James 4:2

'You eagerly desire something which another has and you have not. This unregulated desire may lead to hate and even murder (cp. Ahab, 1 Kings 21), but even so your covetous desires go on; they grow by what they feed on. Still you have not got your desire. Then comes the wholesale murder of unjust war; and yet you are unsatisfied, because you try to get things for yourselves, instead of asking God for them.' The chief difficulty of this passage lies in the words 'ye kill.' It has been argued that the words as they stand are out of place, and that the early Christians of St. James's time could not have been guilty of murder. It has been suggested that the true reading is a word translated 'ye are envious.' But, (1) while a Christian in these first days might not have been guilty of actual murder, he might well have given way to those feelings of hate which lead to murder ('Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer,' 1 John 3:15); and, (2) the Epistle was not meant exclusively for Christian Jews. In the Jewish society of St. James's day murder was frequently the first means by which a man sought to gratify his desires (Mark 15:7; Acts 21:38; Acts 23:14). With a passionate people like the Jews there was always a danger of a sudden attack and murder.