Continuing the theme of the generous goodness of God, the author links it now with the gift of new birth for believers. Of his own will is a participle in Greek, literally “Having made his decision.” It emphasizes that God acted freely according to his gracious purpose. This can be rendered in various ways; for example, “Of his set purpose” (New English Bible), “By his own choice” (New Jerusalem Bible), “In fulfillment of his own purpose” (New Revised Standard Version), or “God made a decision and brought….”
The pronoun us in he brought us forth is inclusive. This clause, rendered as “gave us birth” by New Revised Standard Version, can be understood in three different ways:
(1) First, it is sometimes taken to mean the birth of Israel as God’s special son (Hos 11.1) and as having a special place over other nations (Deut 7.6).
(2) The second interpretation takes it as a reference to the creation of the human race in general. The references in verse 17 and the use of the term “creatures” (meaning the whole creation) in this verse lend support to this understanding. However, there are some problems with this view. For one thing it is most unlikely that the Divine will is simply to create human beings. This would be too self-evident to be meaningful. The will of God is to bring about salvation of believers. Secondly and more importantly, the verb used here, “to give birth,” is never used for creation.
(3) The majority of scholars therefore prefer a third interpretation, understanding “brought us forth” to mean the new birth of Christians (compare John 3.3-8; Titus 3.5; 1 Peter 1.23). The verb “to give birth” is normally used of a mother giving birth to a child. It is interesting to observe that here God takes on a feminine role by giving new birth to Christians. The verb here is the same as the one used in verse 15 and is meant to contrast with that use: there sin gives birth to death, and here God gives birth to spiritual life for Christians. This interpretation receives further support from the two phrases that follow, the word of truth and first fruits. Other ways to render he brought us forth may be “he caused us to be born anew” or “he caused us to have new life.”
The word of truth is the means by which God brought about the new birth. Those supporting the second interpretation above naturally take the word of truth to mean the creative word of God in Genesis 1. However, it is more likely that the phrase refers to the gospel, as this is the common New Testament usage (Eph 1.13; Col 1.5; 2 Tim 2.15). If this is so, in many languages it will be helpful to render word of truth as “the true message” (Contemporary English Version) or “his true message.”
The concept of first fruits comes from the Old Testament regulation that requires the presentation of the first crop to God at the beginning of harvest. It has to be the best of the harvest and be presented annually as a reminder of God’s faithfulness (compare Exo 23.16, 19; Lev 23.10-14; Deut 18.4). As used in this context, it can mean humanity as the crown of creation, having a special place as the representative of the creation before God. But here again it is best interpreted by taking Christians as the first fruits. They are first in time and order as well as in importance; that is, those people were the first to become Christians (compare 1 Cor 16.15; 2 Thes 2.13), and more importantly, as the focus of the context shows, they had a special place of honor in God’s new creation. This is clearly brought out by some translations; for example, “first place among…” (Good News Translation), “the first and highest place” (Barclay), “his own special place” (Contemporary English Version).
That translates a preposition plus an infinitive in Greek, expressing a goal or purpose (thus “so that” [Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New Revised Standard Version]). The purpose of God’s bringing us to rebirth is to make us a kind of first fruits of his creatures. The expression a kind of indicates that what is said here is to be understood figuratively. It can be rendered as “so to speak” (Phillips), or “as it were” (Knox). The word creatures in Greek is often used of God’s creation in general and the creatures in it (compare Rom 8.18-25; 1 Tim 4.4; Rev 5.13). Since God’s creation includes the creatures, it is possible to use the more inclusive term, “all his creation” (Knox), “in all creation” (Barclay), “all he created” (New International Version), or “all things that he has created.” That we should have the first place in all his creation means that the whole creation is included in the process of rebirth or re-creation. The new birth of Christians then is to be seen as the prelude to the new creation of the whole world. The clause may be rendered as “so that we should receive the greatest honor of all things that he has created” or “so that God should give us more honor than anything else he has created.”
An alternative translation model for this verse may be:
• God willed [or, made a decision] and he caused us [inclusive] to receive new life through his true word [or, message]. He did this so that we [inclusive] should receive the greatest honor of all the things that he has created.
Quoted with permission from Loh, I-Jin and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Letter from James. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .