James 1:17

James 1:17. Every good gift. A positive proof of the assertion that God tempteth no man. Not only does evil not proceed from Him, but He is the source only of good. All good is from God. Our higher and spiritual good evidently arises from Him: all good works are the effects of Divine impulses. Our lower and earthly good also comes from Him: our health, our property, our domestic comforts, are the gifts of His bounty. Our very trials, our disappointments, our afflictions, our sicknesses those tests of character are the proofs of His goodness, and are designed to produce within us the peaceable fruits of righteousness. The statement is true taken in its most universal application.

and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down (more literally, ‘Every perfect gift descendeth from above,' or ‘is from above, coming down') from the Father of lights. By lights here are primarily meant the heavenly bodies and by the Father is denoted their Author or Creator; but it may well be applied to all spiritual existences the souls of men and angelic spirits. As Bishop Wordsworth beautifully expresses it: ‘God is the Father of all lights: the light of the natural world, the sun, the moon and stars, shining in the heavens; the light of reason and conscience; the light of His law; the light of prophecy, shining in a dark place; the light of the Gospel, shining throughout the world; the light of apostles, martyrs, and confessors, preaching the Gospel to all nations; the light of the Holy Ghost, shining in our hearts; the light of the heavenly city: God is the Father of them all. He is the everlasting Father of the everlasting Son, who is the Light of the world.'

with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. St. James does not here employ, as some suppose, technical astronomical terms, which would not be understood by his readers, but alludes to what is apparent to all the waning and setting of the natural lights in the firmament. The statement is obviously equivalent to that of St. John: ‘God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all' (1 John 1:5).