James 4:2

Ye lust, and have not,....

Not probably in the case of professing Christians of that day in a literal sense, but "kill and envy" (as the Greek for "desire to have" should be translated), that is, harass and oppress through envy [DRUSIUS]. Compare Zec 11:5, "slay"; through envy, hate, and desire to get out of your way, and so are "murderers" in God's eyes [ESTIUS].

MAY these striking words be made profitable to us by the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Man is a creature abounding in needs and ever restless and, therefore, his heart is full of desires. I can hardly imagine a man existing who has not many desires of some kind or another. Man is comparable to the sea anemone with its multitude of tentacles which are always hunting in the water for food; or like certain plants which send out tendrils, seeking after the means of climbing. The poet says, "Man never is, but always wishes to be, blest."

MAY these striking words be made profitable to us by the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Man is a creature abounding in needs and ever restless and, therefore, his heart is full of desires. I can hardly imagine a man existing who has not many desires of some kind or another. Man is comparable to the sea anemone with its multitude of tentacles which are always hunting in the water for food; or like certain plants which send out tendrils, seeking after the means of climbing. The poet says, "Man never is, but always wishes to be, blest." He steers for which he thinks to be his port, but, as yet, he is tossed about on the waves. One of these days he hopes to find his heart's delight and he continues to desire with more, or less, expectancy. This fact appertains both to the worst of men and the best of men. In bad men, desires corrupt into lusts—they long after that which is selfish, sensual and, consequently, evil. The current of their desires sets strongly in a wrong direction. These lusts, in many cases, become extremely intense—they make the man their slave. They domineer over his judgment; they stir him up to violence—he fights and wars—perhaps he literally kills. In God's sight, who counts anger, murder, he does kill often. Such is the strength of his desires that they are commonly called passions. And when these passions are fully excited, then the man, himself, struggles vehemently, so that the kingdom of the devil suffers violence and the violent take it by force! Meanwhile, in gracious men there are also desires. To rob the saints of their desires would be to injure them greatly, for by these they rise out of their lower selves. The desires of the gracious are after the best things—things pure and peaceable, laudable and elevating. They desire God's Glory and, therefore, their desires spring from higher motives than those which inflame the unrenewed mind.

Ye lust, and have not - That is, you wish to have something which you do not now possess, and to which you have no just claim, and this prompts to the effort to obtain it by force. You desire extension of territory, fame, booty, the means of luxurious indulgence, or of magnificence and grandeur, and this leads to contest and bloodshed. These are the causes of wars on the large scale among nations and of the contentions and strifes of individuals. The general reason is, that others have that which we have not, and which we desire to have; and not content with endeavoring to obtain it, if we can, in a peaceful and honest manner, and not willing to content ourselves without its possession, we resolve to secure it by force. Socrates is reported by Plato to have said on the day of his death, “nothing else but the body and its desires cause wars, seditions, and contests of every kind; for all wars arise through the possession of wealth.” Phaedo of Plato, by Taylor, London, 1793, p. 158. The system of wars in general, therefore, has been a system of great robberies, no more honest or honorable than the purposes of the foot-pad, and more dignified only because it involves greater skill and talent. It has been said that “to kill one man makes a murderer, to kill many makes a hero.” So it may be said, that to steal a horse, or to rob a house, makes a man a thief or burglar; to fire a dwelling subjects him to the punishment of arson; but to plunder kingdoms and provinces, and to cause cities, towns, and hamlets to be wrapped in flames, makes an illustrious conqueror, and gives a title to what is deemed a bright page in history. The one enrolls the name among felons, and consigns the perpetrator to the dungeon or the gibbet; the other, accompanied with no more justice, and with the same spirit, sends the name down to future times as immortal. […]