James 1:18
James 1:18 (see also John 15:16)
In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.
Question: He brought “us” forth. Who is the “us”?
Answer: The letter is addressed to “the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad” (v.1) and references the “testing of your faith.” (v.3) So when James talks about “us” being brought forth, for the purpose of being “a kind of first fruits among His creatures” (v.18), a plain reading suggests that it is an inclusive “us” as Christians. There would be after-fruits, namely, second fruits, third fruits, and on and on, but these are the “first” of such. This leaves the impression that this is speaking of those comprising of the beginning of Christian movement, which is to spread to the “other sheep” that Jesus spoke about at John 10:16, namely, the Gentile world. The “exercise of His will” seems to imply the Holy Spirit’s organization of the body of Christ for what is coming, and that the power of the Gospel, in terms of the power of the Jesus’ testimony, is what is behind the coming world-shaking movement.
But what if all of this was wrong? What if, instead, you presupposed that God created an eternally chosen elect-caste, in contrast to a non-elect-caste, and by “us,” James really had in mind the elect-caste, so that by an “exercise of His will,” James was referring to God’s will for an Irresistible Grace to be given to those of the elect-caste, who were otherwise suffering from a universal case of total depravity, so that by such Irresistible Grace, they would receive the necessary regeneration to overcome said depravity, through which, they could then become the first fruits among the elect-caste to come forth as such?
I would say that such an interpretation is absent from the overall message by James. In fact, it sounds like the words of a cultist, simply seizing upon words and expressions in a given passage, in order to force a particular theology down one’s throat. But that’s what Calvinists must do throughout Scripture. Calvinists contend that a basic understanding of Calvinism, or at least its early forms, was already so well understood, and already such a “given,” that apostles like James didn’t even need to elaborate upon his words, and that such expressions drew upon common knowledge concerning the fundamentals of Calvinism. Consider something similar that Calvinist, James White, had stated concerning Acts 13:48, in terms of a similar expression that Calvinists seize upon and really run with:
Calvinist, James White: “Acts 13:48 shows us how much of a ‘given’ God’s sovereign work of election was to the apostles. Luke did not have to expand the thought or explain the meaning: The person who understands the power of sin that binds the unregenerate heart knows well the necessity of God’s work to ‘open the heart’ and ‘draw’ one to Christ.” (Debating Calvinism, p.381, emphasis mine)
You could insert this thought at just about every Calvinist “proof-text” there is, which is why being a Calvinist in good consience is so biblically challenging. There are just too many assumptions that need to be made, and with too many underlying presuppositions necessary in order to hold on to Calvinism.
John Calvin: “The passage also shows how our election, before the foundation of the world, was an act of freedom; and so we are brought to the light of the knowledge of the truth by the sheer grace of God, and our vocation matches our election. Scripture teaches us (Eph. 1:4-5) that we were freely adopted by God before we were born. James goes some degree further, showing that we hold the right of adoption because God also freely calls us.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries, Matthew, Mark and Luke, Vol. III, James and Jude, p.270, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “Bringing forth has the sense that we are made new men, to throw off our old nature, when we are effectually called by God. He also says how God regenerates us, which is, by the Word of truth, to teach us that we have no other access to the Kingdom of God.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries, Matthew, Mark and Luke, Vol. III, James and Jude, p.270, emphasis mine)
By “effectually called by God,” Calvin means Irresistible Grace by means of a pre-emptive Regeneration. You can clearly see that John Calvin is dragging a lot of theological baggage into this passage.
