Do not err, therefore, my dearest brethren.
μη πλανασθε αδελφοι μου αγαπητοι
7 Church Fathers comment on this verse
At this point the heretics were in error, saying that just as God governs the world in darkness and light, dryness and moisture, cold and heat, so He governs man in good and evil, sorrow and joy, death and life. Therefore the Apostle says, "Every good gift" and all the rest is from the Father of lights.
Do not err, my beloved brethren, by thinking that vicious temptations take their beginning from God. Yet we know that some, receiving what they deserve for past crimes, fall again into new transgressions by the just permission of the strict Judge. Therefore the Apostle says, "And since they did not see fit to have the knowledge of God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done, filled with all unrighteousness"; Rom 1:28.
Theophylact says that the gifts we bring to God are imperfect and deficient. Therefore the divine James writes this saying here.
Metrophanes says that, since it was said above that "God tempts no one" and is not the cause of evils, lest anyone think that He is also not the cause of good things, he consequently says here, "Do not be deceived, my brethren."
Do not think that someone other than God gives good things to men. For every good thing and every perfect gift descends to men from above, from the Father of lights.
This is so that you Christians may be shown tested in temptations through patience, and so that you may conquer the assaults of the enemy. This is not from yourselves, but from help and grace descending from above from God.
By Father of lights he means God. By lights, according to Theophylact, he means either the angelic Powers or those men who have been illumined by the Holy Spirit.
Dionysius the Areopagite begins the first chapter of The Celestial Hierarchy from this saying of the divine James. He adds that the same good gift descending upon us from the Father leads us back up to union with the Father, who draws all.
There it unites us with His divinizing unity and simplicity, as a power that makes one.
In the second chapter of The Divine Names, he calls the Son and the Spirit lights. They have the Father as the principle and cause of Their hypostases.
He says: "Likewise, that the source of divinity is the Father, and that the Son and the Spirit are offspring of the God-bearing Divinity, if one may speak thus, shoots of the divine growth, as it were flowers, or supra-essential lights, we have received from the sacred sayings."
This saying of James is found in the prophet Zechariah, as the divine Maximus, interpreter of Dionysius, explains. Many other theologians also understand by the lights of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit.
"With whom there is no change, nor shadow of turning."
Why does he say that God the Father is the cause only of good, and not of evil? Because, according to Saint Metrophanes, He admits no approach whatever of any change or alteration in His incomprehensible essence.
If change were supposed, then both good and evil would be given to us. But this is impossible. God is unchangeable in essence, as He says through the prophet Malachi: "I am the Lord your God, and I do not change" (Mal 3:6).
By "shadow of turning," he means that one cannot even suspect that there is in God any trace whatever of alteration or change.
Saint Metrophanes interprets it thus: "The phrase 'shadow of turning' is wonderfully fitting for the incorrupt and single ever-existing divine essence.
"It clearly shows that not only can God not suffer change toward the worse, but it is impossible even to think of a subtle form of change. This is impossible in God. 'But Thou art the same'" (Ps 101:28).
Cyril of Alexandria also cites this saying: "Here he says clearly that the word 'from above' means 'from the Father.' Since he knows nothing else that surpasses creatures except the ineffable nature of God, he properly assigns this 'from above' to it.
"For everything else lies under the yoke of servitude. God alone is above subjection to anything and reigns over all. Therefore He is, in the true sense, 'over all'" (Commentary on John, book 2, chapter 2).
"Do not be deceived," and so forth. The discourse continues on the same subject and presents a positive refutation of the error that God is the cause of temptations leading to destruction. Evidently this error had taken deep root in the hearts of the epistle's readers. The Apostle himself took it especially to heart and wished to tear it out by the root from their hearts. This explains his heartfelt appeal to them with the exhortation, "Do not be deceived," or more exactly, "Do not be seduced." This error was seductive. He calls them "my beloved brethren."
Evil temptation comes chiefly from sinful desires. From them are born sins that lead to bodily and spiritual death. This was so in the first temptation of Eve and Adam, and it is so now. "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, false witness, blasphemies," says Christ Himself, the Knower of hearts; Mt 15:19. "Do not be deceived," says the Apostle James, concluding his defense of God's righteousness. After a similar word, the Apostle Paul adds, "God is not mocked"; Gal 6:7.
The Lord sends trials to people not in order to draw them into sin, but to strengthen their power to withstand sin. If a person falls in the struggle with temptation, the fault lies with the person himself. For each one is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own desire; v. 14. The Lord always assists the good and the moral perfection of man. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change and no shadow of turning"; v. 17.
Thus the opinion that God tempts to evil is false. "Do not be deceived" means: do not be carried away by this blasphemous opinion. Each one is tempted to evil by his own desire, but God never leads anyone into sin. He is the cause only of good. Therefore the Apostle continues: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change or shadow of turning."
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 5 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS