeds. Compare the notes at Isa 9:6.
With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning - The design here is clearly to contrast God with the sun in a certain respect. As the source of light, there is a strong resemblance. But in the sun there are certain changes. It does not shine on all parts of the earth at the same time, nor in the same manner all the year. It rises and sets; it crosses the line, and seems to go far to the south, and sends its rays obliquely on the earth; then it ascends to the north, recrosses the line, and sends its rays obliquely on southern regions. By its revolutions it produces the changes of the seasons, and makes a constant variety on the earth in the productions of different climes. In this respect God is not indeed like the sun. With him there is no variableness, not even the appearance of turning. He is always the same, at all seasons of the year, and in all ages; there is no change in his character, his mode of being, his purposes and plans. What he was millions of ages before the worlds were made, he is now; what he is now, he will be countless millions of ages hence. We may be sure that whatever changes there may be in human affairs; whatever reverses we may undergo; whatever oceans we may cross, or whatever mountains we may climb, or in whatever worlds we may hereafter take up our abode, God is the same. The word which is here rendered "variableness" (παραλλαγὴ parallagē) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means change, alteration, vicissitude, and would properly be applied to the changes observed in astronomy. See the examples quoted in Wetstein. The phrase rendered "shadow of turning" would properly refer to the different shade or shadow cast by the sun from an object, in its various revolutions, in rising and setting, and in its changes at the different seasons of the year. God, on the other hand, is as if the sun stood in the meridian at noon-day, and never cast any shadow. |
| The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917] |
gift
Two words are used in the original for "gift":
the first meaning the act of giving;
the second meaning the thing given. |
| Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
The first words of this verse form a hexameter line, thus:
Πᾶσα δόσις ἀγα θὴ καὶ πᾶν δῶ ρημα τέ λειον.
Such verses, or parts of verses, occur occasionally in the New Testament. Sometimes they are quotations from the Greek poets; sometimes the writer's words unconsciously fall into metrical form. Poetical quotations are confined to Paul, Act 17:28; Co1 15:33; Tit 1:12.
Every good gift and every perfect gift (see Greek above)
The statement that these gifts are from God is in pursuance of the idea that God does not tempt men to evil. The gifts of God are contrasted with the evil springing from man's lust. Two words are used for gifts. Δόσις occurs only here and Phi 4:15; there in an active sense; but here passive, as in Proverbs 21:14: (Sept.). Δῶρημα is found Rom 5:16. It enlarges slightly upon the other word in emphasizing the gift as free, large, full; an idea which is further developed in Jam 1:18, of his own will. The Rev., rather awkwardly, endeavors to bring out the distinction by the word boon, for which the American Revisers insist on retaining gift. Boon originally means a petition; favor being a secondary and later sense, as of something given in response to a petition. The word is of Scandinavian origin, and the meaning favor seems to indicate a confusion with the Latin bonus, good; French, bon.
Perfect
Enlarges upon good, bringing out more distinctly the moral quality of the gift.
And cometh down (καταβαῖνον)
A present participle, to be construed with ἄνωθεν ἐστιν, is from above. Lit., is coming down, from above. As usual, this union of the participle with the finite verb denotes something habitual. Render, descendeth from above. Compare Jam 3:15.
Father of lights (τοῦ πατρὸς τῶν φώτων)
Lit., the lights, by which are meant the heavenly bodies. Compare Psalms 135:7 (Sept.); and Jeremiah 4:23 (Sept.). God is called "the Father of the lights," as being their creator and maintainer. Compare Job 38:28; Psa 8:3; Amo 5:8.
Is no variableness (ἔνι)
Abbreviated from ἔνεστι, is in. Stronger than the simple is, and denoting inherence or indwelling. Rev., can be.
Variableness (παραλλαγὴ)
Better, Rev., variation. The word is not used, as some suppose, in a technical, astronomical sense, which James' readers would not have understood, but in the simple sense of change in the degree or intensity of light, such as is manifested by the heavenly bodies. Compare Plato, "Republic," vii., 530: "Will he (the astronomer) not think that the heaven and the things in heaven are framed by the Creator in the most perfect manner? But when he reflects that the proportions of night and day, or of both, to the month, or of the month to the year, or of the other stars to these and to one another, are of the visible and material, he will never fall into the error of supposing that they are eternal and liable to no deviation (οὐδὲν παραλλάττειν) - that would be monstrous."
Shadow of turning (τροπῆς ἀποσκίασμα)
This is popularly understood to mean that there is in God not the faintest hint or shade of change, like the phrase, a shadow of suspicion. But the Greek has no such idiom, and that is not James' meaning. Rev., rightly, renders, shadow that is cast by turning; referring still to the heavenly orbs, which cast shadows in their revolution, as when the moon turns her dark side to us, or the sun is eclipsed by the body of the moon. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| No evil, but every good gift - Whatever tends to holiness. And every perfect gift - Whatever tends to glory. Descendeth from the Father of lights - The appellation of Father is here used with peculiar propriety. It follows, "he begat us." He is the Father of all light, material or spiritual, in the kingdom of grace and of glory. With whom is no variableness - No change in his understanding. Or shadow of turning - in his will. He infallibly discerns all good and evil; and invariably loves one, and hates the other. There is, in both the Greek words, a metaphor taken from the stars, particularly proper where the Father of lights is mentioned. Both are applicable to any celestial body, which has a daily vicissitude of day and night, and sometimes longer days, sometimes longer nights. In God is nothing of this kind. He is mere light. If there Is any such vicissitude, it is in ourselves, not in him. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above - Whatever is good is from God; whatever is evil is from man himself. As from the sun, which is the father or fountain of light, all light comes; so from God, who is the infinite Fountain, Father, and Source of good, all good comes. And whatever can be called good, or pure, or light, or excellence of any kind, must necessarily spring from him, as he is the only source of all goodness and perfection.
With whom is no variableness - The sun, the fountain of light to the whole of our system, may be obscured by clouds; or the different bodies which revolve round him, and particularly the earth, may from time to time suffer a diminution of his light by the intervention of other bodies eclipsing his splendor; and his apparent tropical variation, shadow of turning; when, for instance, in our winter, he has declined to the southern tropic, the tropic of Capricorn, so that our days are greatly shortened, and we suffer in consequence a great diminution both of light and heat. But there is nothing of this kind with God; he is never affected by the changes and chances to which mortal things are exposed. He occupies no one place in the universe; he fills the heavens and the earth, is everywhere present, sees all, pervades all, and shines upon all; dispenses his blessings equally to the universe; hates nothing that he has made; is loving to every man; and his tender mercies are over all his works: therefore he is not affected with evil, nor does he tempt, or influence to sin, any man. The sun, the source of light, rises and sets with a continual variety as to the times of both, and the length of the time in which, in the course of three hundred and sixty-five days, five hours, forty-eight minutes, and forty-eight seconds, it has its revolution through the ecliptic, or rather the earth has its revolution round the sun; and by which its light and heat are, to the inhabitants of the earth, either constantly increasing or decreasing: but God, the Creator and Preserver of all things, is eternally the same, dispensing his good and perfect gifts - his earthly and heavenly blessings, to all his creatures, ever unclouded in himself, and ever nilling Evil and willing Good. Men may hide themselves from his light by the works of darkness, as owls and bats hide themselves in dens and caves of the earth during the prevalency of the solar light: but his good will to his creatures is permanent; he wills not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may come unto him and live; and no man walks in wretchedness or misery but he who will not come unto God that he may have life. See diagram and notes at the end of this chapter. |
6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
20 And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.
21 And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.
28 Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
28 Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
15 Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only.
12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.