James goes on now to portray the effect of “evil desire” by borrowing the language of mothering and childbearing: to conceive, to give birth, to become mature, and to give birth (to death). He uses this to warn the readers of the close connection between “evil desire,” “sin,” and “death.”

Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death: the particle Then introduces the result of the temptation arising from “evil desire.” In Greek we have here two pairs of terms, each consisting of a participle and a verb: “having conceived … gives birth; having become mature … gives birth.” This structure is reflected in the rendering of Revised Standard Version. In some languages it will be more natural to render “Then, when evil desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; when sin is full-grown, it brings forth death.” In many languages it will be possible to keep the vivid language of childbirth; but in some languages it will be more natural to say something like the following: “Then, when evil desire has germinated, it hatches sin; when sin is full-grown….”

The metaphor has conceived suggests the union of “evil desire” and the human will, allowing the evil desire to linger on and grow. Sin in this context means, in effect, the result of a person knowingly allowing his will to be led by evil desire in disobedience to the will of God. Gives birth and brings forth have the same meaning in Greek, both being used for producing offspring. They are obviously stylistic variations, not meant to refer to different kinds of giving birth. The final consequence of sin is death. Paul has a similar thought in Rom 7.7-11. Full-grown in certain languages will be rendered as “controls the heart fully.” Death here, as the opposite of “the crown of life” in verse 12, most likely means more than physical death, pointing to the final verdict of God at the Last Judgment. Brings forth death in some languages will be expressed as “causes the person to die.”

Quoted with permission from Loh, I-Jin and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Letter from James. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .