James 1:17Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights." By the Father of lights, understand God. By the lights, understand either the angelic powers or people enlightened by the Holy Spirit. "With whom there is no change or shadow of turning." In the God of lights there is no change, for He Himself cries out through the prophet, "I am the Lord your God, and I do not change"; Mal 3:6. The expression "shadow of turning" means that no change can even be conceived in God.

Therefore you must hope to receive from the Father of lights the ability to endure obedience firmly. From Him every good gift and every perfect gift comes down; Jas 1:17. You must ask for this in daily prayers. In doing so, be assured that you are not strangers to what has been predestined for His people. For even the fact that you do this is itself His gift to you.

Through your prayers, make God merciful to me, that He may also become my Helper in my words. Or rather, may He become the Giver of a full and right answer to every question. For from Him, as the Source and Father of all illuminating forms of knowledge and powers, given accordingly to the worthy, comes every good gift and every perfect gift.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights." Likewise, every outpouring of illumination is graciously rained upon us from its cause, God the Father. As a unifying power, it again raises us up and makes us simple. It leads us toward union with the Father who draws "all" to Himself, and toward divine simplicity. For all things are from Him and to Him, according to the sacred word; Rom 11:36.

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.

The will of none who desire and run is sufficient for this. One clothed in flesh that wars against the spirit cannot attain perfect purity and chastity without the special protection of divine mercy. Nor can he be counted worthy to receive what he so strongly desires and toward which he so eagerly runs.

Having taught that the vices within us, by which we are tempted, come not from God but from ourselves, the Apostle shows, on the contrary, that every good we conceive in thought is received by us as a gift from God.

Therefore he calls God the Father of lights, knowing that He is the source of spiritual gifts. This agrees with the words of the Apostle Paul: "What do you have that you did not receive?" (1 Cor 4:7).

"With whom there is no change, nor shadow of turning." For there is no mutability in the nature of God, and His light does not disappear through any shadow of change, like the light of this world.

Moreover, it admits no darkness of transgressions. It is entirely clear that the gifts of light are intended only for us.

O Father, the only unbegotten and unproceeding One, and, generally speaking, without cause. You alone are Father of the Lights inseparable from You and equal in honor to You, that is, the Son and the Holy Spirit. There is one Dominion and one Power, the Creator of the created lights that exist under Your hand; Jas 1:17.

Having read many different books, both Christian books and those composed by outside sages, and having drawn sufficient benefit for the soul from them, I learned chiefly this.

Of every virtue through which we human beings pass, and of every authority and every office that we desire, the giver and accomplisher is the Creator of all and Master. This I have known and understood.

"Every good gift," it is said, "and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights."

One thing is a "good gift," and another is a "perfect gift." A "good gift" means the virtues of the soul, such as understanding, courage, justice, chastity, meekness, and humility of mind.

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.

In confirmation that everyone who asks God for any good things will undoubtedly receive what he asks, the Apostle calls God the Father of lights. That is, He is the Being from whom every bright and good thing flows forth.

With Him there is no change in anything, so that His promises are immutable and His gifts are without repentance.

It is known that changes in the state of an object or person show its imperfection. Imperfection bears witness to a lack or incompleteness of good qualities. It speaks, as it were, of an admixture of darkness to light.

But He who is all-perfect and good, who Himself is light, and who created light and every good, cannot Himself change or have any darkness. Nor can He be the cause of any darkness or evil for creatures.

"Every good gift," and so forth. In these words there is a positive refutation of the deceptive error. The refutation is this: God is the cause of every good, and from Him only a good gift proceeds and can proceed.

Therefore He cannot be the cause of man's temptations unto perdition, since He is immutable in His properties (v. 17). Moreover, He loves men so much that He regenerated them by the word of truth for eternal blessed union with Himself.

Therefore He cannot be the cause of their perdition or of temptations leading to perdition (Jas 1:18).

That God is the cause only of good, the Apostle expresses emphatically. From Him, and precisely from Him alone, every good giving and every perfect gift descends.

Wishing to show more clearly the senselessness of accusing God of evil, the Apostle reminds us that from God, as the source of all life and light, only good gifts are given. He is eternally unchanging; Mal 3:6.

True hope in God requires that, on the one hand, we expect all good things only from the Heavenly Father. This is required because our free will and all external means depend on the all-acting will and grace of God. Thus the Apostle James says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights." The Apostle Paul also says, "God is the one working in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure"; Phil 2:13.

Evil comes from below, from the earth, from the evil will of the earthly man, and in no way from above, not from God.

From God descends only every good giving and every perfect gift, everything that serves our good and our spiritual perfection. It cannot be otherwise, for He is the Father of lights, that is, the Creator of the heavenly luminaries.

Look at these luminaries, the sun, the moon, and the stars. How bright and pure they all are. But from whom did they receive brightness and purity? From Him who is the ever-existing Light.

If these luminaries, which do not have independent being, are bright and pure, then judge what brightness and purity, that is, holiness and moral purity, He Himself possesses.

He calls God the Father of intelligible lights, that is, the One who enlightens rational creatures. From Him, as from the giver of things, divine gifts come to men, he says.

Since they bring benefit, he calls them good givings. Since they are complete and without defect, he undoubtedly names the gifts perfect.

And since some say concerning these words of James that from God comes only what is better, and not what is considered burdensome and sorrowful, the place should be cited where Scripture says: "I Myself have brought evils upon them."

There is also this: "Disaster has come down from the Lord to the gates of Jerusalem" (Mic 1:12), and other passages like them.

From these and other similar examples it becomes clear that, from the judgment of God, their own way and sorrow come upon them.