James 1.16-18.
In verse 15, James used a pregnancy metaphor to describe how one’s own desires conceives and gives birth to sin. In these verses, he kept up the metaphors. God’s like the planets and moon, only unlike them, he doesn’t go through phases and retrogrades. And we’re like the firstfruits, the crops the Hebrews took their tithes from.
James 1.16-18 KWL - 16 Don’t be led astray, my beloved fellow Christians: 17 Every good gift,
- every perfect present from above, came down from the Father of heavenly lights.
- There’s no phase, no seasonal shadows, with him.
- 18 His will birthed us by his truthful word, for us to be one of the firstfruits of his creation.
“Don’t be led astray” connects with the previous idea: God isn’t the source of temptation and sin. We are. Determinists regularly make that mistake, figuring if they were almighty like God, they’d let nothing out of their control, and project that view upon God. Even though God clearly, regularly objects to sin throughout the bible, and states he had nothing to do with it.
Since a lot of determinists profess they’re only following John Calvin’s lead, just for fun let’s have Calvin correct ’em.
Do not err. This is an argument from what is opposite; for as God is the author of all good, it is absurd to suppose him to be the author of evil. To do good is what properly belongs to him, and according to his nature; and from him all good things come to us. Then, whatever evil he does, is not agreeable to his nature. But as it sometimes happens, that he who quits himself well through life, yet in some things fails, he meets this doubt by denying that God is mutable like men. But if God is in all things and always like himself, it hence follows that well-doing is his perpetual work. Calvin at James 1.16-18
By “whatever evil he does,” Calvin explained in his next paragraph: Sometimes God’s gotta punish sinners with acts we might prima facie call “evil,” but aren’t really. It’s not at all in God’s nature to do evil. Not accidentally, not passively, not intentionally, not ever. There’s no dark side to him.
And if we wanna compare God with the heavenly lights he created… well, for this interpretation we need to learn a little ancient astronomy.