James 2:11

11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,”^[a] also said, “You shall not murder.”^[b] If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

James 2:11 in Other Translations

11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

11 For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

11 For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.” So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law.

11 The same God who said, "Don't commit adultery," also said, "Don't murder." If you don't commit adultery but go ahead and murder, do you think your non-adultery will cancel out your murder? No, you're a murderer, period.

11 For He who said, Do not commit adultery , also said, Do not murder. So if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you are a lawbreaker.

James 2:11 Meaning and Commentary

James 2:11

For he that said, Do not commit adultery
That same lawgiver, who is but one, and is God, that gave out the seventh command, and forbids adultery,

said also, Do not kill;
delivered the sixth command, which forbids murder.

Now if thou commit no adultery;
do not break the seventh command;

yet if thou kill,
break the sixth command,

thou art become a transgressor of the law;
not of that particular precept of the law, the seventh command, for the contrary is supposed before, but of the sixth only; and yet by so doing, a man becomes a violator of the whole law; for the law is but one, though it consists of various precepts; and the breach of one precept, as well as of another, is the breach of the law: and besides, there is but one lawgiver, who has enjoined one command, as well as another, and whose legislative power and authority is despised and trampled upon by the violation of one command, as of another. This is the apostle's argument, and way of reasoning, proving the above assertion, that he that breaks the law in one particular instance, is guilty of the breach of the whole law.

James 2:11 In-Context

9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,

13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18
• 2. Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17

Footnotes

• [a]. Exodus 20:14; Deut. 5:18
• [b]. Exodus 20:13; Deut. 5:17