Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary James 1:15

"Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death." — James 1:15 (ASV)

James changes his figure from a snare to conception and birth to describe the experience of yielding to sin. The genealogy of evil desire is traced for three generations, as it were. First, temptation comes (v.14); then desire, like a human mother, conceives and “gives birth to sin.” Then sin, the child of evil desire, develops till it “is full-grown” and ready to produce its own offspring. When it conceives, it “gives birth to death.” James is not suggesting that only when sin has reached its full development does it result in death. The penalty of sin of any kind or extent is spiritual death. The details of the illustration must not be pressed too far; the author’s intention is simply to trace the results of temptation when one yields to it.