James 1:17

The following saying of R. Chaninah (first century, A.D.) is preserved: א״ר חנינא אין דבר רע יורד מלמעלה׃ (“R. Chaninah said, ‘No evil thing cometh down from above' ”.). On the possible connection between this verse and the preceding section, see Introduction IV., § 1. πᾶσα δόσις ἀγαθὴ καὶ πᾶν δώρημα τέλειον : Mayor remarks on this: “It will be observed that the words make a hexameter line, with a short syllable lengthened by the metrical stress. I think Ewald is right in considering it to be a quotation from some Hellenistic poem.… The authority of a familiar line would add persuasion to the writer's words, and account for the somewhat subtle distinction between δοσ. ἀγ. and δω. τελ.”. In Theodotion's version of Daniel 2:6, occur the words: … δόματα καὶ δωρεὰς …, which represent מתנן and נבזבה in the corresponding Aramaic (the Septuagint has another reading); the distinction between these two is perhaps that the former refers to gifts in the ordinary sense, while the latter is a gift given in return for something done, i.e., a reward; but it cannot be said that the Greek reflects this distinction, though it is worthy of note that Philo makes a special distinction between them, “inasmuch as the latter noun is much stronger than the former, and contains the idea of greatness and perfection which is lacking in the former; Philo, De Cherub., 25; and so De Leg. Alleg., iii. 70, where he applies to the latter noun the same epithet ‘perfect' as in the Greek of the verse before us” (Knowling). ἄνωθέν ἐστιν : it is a question whether one should read: “Every good gift … from above comes down from …,” so the Peshiṭtâ; or “Every good gift … is from above, coming down from …”; Mayor thinks that on the whole “the rhythm and balance of the sentence is better preserved by separating ἐστι from καταβαῖνον ”. ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς τῶν φώτων : Cf. on the one hand, Sir 43:9, Κάλλος οὐρανοῦ, δόξα ἄστρων, κόσμος φωτίζων, ἐν ὑψίστοις Κύριος; and, on the other 1 John 1:5, ὁ Θεὸς φῶς ἐστιν καὶ σκοτία ἐν αὐτῷ οὔκ ἐστιν οὐδεμία. There can be no doubt that in the passage before us this double meaning of light, literal and spiritual, is meant. παραλλαγή : only here in the N.T., and in 4 2 Kings 9:28 (Septuagint); it is rendered שוחלפא in the Peshiṭtâ, a word which is used variously of “change,” “caprice,” and even “apostasy” (see Brockelmann, Lex. Syr., s.v.). In Greek, according to Mayor, the word may be taken “to express the contrast between the natural sun, which varies its position in the sky from hour to hour and month to month, and the eternal source of all light”. τροπῆς ἀποσκίασμα : neither of these words is found elsewhere in the N.T., and the latter does not occur in the Septuagint either; the former is used in the Septuagint of the movements of the heavenly bodies, Deuteronomy 33:14 : καὶ καθʼ ὥραν γενημάτων ἡλίου τροπῶν …; cf. Job 38:33. The meaning of the latter part of the verse before us is well brought out by Luther: “Bei welchem ist keine Veränderung noch Wechsel des Lichts und Finsterniss”. If, as hinted above, there is a connection between this verse and the section James 1:5-8, the meaning may perhaps be expressed thus: When, in answer to prayer, God promises the gift of wisdom, it is certain to be given, for He does not change; cf. for the thought, Romans 11:29, ἀμεταμέλητα γὰρτὰ χαρίσματα καὶ ἡ κλῆσις τοῦ Θεοῦ.