James 4:1-3 From where come wars and fights among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?… If we remember the state of Jewish society, the bands of robber-outlaws, of whom Barabbas was a type, the "four thousand men who were murderers" of Acts 21:38, the bands of zealots and Sicarii who were prominent in the tumults that preceded the final war with Rome, it will not seem so startling that St. James should emphasise his warning by beginning with the words "Ye murder." In such a state of society murder is often the first thing that a man thinks of as a means to gratify his desires, not, as with us, a last resource when other means have failed. (Dean Plumptre.) Parallel Verses KJV: From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? |
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