Thomas Manton · 15 of 60

A Practical Commentary, or an Exposition with Notes on the Epistle of James. · Chapter I. · Part 12

And every perfect gift; that is, such as do anyway conduce to our perfection, not only initial and first grace, but all the progresses in the spiritual life, and at last perfection and eternal life itself, are the gift of God. Though eternal death be a wages, yet eternal life is a gift; and therefore the apostle diversifieth the phrase when he compareth them both together, Rom. vi. 23. The sum is, that not only the beginning, but all the gradual accesses from grace to glory, are by gift, and from the free mercy of God.

Is from above; that is, from heaven. The same phrase is else where used: John iii. 21, `He that cometh from above is above all;, that is, from heaven. And heaven is put for God, as Luke xv. 21, `I have sinned against heaven, and against thee;, that is, against God and his earthly father. And I suppose there is some special reason why our blessings are said to be from above, because they were designed there, and thither is their aim and tendency, and there are they perfectly enjoyed; and therefore, Eph. i. 3, are we said to be `blessed with spiritual blessings in heavenly places;, therefore `in heavenly places, because thence was their original, and there is their accomplishment.

And descendeth or cometh down; not `falleth down, to show (saith Aquinas) that we have not blessings by chance, but in the way of regular means.

From the Father of lights; that is, from God. The word father is often used for the author or first cause, as Gen. iv. 20, 21, `The father of such as dwell in tents;, `the father of those that handle the harp;, that is, the author and founder. So God is elsewhere called `Father of spirits, Heb. xii. 9, because they do not run in the material channel of a fleshly descent, but are immediately created by God. Well, but what is meant by Father of lights? Some conceive that it intendeth no more but `glorious Father, as it is usual with the Hebrews to put the genitive case for an epithet, and the genitive plural for the superlative degree. But I conceive rather God is here spoken of in allusion to the sun, who deriveth and streameth out his light to all the stars; and so God, being the author of all perfections, which are also signified and expressed by light, is called here `The Father of lights., Therefore it is usual in the scriptures to attribute light to God and darkness to the devil; as Luke xxii. 53, `This is your hour, the power of darkness;, that is, of Satan. More of this term in the points.

With whom is no variableness, παραλλαγὴ.—It is an astronomical word or term, taken from the heavenly bodies, which suffer many declinations and revolutions which they call parallaxes, a word that hath great affinity with this used by the apostle. The heavenly lights have their vicissitudes, eclipses, and decreases; but our sun shineth always with a like brightness and glory.

Neither shadow of turning, τροπῆς ἀποσκίασμα.—The allusion is continued. Stars, according to their different light and posture, have divers adumbrations; as, the nearer the sun is to us, the less shadow it casteth; the farther off, the greater: so that we know the various motions and turning of the sun by the difference of the shadows. But the Father of spiritual lights is not like the father or fountain of bodily: with him is no shadow of turning; that is, he is without any motion or change, any local accesses and recesses, remaineth always the same. This is a sun that doth not set or rise, cannot be overcast or eclipsed.

The notes are these:—

Obs. 1. That all good things are from above; they come to us from God. Mere evil is not from above; `the same fountain doth not yield sweet and bitter waters., God is good, and immutably good, and therefore it cannot be from him, which was Plato's argument. Evils do not come from God, because he is good; which reasoning is true, if it be understood of evils of sin; for otherwise, `Shall there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it?, Amos iii. 6. But for good that floweth clearly from the upper spring, there are indeed some pipes and conveyances, as the word, and prayer, and the seals; and for ordinary blessings, your industry and care. But your fresh springs are in God; and in all these things we must, as chickens, sip and look upwards. It is, I confess, the waywardness of flesh and blood to look to the next hand, as children thank the tailor for the new coat, and suffer the immediate helps to intercept their trust and respects; and therefore God often curseth the means, and blasteth our endeavours. The divine jealousy will not brook a rival. God delighteth in this honour of being the sole author of all our good, and therefore cannot endure that we should give it to another. When God was about to work miracles by Moses, hand, he first made it leprous, Exod. iv. 6. There he was aforehand with this sin; first or last, the hand of the creature is made leprous. This note, that God is the author of all the good that is in us, is useful to prevent many corruptions; as, (1.) Glorying in ourselves. Who would magnify himself in that which is from above? We count it odious for a man to set out himself in another man's work and glory; as the apostle saith, 2 Cor. x. 16, that he would not `boast in another man's line of things made ready to his hands., Now, all good is made ready to your hand; it is the bounty of heaven to you. It is not your line and work, but God's. (2.) Insultation, or vaunting it over others. Had we all from ourselves, the highest might have the highest mind; but `who made you to differ?, 1 Cor. iv. 7. Carnal and weak spirits feed their lusts with their enjoyments. A straight pillar, the more you lay upon it, the straighter it is, and the more stable; but that which is crooked boweth under its weight: so the more God casteth in upon carnal men, the more is their spirit perverted. (3.) Envy to those that have received most. Our eye is evil when God's hand is good. Envy is a rebellion against God himself, and the liberty and pleasure of his dispensations. God distributeth gifts and blessings as he will, not as we will; our duty is to be contented, and to beg grace to make use of what we have received.

Obs. 2. Whatever we have from above, we have it in the way of a gift. We have nothing but `what we have received, and what we have received we have received `freely., There is nothing in us that could oblige God to bestow it; the favours of heaven are not set to sale. When God inviteth us to mercy, he doth not invite us as a host, but as a king; not to buy, but to take: they are most welcome that have no money, Isa. lv. 1; that is, no confidence in their own merits. Some divines say, that in innocency we could not merit. When the covenant did seem to hang upon works, we could, in their sense, impetrare, but not mereri—obtain by virtue of doing, but not deserve. Merit and desert are improper notions to express the relation between the work of a creature and the reward of a Creator; and much more incongruous are they since the fall. Sin, bringing in a contrariness of desert, maketh mercy much more a gift; so that now in every giving there is somewhat of. forgiving, and grace is the more obliging because in every blessing there is not only bounty, but a pardon. It was long since determined by the schools, that penitents had more reason to be thankful than innocents, sin giving an advantage to mercy to be doubly free in giving and pardoning, and so the greater obligation is left upon us. Oh! then, that we were sensible of this; that in all our actions our principle might be a sense of God's love, and our end or motive a sight of God's glory.

Obs. 3. That among all the gifts of God, spiritual blessings are the best: these are called here good and perfect, because these make us good and perfect. It is very observable that it is said, Mat. vii. 11, `If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him., Now in the parallel place in Luke xi. 13, it is, give `the Holy Spirit to them that ask him;, that is the giving of good gifts, to give the Holy Spirit. Nihil bomim sine summo bono—there can be nothing good where there is not the Spirit of God: other blessings are promiscuously dispensed; these are blessings for favourites. The `men of God's hand, Ps. xvii. 14, may have abundance of treasure, that is, violent, bloody men; but the `men alter God's heart, have abundance of the Spirit. A man may be weary of other gifts; an estate may be a snare, life itself a burden; but you never knew any weary of spiritual blessings, to whom grace or the love of God was a burden; therefore, it is `better than life, Ps. lxiii. 3. Well, then, they are profane spirits that prefer pottage before a birthright, vain delights before the good and perfect gifts. David makes a wiser choice in his prayer, Ps. cvi. 4, `Eemeniber me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people; O visit me with thy salvation., Not every mercy will content David, but the mercy of God's own people; not every gift, but the good and perfect gift. The like prayer is in Ps. cxix. 132, `Look upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do to those that love thy name., Mark, not the mercies that he used to bestow upon the world, but the mercies he used to bestow upon his people and favourites. No thing but the best mercy will content the best hearts.

Obs. 4. That God is the Father of lights. Light being a simple and defecate quality, and, of all those which are bodily, most pure and spiritual, is often put to decipher the essence and glory of God, and also the essences and perfections of creatures as they are from God. The essence of God: 1 John i. 5, `God is light, and there is no darkness in him., There light, being a creature simple and unmixed, is put to note the simplicity of the divine essence. So also the glory of God: `He dwelleth in light inaccessible, 1 Tim. vi. 16; that is, in inconceivable glory. So Jesus Christ, in regard he received his personality and subsistence from the Father, is called, in the Nicene Creed, φῶς ἐκ φῶτος, εὸς ἀλήθινος ἐκ θεοῦ ἀληθίνου, `Light of light, and very God of very God., So also the creatures, as they derive their perfections from God, are also called lights; as the angels, `Angels of light, 2 Cor. xi. 14; the saints, `Children of light, Luke xvi. 8. Yea, reasonable creatures, as they have wisdom and understanding, are said to be lights; so John i. 9, `This is the light that enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world;, that is, with the light of reason: all the candles in the world are lighted at this torch. In short, reason, wisdom, holiness, happiness are often expressed by light, and they are all from God. As the stars shine with a borrowed lustre, so do all the creatures; where you meet with any brightness and excellency in them, remember it is but a streak and ray of the divine glory. As the star brought the wise men to Christ, so should all the stars in the world bring up your thoughts to God, who is `the Fountain and Father of lights., Thus Mat. v. 16, `Let your light so shine before men, that they, seeing your good works, may glorify, not you, but `your Father which is in heaven., If you see a candle bum brightly and purely, remember it was lighted and en kindled by God. If there be any light in them, a sight and sense of the mysteries of the gospel, if they be `burning and shining lights, if they give out the flame of a holy conversation, still remember they do but discover that lustre and glory they received from above. Well, then, if God be the Father of lights,—

1. It presseth you to apply yourselves to God. If you want the light of grace, or knowledge, or comfort, you must shine in his beam and be kindled at his flame. We are dark bodies till the Lord fill us with his own glory. Oh! how uncomfortable should we be without God. In the night there is nothing but terror and error; and so it is in the soul without the light of the divine presence. When the sun is gone the herbs wither; and when God, who is the sun of spirits, is withdrawn, there is nothing but discomfort and a sad languishing in. the soul. Oh! pray, then, that God would shine in upon your soul, not by flashes, but with a constant light. It is too often thus with us in point of comfort find grace; holy thoughts arise, and, like a flash of lightning, make the room bright, but the lightning is gone, and we are as dark as ever. But when God shineth in by a constant light, then shall we give out the lustre of a holy conversation: Isa. lx. 1, `Arise and shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee., We, like the moon, are dark bodies, and have no light rooted within ourselves; the Lord must arise upon us ere we can shine. So also in point of comfort: Ps. xxxiv. 5, `They looked to him and were lightened; their face was not confounded.,

2. It showeth the reason why wicked men hate God: John iii. 19-21, `Light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light;, and again, `They come not to the light, for their deeds are evil., Men that delight in darkness cannot endure God, nor any thing that representeth God. Rachel could not endure Laban's search, nor wicked men God's eye. He is the Father of lights; he hath a discerning eye, and a discovering beam.

3. It presseth the children of God to walk in all purity and innocency: `Ye are children of light, walk in the light, Eph. v. 8. Walk so as you may resemble the glory of your Father: faults in you, like spots in the moon, are soon discerned. You that are the lights of the world should not shine dimly; nay, in the worst times, like stars in the blackest night, you should shine brightest; therefore the apostle saith, Phil. ii. 15, `Shine as stars in the midst of a perverse age.,

Obs. 5. That the Lord is unchangeable in holiness and glory; he is a sun that shineth always with a like brightness. God, and all that is in God, is unchangeable; for this is an attribute that, like a silken string through a chain of pearl, runneth through all the rest: his mercy is unchangeable, `his mercy endureth for ever, Ps. c. 5. So his strength, and therefore he is called `The Rock of ages, Isa. xxvi. 4. So his counsel, Mutat sententiam, sed non decretum (as Bradwardine); he may change his sentence, the outward threatening or promise, but not his inward decree; he may will a change, but not change his will. So his love is immutable; his heart is the same to us in the diversity of outward conditions: we are changed in estate and opinion, but God he is not changed; therefore when Job saith, Job xxx. 21, `Thou art turned to be cruel, he speaketh only according to his own feeling and apprehension. Well, then,—

1. The more mutable you are, the less you are like God. Oh! how should you loathe yourselves when you are so fickle in your purposes, so changeable in your resolutions! God is immutably holy, but you have a heart that loveth to wander. He is always the same, but you are soon removed, Gal. i. 6;, soon shaken in mind, 2 Thes. ii. 2; whirried with every blast, Eph. iv. 14, borne down with every new emergency and temptation. The more you do `continue in the good that you have learned and been assured of, 2 Tim. iii. 14, the more do you resemble the divine perfection.

2. Go to him to establish and settle your spirits. God, that is unchangeable in himself, can bring you into an immutable estate of grace, against which all the gates of hell cannot prevail; therefore be not quiet, till you have gotten such gifts from him as are without repentance, the fruits of eternal grace, and the pledges of eternal glory.

3. Carry yourselves to him as unto an immutable good; in the greatest change of things see him always the same: when there is little in the creature, there is as much in God as ever: Ps. cii. 26, 27, `They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; they shall all wax old as a garment: thou art the same for ever, and thy years have no end., All creatures vanish, not only like a piece of cloth, but like a garment. Cloth would rot of itself, or be eaten out by moths; but a garment is worn and wasted every day. But God doth not change; there is no wrinkle upon the brow of eternity; the arm of mercy is not dried up, nor do his bowels of love waste and spend themselves. And truly this is the church's comfort in the saddest condition, that however the face of the creatures be changed to them, God will be still the same. It is said somewhere, that `the name of God is as an ointment poured out., Certainly this name of God's immutability is as an ointment poured out, the best cordial to refresh a fainting soul. When the Israelites were in distress, all the letters of credence that God would give Moses were those, Exod. iii. 14, `I am that I am hath sent me unto you., That was comfort enough to the Israelites, that their God remained in the same tenor and glory of the divine essence; he could still say I AM. With God is no change, no past or present; he remaineth in the same indivisible point of eternity; and therefore saith, I AM. So the prophet Malachi iii. 6, ἐγὼ κύριος, οὐκ ἠλλοίωμαι, `I am the Lord, that change not, (or am not changed);, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed., Our safety lieth in God's immutability; we cannot perish utterly, because he cannot change.

Ver. 18. Of his own good-will begat he us, by the word of truth, tJiat we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.

The apostle showeth that his main aim was to set forth God as the author of spiritual gifts, and therefore instanceth in regeneration.

Of his own good-will, βουληθεὶς.—Because he would, or being willing. The word is put:—(1.) To deny compulsion or necessity; God needed not to save any; and (2.) To exclude merit; we could not oblige him to it, it was merely the good pleasure of God; for this βουληθεὶς is equivalent to that which Paul calleth εὐδοκία, the natural bent, purpose, and inclination of God's heart to do the creatures good: Eph. i. 11, it is called `the counsel of his will, and elsewhere `abundant mercy;, 1 Pet. i. 3, `Out of his abundant mercy he hath begotten us to a lively hope;; in other places `the pleasure of the Father.,

Begat he us.—A word that properly importeth natural generation, and sometimes it is put for creation; and so as we are men we are said to be his γένος, `his offspring, Acts xvii. 28; and indeed so some take it here, applying these words to God's creating and forming us, and making men to be his first-fruits, or the choicest piece in the whole creation; or, as Zoroaster called him, τολμηροτάτης τῆς φύσεως ἄγαλμα, the masterpiece of over-daring nature. But this is beside the scope; for he speaketh of such a begetting as is `by the word of truth, which, in the next verse, he maketh to be an argument of more conscience and sense of the duty of hearing; therefore begetting is put to imply the work of grace upon our souls. The same metaphor is elsewhere used: 1 Peter i. 23 `Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth for ever;, so 1 Peter i. 3, `Begotten to a lively hope., I have brought these two places to show you the two parts in the work of grace; the one is quâ regeneramur, by which we are begotten, the other quâ renascimur, by which we are born again; the one is God's act purely, the other implieth the manifestation of life in ourselves; a distinction that serveth to clear some controversies in religion: but I go on with my work.

By the word of truth.—Here is the instrument noted. Those that refer this verse to the creation, understand it of Jesus Christ, who is the eternal uncreated Word of the Father, and by him were all things made; see John i. 1, 2; Heb. i. 3, &c.; but clearly it is meant of the gospel, which is often called `the word of truth, and is the ordinary means whereby God begetteth us to himself.

That we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.—Those that apply the verse to the creation say the apostle meaneth here that man was the choicest, chiefest part of it; for all things were subjected to him, and put under his feet, Ps. viii. But I conceive it noteth rather the dignity and prerogative of the regenerate; for as it was the privilege of the first-fruits of all the sheaves to be consecrated, so believers and converts among all men were set aside for the uses and purposes of God. The first-fruits of all things were the Lord's:—(1.) Partly to testify his right in that people; (2.) Partly for a witness of their thankfulness; they having received all from him, were to give him this acknowledgment: Prov. iii. 9, `Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of thy increase;, this was the honour and homage they were to do to God. Now this is everywhere attributed to the people of God; as to Israel, because they were God's peculiar people, called out from all the nations: Jer. ii. 3, `The first-fruits of his increase is holiness to the Lord;, that is, of all people they were dedicated to God. So the holy worshippers, figured by those virgins in Rev. xiv. 4, are said to be `redeemed from among men, to be a first-fruits unto God and the Lamb:, these were the chiefest, Christ's own portion. So the church is called, Heb. xii. 23, `the church of the first-born., All the world are as common men; the church are the Lord's.

The points are these:—

Obs. 1. That which engaged God to the work of regeneration was merely his own will and good pleasure: `Of his own will begat he us;, Rom. ix. 18, `He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth., God's will is the reason of all his actions; you will find the highest cause to be will, love, and mercy. God can have no higher motive, nothing without himself, no foresight of faith and works; he was merely inclined by his own pleasure: John xv. 16, `Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you;, he begins with us first. When Moses treateth of the cause of God's love to Israel, he assigneth nothing but love: Deut. vii. 7, 8, `He loved you, because he loved you;, he had no motive, and can expect no satisfaction. So Ps. xviii. 19, `He delivered me, because he delighted in me;, that was all the reason he did it, because he would do it. So Hosea xiv. 4,; I will love them freely;, there is the spring and rise of all. This is applicable divers ways:—(1.) To stir us up to admire the mercy of God, that nothing should incline and dispose his heart but his own will; the same will that begat us, passed by others: whom he will he saveth, and whom he will he hardeneth. Man's thoughts are very unsober in the inquiry why God should choose some and leave others: when you have done all, you must rest in this supreme cause, God's will and pleasure: Mat. xi. 26, `Even so, Father, because it pleased thee., Christ himself could give no other reason, and there is the final result of all disputes. Oh! admire God, all ye his saints, in his mercy to you; this circumstance giveth us the purest apprehensions of the freeness of God's love, when you see that it was God's own will that determined mercy to you, and made the difference between you and others; nay, in some respects, it puts a difference between you and Christ: εὐμένεια πάτρος σ᾽ ἀποκτείνει, ἀλλοῖς γίγνεται σωτηρία, the good-will of the Father slayeth thee, and saveth others; he willed Christ's death, and your salvation. In the same verse, Christ's bruises and our salvation are called chephers, God's pleasure: Isa. liii. 10, `It pleased the Father to bruise him;, and then, `My pleasure, that is, in the salvation of the elect, `shall prosper in his hands., (2.) It informeth us the reason why, in the work of regeneration, God acteth with such liberty: God acteth according to his pleasure; the Holy One of Israel must not be limited and confined to our thoughts: John iii. 8, `The wind bloweth where it listeth., All is not done after one tenor, but according to the will of the free Spirit; as, in giving means, you must leave God to his will: there are mighty works in Chorazin and Bethsaida, when there are none in Tyre and Sidon. Israel had statutes and ordinances, when all the world had nothing but the glimmering candle of their own reason. So for the work of the Spirit with the means, some have only the means, others the work of the Spirit with the means: John xiv. 22, `How is it that thou wilt reveal thyself unto us, and not unto the world?, They have choice revelations. The spouse is brought into the closet, Cant. i. 3, when the virgins, common Christians, stay only in the palace of the great King. Do but observe two places: Acts ix. 7, it is said of Paul's companions, that `they heard a voice, and yet, Acts xxii. 9, it is said, `They that were with him heard not the voice., Solomon Glassius reconcileth these two places thus: They heard a sound, but they did not hear it distinctly as Christ's voice. Some only hear the outward sound, the voice of man, but not of the Spirit in the word; there is a great deal of difference in the same auditories. So also for the measure of grace; to some more is given, to some less; though all have a vital influence, yet all have not the same measure of arbitrary influences: Phil. ii. 13, `He giveth both to will and to do, κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν, according to his good pleasure., So for the manner; it is very diverse and various. God beginneth with some in love, with others by terrors, `plucking them out of the fire., Some are gained by a cross and affliction, others by a mercy. Some are caught by a holy guile (as the apostle saith of the Corinthians); others are brought in more sensibly, and with greater consternation. Upon some the Spirit cometh like a gentle blast, grace insinuateth itself; upon others like a mighty rushing wind, with greater terror and enforcement. So for the time; some are longer in the birth, and wait at the pool for many years; others are surprised and gained of a sudden: Cant. vi. 12, `Ere I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib., Therefore we should not limit God to any one instance, but still wait upon him in the use of means, for his good pleasure to our souls.

Obs. 2. That the calling of a soul to God is, as it were, a new beget ting and regeneration. He `begat us;, there must be a new framing and making, for all is out of order, and there is no active influence and concurrence of our will; therefore grace is called, 2 Cor. v. 17, καίνη κτίσις, `a new creation;, all was a chaos and vast emptiness before. So elsewhere it is expressed by being `born again, John iii. 5; and so believers are called Christ's seed, Isa. liii. 10. The point being obvious, I shall the less stay on it. It is useful—;(1.) To show us the horrible defilement and depravation of our nature; mending and repairing would not serve the turn, but God must new make and new create us, and beget us again: like the house infected with leprosy, scraping will not serve the turn; it must be pulled down, and built up again. They mince the matter that say of nature as those of the damsel, `She is not dead, but sleepeth;, as if it were a languor or a swoon into which Adam and his posterity fell. No; it was a death, and therefore are those two notions of creation and resurrection solemnly consecrated by the Spirit of God to express our regeneration or new birth. (2.) To show us that we are merely passive in our conversion: it is a begetting, and we (as the infant in the womb) contribute nothing to our own forming: Ps. c. 4, `It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;, we had no hand in it. (3.) It showeth us two properties of conversion: (1st.) There will be life; the effect of generation is life Natural men are said, Eph. iv. 18, to be `alienated from the life of God;, they are altogether strangers to the motions and operations of the Spirit. But now, when the soul is begotten, there will be acting, and moving, and spiritual feeling; the soul will not be so dead towards God. Paul saith, Gal. ii. 20, `Not I live, but Christ liveth in me., A man cannot have interest in Christ, but he will receive life from him. (2d.) There will be a change. At the first God bringeth in the holy frame, all the seeds of grace; and therefore there will be a change: of profane, carnal, careless hearts, they are made spiritual, heavenly, holy: Eph. v. 8, `Ye were darkness, but now are light in the Lord., You see there is a vast difference. If men remain the same, how can they be said to be begotten? They are filthy still, carnal still, worldly still; there will be at least a desolation of the old forms and frames of spirit.