278 MARIAM J. KAMELL every good aspect of life that cannot be earned, such as wisdom (1,5) and new birth (1,18). We can be assured that he will not change in regards to this because “in him there is no variation or shadow of turning”. Unlike the planets that turn and shade and change, in God is only consistency 14. He is supreme over all that changes in the universe while remaining stead- fast himself. As Garland describes it, “God’s goodness ... is not as peri- odic as the full moon or the morning sunrise. It does not fade into the west ” 15. With the bold statement of 1,17 James again affirms God’s un- changing nature as the generous giver of all that is good, and also demon- strates the singleness, the purity of God’s nature especially as it is revealed in his desire to give the good things his people need. James uses that confidence, then, as the background for his affirma- tion of 1,18: “Because he was willing, he gave birth to us by the word of truth in order that we might become a sort of firstfruits of his creation”. This verse states most boldly James’s theology of God’s initiatory work in electing and redeeming his people 16. As with Abraham and the people of Israel, the process of becoming part of the people of God is initiated and brought into being by God himself. This verse does not state only that God was willing, as if he merely acquiesced to such an event, but that God willed the new creation into being. James brings the causal participle boylhueıv right to the beginning of the sentence for this emphasis. It is ¥ as if to say that God’s willingness is the only reason James’s addressees had for their communion with God. Subsequently, the idea that he “gave birth ” to these people indicates a new nature: they are no longer trapped by their fallen natures but have been re-created by the word 17. His audi- ence, James says, are the “firstfruits” of something new that God is doing, JOHNSON, James, 204, argues that “James’ declaration in 1:17 is rightly 14 perceived as one of the noblest theologoumena in the NT. Patristic writers rec- ognized its extraordinarily rich and foundational quality ... [and it was] a fa- vored text through the entire Eastern tradition”. D.E. GARLAND, “Severe Trials, Good Gifts, and Pure Religion: 15 James 1”, RevExp 83 (1986) 392. While the vast majority of scholars views this as a reference to redemp- 16 tion and new birth, L.E. ELLIOTT-BINNS, “James i.18: Creation or Redemp- tion ? ”, NTS 3 (1956) 148-161, views this as a reference “to the original creation of which man was the crown and the promise; [James] knows nothing of any ‘new’ creation or rebirth” (156). M. JACKSON-MCCABE, Logos & Law in the Letter of James. The Law of Nature, the Law of Moses, & the Law of Freedom (Leiden 2001) agrees, pairing the creation interpretation with the Stoic idea of innate reason. James’s use of “a kind/sort of” (tina) may well speak to the “al- 17 ready/not yet” nature of this new birth. The believers have been reborn, but they still apparently struggle with obedience.