The phrase “do not be deceived” is literally ‘STOP being deceived.” Most likely James is writing with knowledge of Christians who were blaming God for their sin.
This command to not be deceived takes us back to verse 15 in which James talks about how we are tempted and how we give into sin. It is not God who tempts, it is not God who lures us, it is not God who trips us up and causes us to fall into sin.
James writes in verse 15: “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
And so James writes in a very compassionate and loving and relational way by addressing them as brothers (and this statement can also be translated Brothers and Sisters). He is not to condemning them with a cold, pointing finger but is lovingly saying: do not be deceived that this is God’s doing but rather examine your own heart, examine your own decisions, examine where you did not guard yourself and where you gave into sin.
This is a rebuke but not to scold. His purpose is to lovingly restore so that they can once again find joy and freedom in a God who is good and merciful and gracious and kind.
When James is writing about good and perfect gifts, what is he talking about? And why reference both good gifts and perfect gifts.
The first statement about good gifts refers to the action of giving. And then the second statement refers more specifically to the gift. And so the New American Standard Bible translates this verse: “Every good thing given and every perfect gift.”
The word “good” here is the idea of things that are beneficial to us. There are things that we may view as good in our own eyes but they are not truly beneficial in fact they could be harmful. Every thing that is beneficial to us through the lens of the desires and purposes of God comes from the Father.
Remember the subject of this passage: trials. And more specifically persevering through trials. And these gifts that come from the Father are perfect—meaning they are fully sufficient to meet our needs. These are not inadequate gifts.
God is a giver of gifts that are good and beneficial for you so that your faith is matured. In fact, James says that everything that comes into your life that is good and beneficial and sufficient for your needs is from God. Good only exists because God is good and reveals his goodness to us.
If every good thing comes from God, then in times of trials I should not seek to find goodness outside of him. That is where we are deceived. We can find ourselves saying, ‘I don’t like the situation I am in and so I am going to seek things outside of God for my own good.’
There is not good outside of God. There is not good outside of the will and ways of God. We will not find true goodness outside of him but in him we will find what it good.
Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
And so out His goodness, He is at work in our life to bring about things that are good and beneficial for us according to His will and purposes. Now “good” may not always seem like it is good.
Joseph, son of Jacob, acknowledged this. He was sold into slavery by his own brothers, spent time in prison. None of that seemed good. And yet Joseph was able to acknowledge that where his brothers meant evil against God meant it for good to fulfill God’s good plan and purposes.
Even in a wicked world, God may allow us to experience difficult things that God uses to display His glory and accomplish His purposes. But through those trials, God is not going to be luring you into temptation. He is not going to be luring your into sin.
His plans for you are for your good that you may live according to His purposes.
And then to further remind his readers about the true nature of God. James uses this very poetic language in verse 17-18. In these verses, James is saying is that God is not a God of darkness, he is not a God of evil and wickedness. He is a God of light, a God of goodness, a God of truth.
Temptation comes into our life to lead us into darkness. God enters into our life to lead us into the light. Even if God allows difficult things into our lives it is always so that we are being drawn into the light. If I am being drawn into sin, that is not God. His nature, his being his light.
And when James says there is no variation or shadow in God due to change he is saying that the goodness and righteousness of God never changes. He is not good one day and not good another day. There is no hidden part of God that is sometimes not good.
This his how Eugene Pederson paraphrased verses 16 in The Message: “There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle.” And even though our circumstances can sometimes make us feel that God is not good, God is a God who is for us and not against us.
In fact, James writes in verse 18, “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
This is a wonderful statement from James. It speaks of the gracious nature of God toward us. And it speaks about how God views us. What would cause a holy God to save sinners who were unholy and in rebellion toward God? It was His desire. It was His will. He wasn’t forced to save us. He wasn’t obligated because we earned it. It was out of His own will and out of His own pleasure, that he chose us.
And James says that out of his will, he brought us forth. Your translation may say: “He chose to give us birth.” This is speaking of the new birth that we experience when we place our faith in Christ.
In the Gospel of John, the author John writes, “Jesus came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:11-12).
When we place our faith in Christ as the only one who can forgive our sins and give us salvation, we are born again into a living hope. And that new birth does not come from us. It does not comes from our church background, our family upbringing, our moral lifestyle, our ministry position. It comes from the Father, who through his will gives us new birth—and we receive that salvation by faith.
And we receive His invitation when we hear and respond to the word of truth, the Gospel message. This is why the apostle Paul says that “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).
It is through our understanding of the Gospel that we receive by faith God’s gift of salvation. A gift of salvation that has been initiated by His will that we may experience a new life.
“First fruits” mentioned in verse 18 is a Jewish term that we see under the Old Testament law, where God instructs Israel to being the first fruits of the crop from harvest to be given to God. These first fruits are to be set aside for God’s purpose to be given to God as an act of worship.
As believers in Jesus Christ, we have been set aside for God’s purposes. Eugene Pederson paraphrases verse 18 this way: “He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all His creatures.”
If you have trusted in Jesus for your salvation, you have been born again, you now have a new and eternal life in Christ and you have been set a part for the purposes of God. And so when we go through trials, God is at work in those trials and He is not at work to deceive you or trick you or lead you into darkness but He is at work for His glory.