According to his own will begat he us by the word of truth, that we should be a certain first-fruits of *his* creatures.
Read Full Chapter →Commentary for this Verse
James has just traced where our own desire leads. Now he turns to a birth that runs the other way. This verse answers three questions at once: who started it, what He used, and what we are meant to become.
The Will Behind the Birth
The phrase "of His own will" puts the source of the new birth outside us. One writer stresses how far it stands from anything a person would want:
William KellyHe gives freely and fully to those who were evil and enemies. So we are here told that "every good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights." … So God, by His own will and purpose, gave us new birth. Nothing was further from man, or more opposed to his own will.
Our first birth was not our own doing either. Pollock turns that into a question:
A J PollockTake our first birth. We were passive in that matter. God ordains the process by which we come into the world. That is sovereignty. Yet we do not object to the sovereignty of our first birth into this world. Why object to God's sovereignty in the second birth? The new birth is like a gardener preparing the soil and then dropping in the seed. God prepares the soil of our hearts, and the good seed of the word sprouts. "Of His own will", not ours.
The Word of Truth as Living Seed
James names the means: the word of truth. That word is not mere information. It carries life.
A J PollockThe word of God is living, for it produces life, and life can only come from life. … Under the hand of God, and by the working of His Holy Spirit, the Scriptures of truth have given new birth to millions of men and women all down the ages of the world's history. The word of God is living.
The word does not stop working once the new life begins. It shapes how we listen:
J. N. DarbyThe word of truth is the good seed of life. Self-will is the cradle of our lusts. Its energy can never produce the fruits of the divine nature, and the wrath of man can never produce the righteousness of God. So we are called to be teachable: ready to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. We are to lay aside all filthiness of the flesh and all energy of wrongdoing, and to receive the word with meekness. That word is the word of God, and it makes itself one with the new nature that is in us. It is planted in us, and it forms and develops that nature according to its own perfection.
Two Births, Two Outcomes
Which will is at work decides where a life ends up:
William KellyHis will working by His word is the source of the everlasting gift, as our will issues in lust, sin, and death.
A New Nature, Not Just a New Standing
The new birth gives more than a new standing before God.
J. N. DarbyJames points to grace as the only divine source of the good that is in us. That good is there because we are born of God, and it comes through faith, since it is by the word of truth. By it we are born again; it is a new life, and that by the will of God. We belong to the new creation; we are its firstfruits. Immense blessing! It is not only a new position, though it is that. It is also a new nature that makes us able to enjoy God. James does not speak of righteousness through grace. He speaks of a completely new nature that comes from God.
Firstfruits of His Creatures
Firstfruits were the first sheaf of a harvest still to come. Believers are that sheaf, and the harvest is a creation set right:
The Bible TreasuryGod will reconcile all things to Himself: His creation and His chosen ones. We, born of the Father, are the firstfruits of that reconciled creation. In a sense, Adam after his sin was the firstfruits of fallen creation.
James guards the wording: we are only "a kind of" firstfruits — "a certain firstfruits" in the older translation Kelly uses. He explains the limit:
William KellyOf this we are a certain firstfruits already, for the word of truth gave us birth, and this nature is holy. But there is another nature we should never ignore. If we do not judge it, it breaks out into sins. So until Christ comes and changes us, we can only be called "a certain firstfruits."
Summary
- Will — The new birth starts in God's will, not ours. His will works by His word and gives life; our will runs out into lust, sin, and death.
- Word — The means is the word of truth, living seed that produces life because life only comes from life.
- Nature — He gives a new nature that can enjoy God. James's subject is that new life, not how a person is declared righteous.
- Welcome — The word that planted the new nature also forms it, so we take it in with meekness: quick to hear, slow to anger.
- Firstfruits — We are the first sheaf of a creation God will set right. We are only "a kind of" firstfruits, because the old nature stays until Christ comes.