16. Make no mistake, my beloved brothers (I'm not arguing. I'm telling you): 17. Every good gift, yes, every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights of heaven, whose nature (unlike those lights) suffers neither the variation of orbit nor any shadow. James phrased this truth in a high-toned way. This tone has raised doubts and disputes among commentators. James B. Adamson restates James's meaning like this:
All human good comes from the perfect Father of the universe.
Three Ways of Interpreting Verse 17
In discussing James 1: 16-17, there are three ‘notable’ ways of taking the opening words of verse 17. Adamson prefers that of KJV (King James Version) and RV (Revised Version). In addition, he cites Ropes.
Ropes translation: Every good gift…is from above, coming down: i.e. taking from above as the predicate, with coming down as an explanatory expansion. 1
Adamson follows this by comparing the alternative translations to the versions he favors. He argues that if we couple the word ‘is‘ with ‘coming down‘ it would express ‘comes down’ (Syriac version). This translation is less likely in style for this context. The same is true of T. Erskine’s “Every giving is good and every gift is perfect from above” or “from its first source” (see Hort). 2
Concerning Erskin’s translation, Adamson argues it would be giving ‘from above’ a meaning it ‘cannot bear in this case. Also it would state that all God’s gifts are good, not that all good gifts come from God. A specific sense of meaning is required in both the verse and the context of this discussion. This is: ‘all good gifts come from God‘.
It seems that James had in mind here some older Greek verses, which Adamson lists in note #106 on page 74. In his opinion, James was as willing as Paul (Acts 17:28) to use a ‘pagan hexameter‘ from an ‘extant hexameter’.
The Focus in Verse 17 is on the Textual Problems
Adamson thinks the meaning of the rest of verse 17 is clear enough. However, the words variation and shadow present some difficulties.
Variation
The word for variation is used only here in the New Testament. It is also used once or twice in the LXX (Septuagint). In Greek it expresses the setting of the teeth in a saw or stones set alternately. It could also be used for a sequence of beacons or seasons. Adamson prefers variation in the RV to variableness in the KJV for denoting some regularity or system in change.
It is not necessary to interpret the word in a technical sense. It alludes to the light of the sun and its change from hour to hour and from day to night. Adamson considers this proper to the Greek of the Epistle of James in its reference to the variation of an object in constant orbit. It’s a question of whether the words are in grammatical agreement. He provides the Greek words in the notes.
The genitive is a genitive of definition, ‘a variation consisting in turning,’ like ‘the city of Athens’ or ‘the gift of sleep. (Adamson p. 75)
Shadow
The word shadow is found only here in the New Testament. It is not found in LXX or Philo. There are three possible meanings.
- The Shadow cast by an object, as in an eclipse (Plutarch ii. 891)
- The Act of overshadowing
- A reflected image
None of these things can block God’s light. Nothing can interrupt the flow of his goodness, or put us ‘in shadow,’ so that we are out of the reach of his ‘radiance.’ Here Adamson quotes a hymn by Horatius Bonar:
Light of the world! for ever, ever shining,
There is no change in Thee;
True Light of Life, all joy and health enshrining.
Thou cans't not fade nor flee.