James 1:18

Of his own will begat he us The construction of the Greek is participial, willing he begat us, and is parallel to that of Colossians 2:18, which, rightly rendered, runs " let no man willing, i.e. by the exercise of his will, deprive you.…" The word implies the rejection of the thought either of a destiny constraining the Divine Will, or of chance and, as it were, random impulses, and the reference of our higher spiritual birth to His deliberate Will. Here again we have a parallelism with St John "born … not of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:13), and with St Peter (1 Peter 1:23).

The word for "begat" is the same as the second "bringeth forth" in James 1:15, and is obviously used here, with the general sense of "engendering" or "begetting," to emphasise the contrast between the process which ends in death and that which issues in a higher life. Here also, though the birth was not monstrous, it was out of the common course of Nature, and therefore the unusual word was rightly employed again.

with the word of truth So our Lord makes Truth, the "word which is truth," the instrument of the consecration or sanctification of His people (John 17:17-19). The "word of truth" cannot have here the higher personal sense which the Word or Logos has in John 1:1, but it is something more than the written Word of the Old Testament Scriptures, or even the spoken word of preachers. It is the whole message from God to man, of which the written or spoken word is but one of the channels, and which to those who receive it rightly is the beginning of a higher life. Comp. Matthew 13:19; Mark 4:14.

a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. The meaning of the term is traced back to the Jewish ritual of Leviticus 23:10; Deuteronomy 26:2. The sheaf of the firstfruits was offered as part of the Passover celebration. On their entry into Canaan the Israelites were to offer the firstfruits of the land (Deuteronomy 26:2). In each case the consecration of the part was a symbol and earnest of that of the whole. So St James speaks of the "brethren" who have been born to a higher life, not only as better than others, but as the pledge of a fuller harvest. So St Paul speaks of Christ being "the firstfruits of them that sleep" (1 Corinthians 15:20), of a convert being "the firstfruits of Achaia" (1 Corinthians 16:15). St John agrees, as usual, more closely with St James, and describes "the redeemed from the earth" of Revelation 14:4 as "the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb." Christians are called and made what they are by the grace of God, that they may shew of what elevation humanity is capable. Comp. Romans 11:16.