Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

In my opinion, James in this verse is contrasting God the Father with the movement of heavenly bodies (including the sun and moon) that exhibit differing levels of illumination, or changes in the shadows that they cast, as they "turn" (that is, as their position or appearance in relation to the earth changes).

The Father does not possess this variability. He is the "Father of lights", and is the same from eternity past to eternity future. As such, He is a continuing source of gifts, even to the unjust (as Jesus noted in Matthew 5:45), but especially to those who seek Him and His will through Christ, and to whom He is faithful in keeping His promises.

October 31 2018 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Donald Martin I am one who has been given mercy by our Lord Jesus Christ

In my opinion, "shadow of turning" is an isolated thought process outside of God’s perfect wisdom; it’s a type of wisdom that is chaotic and confusing in and of itself. Compare to the following statement by the Institute for Creation Research: The word “turning” is from the Greek trope. When combined with the Greek for “in” (that is, en), it becomes entrope, which means in the Greek “confusion” or “shame.” We get our English word “entropy” from this source, which thus literally means “in-turning.” In science, any system which “turns in” on itself, without drawing on external sources of energy or information (in other words, a “closed system” will experience an increase of entropy, or disorganization

October 18 2022 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report