02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 15

James 1:15. Then, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Then, when lust, εἴτα δὲ.—After this he goeth on in describing the progress of sin: after that lust had by violence withdrawn, and by delight ensnared, the soul, then sin is conceived; and after conception, there is a bringing forth; and after the birth, death.

Hath conceived; that is, as soon as sin beginneth to form motions and impulses into desires, and to ripen things into a consent; for sin, or corrupt nature, having inclined the soul unto a carnal object by carnal apprehensions, laboureth to fix the soul in an evil desire. Now the titillation or delight which ariseth from such carnal thoughts and apprehensions is called the conception of sin.

It bringeth forth; that is, perfecteth sin, and bringeth it to effect within us, by a full consent and decree in the will; and without us, by an actual execution. The one is the forming and cherishing in the womb after conception; the other, as the birth and production.

Sin; that is, actual sin; for the Papists go beside the scope when they infer hence that lust without consent is not truly sin. Our Saviour saith plainly, that the first titillations are sinful: Matthew 5:28, ‘Whoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.’ Though there be but such an imperfect consent as is occasioned by a glancing thought, it is adultery. But you will say, How is this place to be reconciled with that of Paul, Romans 7:8, where he saith, ‘Sin wrought in him all manner of lust;’ and here it is said, ‘Lust bringeth forth sin.’ I answer—By sin Paul understandeth that which James calleth here lust, that is, evil nature, or the wicked bent of the spirit; and by lust, the actual excitation of evil nature: but by sin James understandeth the actual formation and accomplishment of those imperfect desires that are in the soul. And sin, when it is finished; that is, actually accomplished, and by frequent acts strengthened, and settled into a habit. But why doth the apostle say, ‘When it is finished’? Are all the rest venial—all corrupt motions till sin be drawn either to a full consent, or an actual accomplishment, or a perfect habit. I answer—(1.) The apostle doth not distinguish between sin and sin, but speaketh of the entire course and method of the same sin, of the whole flux and order, and so rather showeth what death and hell followeth, than how it is deserved. Every sin is mortal in its own nature, and bindeth over the sinner to death and punishment; but usually men consummate and perfect sin ere it lighteth upon them. (2.) Death may be applied as the common fruit to every degree in this series, to the conception as well as the production, and to the production as well as the consummation of it. The grandfather and great-grandfather have an interest in the child, as well as the immediate parent; and death is a brat that may be laid, not only at sin’s door, but lust’s. (3.) It is good to note that James speaketh here according to the appearance of things to men. When lust bringeth forth, and the birth and conceptions of the soul are perfected into a scandalous gross sin, men are sensible of the danger and merit of it.

Bringeth forth; that is, bindeth the soul over to it; for in this succession there is a difference: lust is the mother of sin, but sin is the merit of death; and so Cajetan glosseth well, generat meritoriè, it bringeth forth, as the work yieldeth the wages.

Death. It is but a modest word for damnation; the first and second death are both implied: for as the apostle showeth the supreme cause of sin, which is lust; so the last and utmost result of it, which is death; not only that which is temporal, for then the series would not be perfect, but that other death, which we are always dying, and is called death, because life is neither desired, nor can it properly be said to be enjoyed. Vivere nolunt, mori nesciuntè—they would not live, and cannot die. The notes are these:—

Obs. 1. That sin encroacheth upon the spirit by degrees; the apostle goeth on with the pedigree of it. Lust begetteth strong and vigorous motions, or pleasing and delightful thoughts, which draw the mind to a full and clear consent; and then sin is hatched, and then disclosed, and then strengthened, and then the person is destroyed. To open the process or successive inclination of the soul to sin, it will not be amiss to give the whole traverse of any practical matter in the soul. There is first ὄρεξις, which is nothing but the irritation of the object, provoking the soul to look after it; then there is ὅρμη, a motion of the sensitive appetite, or lower soul, which, receiving things by the fancy, representeth them as a sensual good; and so a man inclineth to them, according as they are more or less pleasant to the senses; and then the understanding cometh to apprehend them, and the will inclineth, at least so far as to move the understanding to look more after them, and to advise about some likely means to accomplish and effect them, which is called βούλησις, consultation; and when the understanding hath consulted upon the motion of the will, there followeth βούλη, a decree of the will about it, and then αἵρεσις, the actual choice of the thing, and then βούλημα, a perfect desire, and then action. And so sin is represented by the fancy to the appetite; and then fancy, being a friend, blindeth the understanding, and then the soul beginneth to be engaged in the pursuit of it. If this course and method be a little too large for your thoughts, see it contracted in this passage of our apostle. There is concupiscence, or corrupt nature, then lust, or some inclinations of the soul to close with sin, then delight, then full consent, and then action, and then death. David observeth somewhat a like progress: Psalms 1:1, ‘Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.’ Sin is never at a stay: first, ungodly, then sinners, then scorners; first, counsels, then way, then seat; and again, first, walk, then stand, then sit. You see distinctly there three different terms for the persons, the objects, the actions: first, men like wickedness, then they walk in it, then are habituated: first, men are withdrawn into a way of sin, then confirmed, then profess it. To do anything that the Lord hateth, is to ‘walk in the counsels of the ungodly;’ to go on with delight, is to ‘stand in the way of sinners;’ to harden our hearts against checks of conscience and reproofs, is to commence into the highest degree, and to ‘sit,’ as it is there expressed, ‘in the seat of scorners;’ or, as it is in the Septuagint, τῶν λοιμῶν, to affect the honour of the chair of pestilence. Thus you see men go on from assent to delight, from delight to obduracy.

Use 1. Oh that we were wise, then, to rise against sin betimes! That we would ‘take the little foxes,’ Song of Solomon 2:15; even the first appearances of corruption! That we would ‘dash Babylon’s brats against the stone!’ Psalms 137:1-9. Hugo’s gloss is pious, though not so suitable to the scope of that place: sit nihil in te Bdbylonicum—the least of Babylon must be checked; not only the grown men, but dash the little ones against the stone. A Christian’s life should be spent in watching lust. The debates of the soul are quick, and soon ended, and, without the mercy of God, that may be done in little more than an instant that may undo us for ever. It is dangerous to ‘give place to Satan,’ Ephesians 4:27. The devil will draw us from motions to action, and from thence to reiteration, till our hearts be habituated and hardened within us: Ecclesiastes 10:13, ‘The beginning of a foolish man’s speech is foolishness, but the latter end is foolish madness.’ From folly they go on to downright passion. Small breaches in a sea-bank occasion the ruin of the whole, if not timely repaired. Sin gaineth upon us by insensible degrees, and those that are once in Satan’s snare are soon taken by him at his will and pleasure.

Use 2. It reproveth them that boldly adventure upon a sin because of the smallness of it; besides, the offence done to God, in standing with him for a trifle, as the ‘selling of the righteous’ is aggravated in the prophet by the little advantage, ‘for a pair of shoes.’ Consider the danger to yourselves. Great faults do not only ruin the soul, but lesser; dallying with temptations is of a sad consequence. Cæsar was killed with bodkins. Look, as it is murder to stifle an infant in the womb, so it is spiritual murder to suppress and choke the conceptions of the Spirit;¹ but, on the other side, it is but a necessary rigour to dash Babylon’s brats, and to suppress sin in the conception and growth, ere it be ripened and perfected. We are so far to abhor sin as to beware of the remote tendencies; yea, to avoid ‘the occasions of it,’ 1 Thessalonians 5:22. If it be but malè coloratum, as Bernard glosseth, of an ill look and complexion, it is good to stand at a distance.

¹ ‘Homicidii festinatio est prohibere nasci; etiam conceptum utero dum adhuc sanguis in hominem delibatur dissolvere non licet, nec refert natura natam quis eripiat animam an nascentem disturbet.’—Tertul. in Apol.

Obs. 2. Lust is fully conceived and formed in the soul, when the will is drawn to consent; the decree in the will is the ground of all practice. Look, as duties come off kindly when once there is a decree in the will: Psalms 32:5, ‘I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord.’ David had gotten his will to consent to acts of repentance, and then he could no longer keep silence: so, on the other side, all acts of sin are founded in the fixed choice and resolution of the will. ‘I will pursue, I will overtake,’ said mad Pharaoh, Exodus 15:9; and that engaged him in acts of violence. Now this decree of the will is most dangerous in the general choice of our way and course; for as religion lieth in the settled resolution of the soul, when we make it our work and business, as Barnabas exhorted the new converts, ‘that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord,’ Acts 11:23, τῇ προθέσι τῆς καρδίας, that they would resolvedly decree for God in the will; so, when the apostle speaketh of his holy manner of life, he calleth it προθέσιν, his purpose, 2 Timothy 3:10. So also the state of sin lieth in a worldly or carnal choice; as the apostle saith, 1 Timothy 6:9, ‘He that will be rich;’ that is, that hath decreed and fixed a resolution in his soul to make it his only study and care to grow rich and get an estate, he is altogether carnal. A child of God may be overborne, but usually he doth not fix his will: Romans 7:16, ‘I do that which I would not;’ or, if his will be set, yet there is not a full consent, for there will be continual dislikes from the new nature. I confess sometimes, as there is too much of deliberation and counsel in the sins of God’s children (as you know David’s sin was a continued series and plot), so too much of resolution and the will; but this is in acts of sin, not in the course and state; their manner of life and purpose is godly. Well, then, if lust hath insinuated into your thoughts, labour to keep it from a decree, and gaining the consent of the will. Sins are the more heinous as they are the more resolved and voluntary.

Obs. 3. What is conceived in the heart is usually brought forth in the life and conversation. ‘Lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin.’ That is the reason why the apostle Peter directeth a Christian to spend the first care about the heart: 1 Peter 2:11-12, ‘Abstain from fleshly lusts,’ and then ‘have your conversations honest.’ As long as there is lust in the heart, there will be no cleanness in the conversation; as worms in wood will at length cause the rottenness to appear. How soon do lusts bewray themselves! Pride runneth into the eyes, therefore we read of ‘haughty eyes,’ Proverbs 6:17, or into the feet, causing a strutting gait or gesture. A wanton mind peepeth out through wanton eyes and a gazing look. A garish, frothy spirit bewrayeth itself in the vanity of apparel, and a filthy heart in the rottenness of communication; the eyes, the feet, the tongue, the life do easily bewray what is seated in the heart. Momus, in the fable, quarrelled with God for not making a window at every man’s breast, that others might see what was in it. There needeth no such discovery. Time showeth what births there are in the womb; so will the life what lusts are conceived and fostered in the heart, for lust delighteth to bring forth. Well, then:—

1. Learn that hypocrites cannot always be hidden, disguises will fall off. Men flatter themselves in their hidden sins, but they will be ‘found hateful,’ Psalms 36:2; that is, scandalous and inconvenient. God hath peremptorily determined that ‘their wickedness shall be showed before the comgregation,’ Proverbs 26:26. Some misbehaviour will bring it to light; art and fiction is not durable. The apostle saith, 1 Timothy 5:25, ‘They that are otherwise cannot be hidden;’ that is, otherwise than good.

2. Learn the danger of neglecting lusts and thoughts. If these be not suppressed, they will ripen into sins and acts of filthiness. While we are negligent and our care is intermitted, the business of sin thriveth and goeth on. Allowed thoughts bring the mind and the temptation together. David mused on Bathsheba’s beauty, and so was all on fire. It is ill dallying with thoughts.

3. Learn what a mercy it is to be hindered of our evil intentions, that sinful conceptions are still-born, and when we wanted no lust we should want an occasion. Mere restraints are a blessing. We are not so evil as otherwise we would be. Lust would bring forth. God would have Abimelech to acknowledge mercy in a restraint: Genesis 20:6, ‘I withheld thee from sinning against her.’ David blessed God that the rash executions of his rage were prevented: ‘Blessed be the God of Israel, which sent thee to meet me this day,’ 1 Samuel 25:32. God smote Paul from his horse, and so took him off from persecution, when his heart boiled with rancour and malice against the saints, Acts 9. Oh! take notice of such instances when your way of sin hath been hedged up by providence, Hosea 2:6; and though lusts be not checked, yet the execution is disappointed: you were mad, and should have gone on furiously, but that God ‘fenced up your way with thorns.’

Obs. 4. That the result and last effect of sin is death; so the apostle Paul, Romans 6:21, ‘The end of these things is death.’ It cometh with a pleasing and delightful sweetness, promising nothing but satisfaction and contentment, but the end is death. So Ezekiel 18:4, ‘The soul that sinneth it shall die.’ It is an express law that brooketh only the exception of free grace; it shall die temporally, die eternally. This is a principle impressed upon nature; the very heathens were sensible of it: Romans 1:32, ‘Knowing that they which commit such things are worthy of death.’ Mark, the apostle saith the heathens knew it. Conscience, being sensible of the wrong done to the godhead, could fear nothing less from angry justice. Draco, the rigid law-giver, being asked why, when sins were equal,² he appointed death to all? answered, He knew that sins were not all equal, but he knew the least deserved death. This was that that made the heathens at such a loss for a satisfaction to divine justice, because they could find none sufficient to redeem their guilty souls from the dread of death; and therefore the first effect of the blood of Christ upon the conscience is ‘purging from dead works,’ Hebrews 9:14; that is, from that sentence of death which the conscience receiveth by reason of our works. The Papists on this point, worse than the heathen, hold some sins venial in their own nature. It is true, it is said, 1 John 5:17, ‘There is a sin not unto death;’ but that place speaketh of the event, not the merit; words, evil thoughts, the least sins, deserve death. Do not think God will be³ so extreme. If you have no better plea, that will be a sorry refuge in the day of wrath. David a Mauden,⁴ a learned Papist, saith, Those sins are only to be counted mortal—(1.) Which are said to be an abomination to God, and hated by him, in scripture; (2.) To which a Vœ, or woe, is expressly denounced; or (3.), Are distinctly said to be worthy of eternal death; or (4.) To exclude and shut out from the kingdom of heaven; or (5.) Such as by the law of nature are directly repugnant to the love of God or our neighbour. But, alas! all this is to be wise without the word. It is true God hath expressly declared more of his displeasure against these sins than others, and therefore we are more bound and engaged to avoid them, but they are all mortal in their merit.

² Qu. ‘Not equal’? ED.

³ Qu. ‘Will not be’? ED.

⁴ David a Mauden in Prefat. Comment, in Decalog.

Use 1. It teacheth us how to stop the violence of lust; this will be death and damnation. Oh! consider it, and set it as a flaming sword in the way of your carnal delights. Observe now wisely God hath ordered it, much of sin is pleasant; ay! but there is death in the pot, and so fear may counterbalance delight. Another part of sin is serious, as worldliness, in which there is no gross act, and so there being nothing foul to work upon shame, there is something dreadful to work upon fear. Well, then, awaken the soul; consider what Wisdom saith, Proverbs 8:36, ‘He that farsaketh me loveth death.’ It is against nature for a creature to love its own death; an natural motions are for self-preservation. Oh! why then should I satisfy my flesh to endanger my soul? God himself puts on a passion, and reasoneth thus with us, Ezekiel 33:11, ‘Why will ye die, O house of Israel?’ Why will you wilfully throw away your own souls? Why will ye for a superfluous cup adventure to drink a cup of wrath unmixed? For a little estate in the world make hell your portion? It is sweet for the present, but it will be death. Sin’s best are s0on spent, the worst is always behind.

Use 2. It showeth what reason we have to mortify sin lest it mortify us; no sins are mortal but such as are not mortified; either sin must die, or the sinner. The life of sin and the life of a sinner are like two buckets in a well—if the one goeth up the other must come down. When sin liveth the sinner must die. There is an evil in sin and an evil after sin. The evil in sin is the violation of God’s law, and the evil after sin is the just punishment of it. Now, those that are not sensible of the evil in sin shall be sensible of the evil after sin. To the regenerate person, all God’s dispensations are to save the person and destroy the sin, Psalms 99:8, ‘Thou wast a God that forgavest them, and tookest vengeance of their inventions.’ God spared the sinner and took vengeance on the sin; but the unmortified person spareth his sins, and his life goeth for it; as the apostle Paul speaketh of himself when the power of the word came first upon him, Romans 7:9, ‘Sin revived and I died.’ Sin was exasperated, and he felt nothing but terror and condemnation. Oh! then, consider it is better sin should be condemned than you should be condemned; as the apostle speaketh of the condemnation of sin, Romans 8:3, ‘For sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;’ that is, Christ being made a sacrifice for sin, sin was condemned to save the sinner. Reason thus within yourselves: It is better sin should die than I should die: ‘Thy life goes for its life,’ as it is in the prophet’s parable, 1 Kings 20:39; therefore let me destroy my sin, that my soul may escape.

Use 3. Bless God that hath delivered you out of a sinful state; your soul hath escaped a snare of death. Oh! never look back upon Sodom but with detestation; bless God that you are escaped: ‘Blessed be the Lord that gave me counsel in my reins,’ Psalms 16:7. I might have been Satan’s bond-slave, lust’s vassal, and have earned no other wages but my own death, but he hath called me to life and peace. Conversion is onewhere expressed by a ‘calling out of darkness into a marvellous light,’ that is much; but in another, by a ‘translating from death to life,’ that is more. It is no less a change than from death to life. I might have wasted away my days in pleasure and vanity, and afterwards gone to hell. ‘Oh! blessed be the name of God for evermore, that hath delivered me from so great a death!’