January 17 Daily Devotional

Scripture for Day 17—James 1:18

¹⁸ Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creation.

Devotional:

"Unless one is born again," Jesus declared to Nicodemus, "he cannot see the Kingdom of God" (Jn 3:3). If the cause of this new birth is God's sovereign grace ("Of his own will he brought us forth…") and the instrument that God uses to regenerate sinners is "the word of truth," then God's goal in giving us the new birth is "that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creation."

This reminds us just how steeped in the Old Testament is the Christianity of the New Testament. God did not spend thousands of years laying the foundation and preparing the backdrop for the New Testament just so we could ignore it. Do not neglect the Old Testament. It was the whole Bible of the New Testament church until the Gospels and Epistles were written. New Testament Christians insist on studying the Old Testament. In fact, much of the New Testament cannot be correctly understood apart from the Old, for example, "that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creation."

In the old covenant, the first born—whether people, cattle, or fruits—was to be presented before the Lord. For example, "When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord" (Lev 23:10-11). Old covenant "Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest" (Jer 2:3). The resurrecton of Jesus is the "firstfruits"of the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor 15:20). The Holy Spirit is the "firstfruits" of the complete salvation of the redeemed. And God regenerates new covenant believers in Christ "that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." The "firstfruits" were the foretaste and downpayment and guarantee of the whole.

Of what are born again believers a "firstfruits"? Of what are we the foretaste and downpayment and guarantee? "Of his creation." That is the ESV. The ASV, KJV, and the NKJV render this "firstfruits of his creatures." The NASB renders it "first fruits among his creatures." The NIV says "firstfruits of all he created." In each case, note the emphasis on God's creation. This is part of our future hope. "According to [God's] promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells" (2 Pet. 3:13; cf. Isa. 65-66; Rev. 21). The regeneration of the sinner is a kind of firstfruits of the regeneration of the entire creation. Indeed, Jesus used this very word to describe God's renovation of the universe. In Matthew 19:28, "Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, in the new world [literally, in the regeneration], when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne...'" The new birth is the first part of that great harvest that will eventuate in the new birth of the entire universe. The regeneration of sinners by the Holy Spirit's effectual calling through the Word of truth is the foretaste and downpayment and guarantee of the new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, [it is a matter of] new creation" (2 Cor. 5:17).

I hope that our zeroing in on verse 18 for several days hasn't overly distracted you from James's train of thought. The overarching theme is responding to trials. Specifically, in testing your faith, is God trying to do you harm? To the contrary, if you are in Christ, not only is God using your trials to prepare you for a crown of life (v. 12), he is using your trials as steps toward preparing the entire creation for its regeneration under Christ (v. 18). They are tools in his executing his eternal "plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth" (Eph. 1:10)

Click here for background on the author of Are You For Real?: Meditations in the Epistle of James for Secret or Family Worship.