James Chapter 1 — Commentary on Verse 18

    Hechosetogiveusbirththroughthewordoftruth,thatwemightbeakindoffirstfruitsofallhe created.

    The apostle shows that his main aim is to reveal God as the author of spiritual gifts, and therefore he mentions regeneration.

    He chose. Because he wanted to, or being willing. The word is given here (1) to deny compulsion or necessity—God did not need to save anyone; and (2) to exclude merit—we could not force God to do it—it was merely his good pleasure. This he chose is equivalent to what Paul calls the natural inclination of God’s heart to do his creatures good.

    To give us birth. This word means natural birth, and sometimes it is used for creation. So we are said to be “his offspring” (Acts 17:28). Some people apply these words to God’s creation of us, making people his firstfruits, or the most special part of the whole creation. But this is beside the point, for James speaks of this as birth that is throughthewordoftruth. In the next verse he uses this to argue that we should be more aware of the duty of listening; therefore this birth implies the work of grace on our souls. The same metaphor is used elsewhere: “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). “He has given us new birth into a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3). These two quotations show you the two parts of the work of grace; in one we are begotten, in the other we are born again. In the one it is purely God’s act; the other implies the manifestation of life in ourselves. This distinction clears up some controversies in religion.

    Throughthewordoftruth. Here the instrument is noted. Those who refer this verse to the creation apply it to Jesus Christ, who is the eternal, uncreated Word of the Father, through whom all things were made (see John 1:1-3; Hebrews 1:2). But clearly it means the Gospel, which is often called “the word of truth” and is the usual way in which God brings us to himself in birth.

    Thatwemightbeakindoffirstfruitsofallhecreated. Those who apply the verse to the creation say the apostle means that man was the chief part of it, for all things were subjected to him and put under his feet (Psalm 8). But I think it rather indicates the dignity and prerogative of the regenerate; for as it was the privilege of the firstfruits of all the sheaves to be consecrated, so believers and converts among all men were set aside for the purposes of God. The firstfruits of all things were the Lord’s (1) partly to testify to his right in that people; (2) partly for a witness of their thankfulness—they had received everything from him and were to thank him for this (“Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops,” Proverbs 3:9). This was the honor and homage they were to give to God.

    Everywhere this is attributed to the people of God—to Israel—because they were God’s special people, called out from all the nations. “Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest” (Jeremiah 2:3); that is, of all people, they were dedicated to God. So holy worshipers, represented by the virgins in Revelation 14:4, are said to be “purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb”; these were the most honored, Christ’s own portion. So the church is called “the church of the firstborn” (Hebrews 12:23). The people in the world are ordinary people; the church is the Lord’s.

    Notes on Verse 18

    Note 1. God engaged in the work of regeneration through his own will and good pleasure: He chose to give us birth; “God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden” (Romans 9:18). God’s will is the reason for all his actions, motivated by love and mercy. God can have no higher motive. “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16); he begins with us first. When Moses speaks about the origin of God’s love for Israel, he says, “The Lord … [chose] you … because the LORD loved you” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8); he had no other motive. “He rescued me because he delighted in me” (Psalm 18:19); that was the only reason he did it, because he wanted to. “I will … love them freely” (Hosea 14:4); there is the beginning of it all.

    This is applicable in various ways:

    (1)      To stir us up to admire the mercy of God, that nothing should incline his heart except his own will. The same will gave us life and passed others by; whom he will he saves, and whom he will he hardens. Human thoughts are very unbalanced in the inquiry about why God should choose some and leave others. When all is said, you must rest in this supreme cause, God’s will and pleasure: “Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure” (Matthew 11:26). Christ himself could give no other reason, and there is the final answer to all disputes. Praise God, all his saints, for his mercy to you. This gives the purest understanding of the freeness of God’s love, when you see that it was God’s own will that brought you mercy and made the difference between you and others. In some ways it makes a difference between you and Christ. The goodwill of the Father kills one and saves others; he willed Christ’s death and your salvation. In the same verse, Christ’s bruises and our salvation are called God’s pleasure: “It was the Lord’s will to crush him,” and “the will of the Lord [in the salvation of the elect] will prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 53:10).

    (2)      This tells us why, in the work of regeneration, God acts with such freedom. God works according to his will; the Holy One of Israel must not be limited and confined to our thinking: “The wind blows wherever it pleases” (John 3:8). All is according to the will of the free Spirit; there are mighty deeds in Chorazin and Bethsaida when there are none in Tyre and Sidon. Israel had statutes and ordinances when all the world had nothing except the flickering candle of their own reason. It is the same with the work of the Spirit with the means; some have only the means, others the work of the Spirit with the means: “Why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” (John 14:22). Note Acts 9:7, where it is said of Paul’s companions that “they heard the sound,” and yet in Acts 22:9 it is said that “they did not understand the voice.” Solomon Glassius comments that they heard a sound, but they did not hear it distinctly as Christ’s voice. Some only hear the outward sound, the voice of man, but not of the Spirit in the Word.

    It is the same with the amount of grace; to some more is given, to some less. “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). The manner is also very varied. God starts with some through love, with others through fear, snatching them from the fire (see Jude 22-23). Some are won through a cross and affliction, others through mercy. Therefore, we should not limit God to any one method, but must wait on him in the use of means for his good pleasure to our souls.

    Note2. The calling of a soul to God is, as it were, a new birth and regeneration. He gave us birth; there must be a new frame, for all is out of order. Therefore, grace is called “a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17); all was chaos and emptiness before. Elsewhere this is expressed as being “born again” (John 3:3); and so believers are called Christ’s “offspring” (Isaiah 53:10).

    This is useful:

    (1)      To show us the horrible defilement and depravation of our nature. Mending and repairing would not be enough; God must re-create us and give us birth again. Like the house infected with leprosy, scraping is not enough; it must be pulled down and rebuilt.

    (2)      This shows us that we are merely passive in our conversion. It is a begetting, and we (as the infant in the womb) contribute nothing to our own forming. “It is he who made us, and we are his” (Psalm 100:3); we had no hand in it.

    (3)      This shows us two aspects of conversion. First, there will be life; the effect of generation is life. Natural men are said to be “separated from the life of God” (Ephesians 4:18); they are complete strangers to the work of the Spirit. But when the soul is given life, there is spiritual feeling, and the soul is not dead toward God. Paul says, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). A man cannot be in Christ without receiving life from him. Second, there will be a change. God brings all the seeds of grace, and therefore there will be a change. Profane, godless hearts are made spiritual, heavenly, holy: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8). You see, there is a vast difference. If men remain the same, how can they be said to be born again? They are still ungodly and still worldly. There should be at least a desolation of the old frames of spirit.

    Note3. It is God’s own work to giveusbirth. This is sometimes ascribed to God the Father, as here, and in other places to God the Son. Believers are “his offspring” (Isaiah 53:10). Sometimes it is ascribed to the Spirit, as in John 3:6, “the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” We see God the Father’s will: Hechosetogiveusbirth; God the Son’s merit: through his obedience we have “the full rights of sons” (Galatians 4:5); God the Spirit’s efficacy: he overshadows the soul, and the new creature is born. This is ascribed to all three persons of the Godhead together in one place: “He saved us … because of his mercy … through the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ” (Titus 3:5-6). In another place you have two persons of the Godhead mentioned: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). It is true that the ministers of the Gospel are said to give birth, but it is as instruments in God’s hands. So Paul says, “I became your father” (1 Corinthians 4:15); and about Onesimus he says, “who became my son while I was in chains” (Philemon 10). God loves to attribute his own honor to the instruments.

    So then:

    (1)      Remove false reasoning. You cannot give birth to yourself—that would be monstrous; you must look beyond yourself, and beyond the means, to God who forms you after his own image. John 1:13 says that we were “born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

    (2)      This shows the wonderful relationship we have through the new birth. God is our Father; that brings his love and compassion and care and everything that can be dear and refreshing to the creature: “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them” (Matthew 6:32). This relationship is often called on by the children of God: “But you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us” (Isaiah 63:16). There is comfort in a father, and much more in a Heavenly Father. Evil men may be good fathers (see Matthew 7:11); they must follow their natural fatherly instincts. How much more will a good God be a good Father? As Tertullian said, “None can be so good and so much a father as he.”

    Note4. The ordinary means whereby God gives birth is the Gospel. He gave us birth through thewordoftruth: “in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15). There is the instrument, the author, the means: the instrument, Paul (“I became your father”); the means, “through the gospel”; the author, “in Christ Jesus.” So 1 Peter 1:23 says, “born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” The Word is, as it were, the seed that is grafted into the heart and produces obedience. This is through the Word, and that part of the Word which is correctly called the Gospel. Moses may bring us to the borders, but Joshua leads us into the land of Canaan; the law may prepare the way, but the Gospel gives the grace of conversion.

    Well, then, let us wait on God in the use of the Word; it is not good to balk the known and normal ways of grace. Wisdom is given at Wisdom’s gates: “Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway” (Proverbs 8:34). Remind your souls about the necessity of the means. “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Without grace I cannot be saved; without the Word I cannot have grace. Reason like this with yourselves, so that you may alert your soul to a greater sense of waiting on God in the Word. It is true that divine grace does everything; but remember, it is through the Word of truth. The influences of the heavens give fruitful seasons; yet plowing is necessary. It is one of the sophisms of this age to urge the Spirit’s efficacy as a plea for the neglect of the means.

    Note5. The Gospel is a wordoftruth; it is called this not only here but in various other passages: see Ephesians 1:13; Colossians 1:5; 2 Timothy 2:15. The same expression is used in all these passages. You may constantly observe that in matters of the Gospel the Scriptures speak with the greatest certainty; their comfort is so rich, and their way so wonderful, that we are apt to doubt such matters the most, and so the Scriptures give us a more solemn assurance about them—as in 1 Timothy 1:15, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” We tend to look on this as a doubtful thing, or at best as just a possibility; therefore Paul prefaces it with, “Here is a trustworthy saying.” Similarly in Isaiah 53:4, “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows.” You say, surely I am a sinner. But it is just as certain that Christ is a Saviour; naturally we are more aware of our sin than of the comforts of Christ. The apostle Paul says about the heathen that they “know God’s righteous decree” and that “those who do such things deserve death” (Romans 1:32).

    Natural conscience will give us a sense of sin, but usually we look on Gospel comforts with a loose heart and doubtful mind; and therefore Scripture speaks in such a certain way. Is it certain that you are a sinner? It is just as certain that he “took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows.” Similarly in Revelation 19:9, “‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ … ‘These are the true words of God.’” Similarly, in Revelation 22:6, after he had spoken about the glory of heaven, the apostle says, “These words are trustworthy and true.”

    Application. This makes us put our heart into these truths. How strange it is that our hearts should be so weak about those points that have a special note of truth and faithfulness linked to them! It may well be said, “Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar” (1 John 5:10). God has told you that these are trustworthy and true sayings; therefore you implicitly make God a liar when you think these things are too good to be true. This is to set your own sense and experience against God’s oaths, which are everywhere in the Gospel. Assent to the greatest certainty there is; check those evil thoughts that secretly lurk in all our hearts, that the Gospel is some clever device that cheats the world.

    Assents are of different kinds; some are very imperfect. There is conjecture, which is only a lighter inclination of the mind to what is only probable; it may or may not be true. Better than this is opinion, when the mind is strongly swayed to think something is true. However, there is a fear of the contrary, which is opposed to believing with all the heart. The next stage is “weak faith,” where people look upon Christianity as true and good but cling to it feebly. Above this there is assurance. Here I mean the truths of the Gospel, not of our interest in its comforts. This is meant by the apostle when he says the Thessalonians received the Gospel “with deep conviction” (1 Thessalonians 1:5); they were persuaded of the truths of the Gospel. The same apostle, in Colossians 2:2, calls it “the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God”—that is, an understanding and experience of the truths of the Gospel and a resolution to live and die in this faith.

    Question. You will say, how shall we attain such perfection? How is the soul assured that the Gospel is a word of truth?

    Answer. This question is worthy of a reasoned answer, because atheism is so natural to us. In these times especially, the reigning sin is atheism and skepticism in matters of religion, brought about partly by corrupt and blasphemous doctrines, which agree with our thoughts, and partly by the sad divisions among the people of God. Everyone thinks he is in the right and suspects everyone else; therefore Christ prayed for unity in the church: “Let the world know that you sent me” (John 17:23). When there are divisions in the church, there is usually atheism in the world—partly through the scandals committed under a pretense of religion, through which Christ is, as it were, denied (see Titus 1:16, and also Hebrews 6:6, “they are crucifying the Son of God all over again”—that is, he is exposed to the derision and scorn of his enemies and portrayed as a criminal). Now more than ever, then, it is necessary to support the mind with solid arguments and to establish you in the holy faith. Many arguments are given by the Fathers and the schoolmen on behalf of the Gospel, but I have always preferred the arguments of the Fathers, such as Lactantius, Tertullian, Justin Martyr, Cyril, etc., rather than those of the schoolmen, as they are more practical and natural. The arguments of the schoolmen are more subtle and speculative, and so less easy to understand. Briefly, then, you may know that the Gospel is a word of truth because whatever is excellent in a religion is in an unparalleled manner found in our religion, or in the doctrine of the Gospel. The glory of a religion lies in three things—the excellency of rewards, the purity of precepts, and the sureness of principles of trust. Now examine the Gospel by these things and see if it can be matched elsewhere.

    (1)      The excellency of rewards. This is one of the most important aspects of a religion. Therefore the apostle proposes it as a principle and foundation of religion and worship to “believe that he [God] exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). Whoever comes to God—that is, to engage in his worship—must also believe in his bounty, because a man in all his endeavors is poised for some happiness and reward. Since the fall there are “many schemes” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). As the Sodomites, when they were struck with blindness, groped around Lot’s door, so we grope here and there for a reward that may be adequate for our desires. The heathen were at a sad loss.

    Augustine, following Varro, counted two hundred and eighty-eight opinions about the chief good. Some placed it in pleasures and such things as gratified sense. But this would make brutes of men, for it is the beast’s happiness to enjoy pleasures without remorse. Cicero said, “He is not worthy of the name of a man who would spend one whole day in pleasures.” “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men” (1 Corinthians 15:19). But the Gospel gives eternal and happy enjoyment of God in Christ in the life to come, “eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Psalm 16:11), complete knowledge, perfect love, the soul filled with God. The Gospel outdoes all religions, propounding a most excellent reward for the holy life.

    (2)      Purity of precepts. In the Christian religion all moral duties are heightened to their greatest perfection. “Your commands are boundless” (Psalm 119:96), comprising every motion, thought, and circumstance. The precepts are exact, commanding love not only for friends but for enemies. The law is spiritual and good in all points: “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul” (Psalm 19:7)—that is, not only guiding the actions of the exterior man, but piercing his thoughts. We have a perfect law.

    (3)      The sureness of principles of trust. One of the most wonderful aspects of the creature’s relationship to the Godhead is trust and dependence. And trust, being the rest and quiet of the soul, must have a sure foundation. Survey all the religions in the world, and you will find no basis for trust except in the Gospel—trusting in God for a common mercy, trusting in God for a saving mercy.

    a.      For a common mercy. There are no representations of God to the soul like those in the Gospel. The Gentiles had only vague and dark thoughts about God and therefore are generally described as “men, who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). I remember that when our Saviour spoke against anxiety about outward needs he said: “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or, ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things” (Matthew 6:31-32), implying that such a way of life was only excusable in heathen who had no sure principles. But you who know providence and the care of a Heavenly Father should not be anxious in this way. It is true that the heathen had some sense of a deity; they had some understanding about the nature of God (see Romans 1:20). But the apostle says in the next verse that “their thinking became futile.” When they came to represent God as an object of trust, they were vain and foolish. But now in the Gospel God is represented as a fit object of trust, and therefore the solemn and purest part of Christian worship is faith. Luther observed that “it is the design of the whole Scripture to bring the soul to a steady belief and trust.” Therefore the psalmist, speaking about God’s work in the world and in the church, when he comes to his work in the church says, “Your statutes stand firm” (Psalm 93:5). God deals with us according to sure principles.

    b.      For saving mercies. This is the test of all religions. The best is the one that gives the soul a sure hope of salvation. In Jeremiah 6:16 God says, “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls.” There are three things that trouble the soul: our distance from God, our fear of angry justice, and a despair of retaining comfort with a sense of duty. Therefore, before the conscience can have any rest and quiet, three couples must be brought together—God and man, justice and mercy, comfort and duty; all of them must embrace and kiss each other.

    First, God and man must be brought together. Homer said that people would never be happy until the gods and mortal men came to live together. Certainly instinct makes us feel after an eternal good. “Men would seek him [God]” (Acts 17:27). Now, how can we have any link with God since there is such a distance between us and him? How can guilty creatures think of God without trembling, or approach him without being devoured and swallowed up by his glory? The heathen realized this to a certain extent and therefore held that the supreme gods were defiled by the unhallowed approaches of sinful and mortal men. Therefore they invented heroes and half-gods, a kind of middle powers, to be mediators, to convey their prayers to the gods and the blessings of the gods back again to them. So Plutarch said, “By these intermediate powers there was communion between the gods and men.” To this teaching of the heathen the apostle alludes in 1 Corinthians 8:5; the heathens had “many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords.’” They had many gods, many ultimate objects of worship; and many lords—that is, mediators. “Yet for us there is but one God, the Father” (1 Corinthians 8:6). There is one supreme essence and one mediator.

    In this sure way the Scriptures lay down how we can have communion with God. The Godhead and manhood meet in one nature. The Son of God was made the Son of man, that the sons of men might become the sons of God. Therefore the apostle Peter explains that the great work of Christ was “to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18), to bring God and man together. So the apostle says in Hebrews 10:19-20 that we may “enter the Most Holy Place by … a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body.” This is an allusion to the Temple, where the curtain hid God’s glory. Christ is the true Jacob’s ladder (see John 1:51), the bottom of which touches the earth—there is his humanity, and the top of which reaches heaven—there is his divinity. So we may climb this ladder and have communion with God. As a Father said, “Climbing up in hope by the manhood of Christ, we have access to the Godhead.”

    Second, justice and mercy must be brought together. We want mercy and fear justice; guilt makes the spirit tremble, because we do not know how to redeem our souls out of the hands of angry justice. The heathen were under this bondage of the divine justice: “those who do such things deserve death” (Romans 1:32). So how can we appease angry justice and redeem our souls from this fear? You know the question in Micah 6:6-7, “With what shall I come before the Lord?” The heathen, in their blindness, tried to placate the Godhead by meritorious acts, either by costly sacrifices (“ten thousand rivers of oil”) or by torturing themselves as Baal’s priests who gashed themselves. In the Gospel, “love and faithfulness meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other,” as it says in Psalm 85:10. Justice, which terrifies the world, in Christ is made our friend and the chief ground of our hope and support; as 1 John 1:9 says, the Lord “is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins.” One would have thought “faithful and gracious” a more proper term than “faithful and just,” since pardon is an act of free grace. But justice is satisfied in Christ; so it does not detract from his righteousness to dispense a pardon. So the crown of glory is called “the crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:8).

    Many Scriptures teach that all the comfort and hope of a Christian hangs on God’s righteousness. If you believe the apostle Paul, you will see that God’s great purpose in appointing Christ, rather than any other Redeemer, was to show himself just in pardoning, so that he might be kind to sinners without damaging his righteousness. In short, justice is satisfied and mercy has the freer course. Listen to what the apostle says in Romans 3:25-26, “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice.” And in case we should miss the emphatic word, he repeats it: “to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies the man who has faith in Jesus.” So in justification, where grace is most free, God makes his righteousness shine, having received satisfaction from Christ.

    Third, comfort and duty are brought together. The end of all religion is that the soul may be quiet in itself and obedient to that which is supposed to be God. How shall we combine duty with comfort? Conscience cannot be stifled with loose principles. The heathen could not be quiet, and therefore when their reason was disturbed with sensual desires that they could not bridle they became violent. They plucked out their eyes because they could not look at a woman without lusting after her. And we who have the light of Christianity know how much more we cannot have comfort without duty. Although true peace of conscience is founded on Christ’s satisfaction, yet it is found only in his service: “Come to me … and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28); but verse 29 says, “Take my yoke upon you … and you will find rest for your souls.” As we must come to Christ for comfort, so we must remain under his discipline. See how wonderfully this is provided for in the Gospel. There is the power of the Spirit against weaknesses, and merit against failings, so that duty is provided for as well as comfort. You need not despair about weaknesses, as you have the help of a mighty Spirit. In short, when you have the greatest thoughts about duty, you may have the sweetest hopes of comfort and can say with David, “I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands” (Psalm 119:6).

    Note6. God’s children are his firstfruits. The word hints at two things—their dignity and their duty. These two considerations will show the meaning of the apostle’s expression.

    (1)      It notes the dignity of the people of God in two ways. One is that they are “a people that are his very own” (Titus 2:14), the people God looks after. The world’s people are his goods, but you are his treasure. Firstfruits is emphatic. Others are only his creatures, but you are his firstfruits. He delights to be called your God: “Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 144:15). He is Lord of all, but he is your God. What a wonderful example this is of God’s love for us, that he should reckon us as his firstfruits!

    The other way is that they are a large proportion of the world. The firstfruits were offered for the blessing of all the rest: “Honor the Lord with … the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine” (Proverbs 3:9-10). It is the same here with the children of God. These are the firstfruits that God takes in place of a whole nation, to convey a blessing on the rest.

    (2)      It hints at duty as, first, thankfulness in all their lives. Firstfruits were dedicated to God as a sign of thankfulness. Cain was implicitly branded for ingratitude because he did not offer the firstfruits. You who are God’s firstfruits should live a life of love and praise, aware of his mercy. The apostle says the mercies of God should persuade us to offer ourselves “as living sacrifices” (Romans 12:1). Now, under the Gospel, there are no sin offerings; they are all thank offerings. So then, give yourselves up in spiritual worship. It is only reasonable that when God has given us life we should be his firstfruits. The motive for obedience under the Gospel is not fear but gratitude. “… to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear” (Luke 1:74). Your lives should show that you are firstfruits, yielded to God as a testimony of gratitude.

    Second, this indicates holiness. The firstfruits were holy to the Lord. God’s part must be holy; and therefore firstfruits that were in themselves an abomination, such as the firstborn of a dog or ass, were not to be offered to God—they were redeemed with money. God can brook no unclean thing. Sins in you are far more upsetting to God’s Spirit than to other people. Jeremiah 32:30 says, “The people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth.” The Septuagint reads, “they alone [or, they only] have been sinners before me,” as if God did not take notice of the sins of other nations.

    Third, this indicates consecration. Your time, energy, and concerns are all the Lord’s. You cannot do with them as you please, but only what makes for the Lord’s glory. You are not firstfruits when you seek your own things. You are not to live in your own ways, nor for your own ends.

    Firstfruits were handed over to God, and the owner had no rights over them. So then:

    a.      You are not to walk in your own ways; your desires and wills are not to guide you—only God’s will is to guide you. “There is a way,” says Solomon, “that seems right to a man” (Proverbs 16:25); a corrupt mind looks on it as a good way, and a corrupt will is ready to follow it. So the prophet Isaiah says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). Remember to study the mind and will of God. Your own ideas will seduce you, and your own affections will betray you.

    b.      Do not live for yourself: “Those who live should live no longer for themselves,” for their own pleasure, profit, or honor (2 Corinthians 5:15). We have no rights over ourselves; everything is given up to God. All pleasures or honors are refused or received depending on how they can be used to the glory of God.