Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary James 1:18

"Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." — James 1:18 (ASV)

James advances his final reason for denying that God is the author of temptation. Rather than acting destructively, God acts constructively. “He chose to give us birth.” Seeing that this birth is “through the word of truth” (i.e., through the Gospel), this birth must be spiritual rather than natural. God accomplishes this action by his own deliberate choice. His purpose in regeneration is “that we might be a kind of firstfruits.” The figure the author has in mind is drawn from such OT passages as Ex 34:22 and Lev 23:10. “Firstfruits” refers to the first portion of the harvest given to God, a foretaste of that which was to come. So it was that the early Christians were a preliminary indication of the great host of people who through subsequent centuries would be born again.