John Calvin Commentary James 4:2

"Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and covet, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war; ye have not, because ye ask not." — James 4:2 (ASV)

You lust, or covet, and have not. He seems to suggest that the soul of man is insatiable when he indulges wicked lusts; and truly it is so, for whoever allows his sinful propensities to rule uncontrolled will know no end to his lust. If even the world were given to him, he would wish other worlds to be created for him. So it happens that they seek torments that exceed the cruelty of all executioners. For that saying of Horace is true:

The tyrants of Sicily found no torment greater than envy.

Some copies have φονεύετε, “you kill;” but I do not doubt that we ought to read φθονεῖτε, “you envy,” as I have rendered it; for the verb “to kill” in no way suits the context. You fight: he does not mean those wars and fightings which people engage in with drawn swords, but the violent contentions that prevailed among them.

They derived no benefit from contentions of this kind, for he affirms that they received the punishment of their own wickedness. God, indeed, whom they did not acknowledge as the author of blessings, justly disappointed them. For when they contended in ways so unlawful, they sought to be enriched through the favor of Satan rather than through the favor of God.

One by fraud, another by violence, one by calumnies, and all by some evil or wicked arts, strove for happiness. They then sought to be happy, but not through God. It was therefore no wonder that they were frustrated in their efforts, since no success can be expected except through the blessings of God alone.