James 1:18

Again we have a verse without any connection between what precedes or follows; the words ἴστε, ἀδελφοί μου ἀγαπητοί of James 1:19 seem to belong to James 1:18. As we have seen, James 1:17 most probably contains a quotation; the possibility of James 1:18 being also a loose quotation, from some other author, should not be lost sight of; it would explain, as in the case of James 1:17, the abrupt way in which it is introduced; the ἴστε, taken as an indicative, might well imply that the writer is referring his readers to some well-known writing, much in the same way as St. Paul does in Acts 17:28, ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ ζῶμεν καὶ κινούμεθα καὶ ἐσμέν, ὡς καί τινες τῶν καθʼ ὑμᾶς ποιητῶν εἰρήκασιν · “ τοῦ γὰρ καὶ γένος ἐσμέν ”. For the general thought of the verse cf. 1 John 3:9. βουληθεὶς ἀπεκύησεν ἡμᾶς λόγῳ ἀληθείας : this is strongly suggestive of an advanced belief in the doctrine of Grace, cf. John 15:16. οὐχ ὑμεῖς με ἐξελέξασθε, ἀλλʼ ἐγὼ ἐξελεξάμην ὑμᾶς. The rare word ἀπεκύησεν is, strictly speaking, only used of the mother. “It seems clear that the phrase has particular reference to the creation of man, κατʼ εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθʼ ὁμοίωσιν. This was the truth about man which God's will realised in the creation by an act, a λόγος, which was the expression at once of God's will and man's nature” (Parry). ἀπαρχήν τινα τῶν αὐτοῦ κτισμάτων : ἀπαρχή = תרומה used in reference to the Torah in Shemoth Rabba, chap. 33; see further below; the picture would be very familiar to Jews; just as the new fruits which ripen first herald the new season, so those men who are begotten λόγῳ ἀληθείας proclaim a new order of things in the world of spiritual growth; they are in advance of other men, in the same way that the first-fruits are in advance of the other fruits of the season. Rendel Harris illustrates this very pointedly from actual life of the present day in the East: “When one's soul desires the vintage or the fruitage of the returning summer, chronological advantage is everything. The trees that are a fortnight to the fore are the talk and delight of the town” (Present Day Papers, May, 1901, “The Elements of a Progressive Church”).