James 1:15

'Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.'

'when lust has conceived' -'The will yields to lust and conception takes place' (Robertson p. 18). 'sin occurs following the arousing of sinful desires and the attraction to some tempting lure.' (Kent p. 51)

Point To Note:

Various writers have noted that James seems to place. gap between lust and sin, that the moment an evil thought enters your mind, doesn't mean that you have right then and there sinned. Woods notes, 'James does not affirm that sin sprang into life at the moment desire was experienced…it is impossible to purge our minds of fleeting desires, improper thoughts, and questionable ideas….We must, when such occur, rigidly exclude them, and never harbor and entertain them.' (p. 61) Some have said that while you can't stop evil thoughts from entering your mind, you do have control as to whether or not you will dwell upon those thoughts. Such things must be resisted (2 Timothy 2:22), we must work on having our minds and thoughts in subjection to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5; 1 Peter 4:8).. good illustration is that while you can't stop the birds from flying over your head you can certainly prevent them from building. nest in your hair. All of these are good thoughts. But, we need to warn people that God doesn't tell us what the "time frame" is between lust and sin. In certain situations, it may be very short! And the line between the evil desire and the point of sin might be thin. Jesus pointed out that evil deeds are the result of evil desires (Mark 7:20). And He rebuked people for having or dwelling upon sinful desires (Matthew 5:28; Matthew 5:22). In view of these last two passages. think most would agree that while the initial evil thought might not be viewed as sin,. lust upon which one dwells is sin.

'when sin is accomplished' -'when it has run its course' (Arndt p. 101); 'to perfect, to bring to maturity, to become "full-grown", the full development of sin.' (Vine p. 101) James is not saying that. some sins or sin at. certain level doesn't result in spiritual death. Rather, sin does develop, and again, this process can be very rapid and quick. In Matthew 5:28 we see sin at. certain stage, still within the mind. There is. warning here and that is that sin will grow. Unchecked, lusts will break out into action and evil deeds.

'bringeth forth death' -(Romans 6:16; Romans 6:21; Romans 6:23; 2 Corinthians 7:10; 1 John 5:16; 1 John 5:20). 1. If sin is not repented of, if lustful thoughts are not checked, such will always result in spiritual death! 2. Sin, uncontrolled and unrestrained and allowed to run its natural course will always result in separation from God, and if one dies in that condition, eternal separation from God. Carefully note that this warning was given to Christians! Christians can sin and they can so sin as to forfeit their salvation (James 5:19). James is not teaching that sin separates us from God only when it has done all the damage it can accomplish. Because even evil thoughts can defile. man (Mark 7:20). There is. warning here. If we refuse to check an evil thought which enters our mind---we already know the outcome! We will always pay. high price for being spiritually slack. Carefully note, that people end up separated from God, not because of the sins of others, but because of their own choice in yielding to sin. The good news is that since sin is our fault, it also means that we can do something about it! We can short-circuit the process! (1 Peter 4:8)