Here are the last four of the Ten Commandments.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:14-17).
Failure to observe the first and last of the Ten Commandments can be seen as the underlying cause for breaking the other eight.
When we violate the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3), we demonstrate that we value other things more than God.
Similarly, when we covet what we don’t have (the tenth commandment), we express a belief that God has not provided us with what we deserve.
Notice how James connects coveting with a violation of the Ten Commandments:
Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?
You want something and do not have it, so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it, so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have because you do not ask.
You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.
Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God (James 4:1-4).
A good way to discover a deeper meaning of a Bible passage is to examine it statement-by-statement.
(1) Problem: Conflicts, disputes, murder, misuse of prayer, and spiritual adultery.
(2) Cause: Cravings, selfish desires, coveting, pleasure-seeking, and friendship with the world.
(3) Root Issue:
- God commanded us to have no other gods before Him. When we crave and covet what God has not seen fit to give us, we reveal that we have another god before God. Most often, it is our own self.
- Coveting is a lack of gratitude. Rather than thanking God for what He has given us, we want something else.
- The world’s system shows us homes that we will never be able to afford. It glamorizes other humans in ways that are unreachable. It turns prayer into self-seeking. It tempts us to extremes like adultery and murder.
Iniquity and Coveting
Rudy Ross connects coveting and iniquity as interconnected components. Iniquity is a twisted inner self that leads to negative behavior.
Jesus provides an excellent example of this dynamic when focusing on the command against adultery.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28).
The Letter of James’ illustrates the problem of coveting and its link to adultery. It speaks to the intense desire for someone who is not your spouse—a coveting that, when unobtained, pushes one to seek personal pleasure regardless.
Rudy frequently references Isaiah 53 to explain how Jesus’s sacrifice allows fallible humans, in all their dimensions, to have their iniquities forgiven. This forgiveness then enables them to live in a right relationship with God.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5-6)
YouTube Video
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 