In this verse James proceeds to give an example of what he means when he says that the Law must be considered a unity, an indivisible whole. The individual commandments are all part of the unified whole, reflecting the will of one and the same God. Therefore no matter which commandment is broken, God’s will is violated.

For …: the particle indicates that James is continuing his explanation. It is causal and therefore may be rendered as “Because….” The construction he who said … said also shows that both commandments came from the same person, thus supporting the unity of the Law explained in the previous verse. The pronoun he refers to God. This may have to be made clearer in some languages; for example, “For the same God who said…” or “The same God who told us…” (Contemporary English Version).

The command Do not commit adultery (Exo 20.14) means basically “do not have intercourse with another man’s wife.” But in the New Testament context a more general term is needed that covers illicit sexual relations between people who are married to someone else; for example, “Do not have intercourse with another person’s spouse.” Most languages have euphemistic ways of talking about adultery: for example, “sleep with another person’s spouse,” “be with…,” “stay and eat with…,” and so on. And in some languages adultery may be translated as “be unfaithful to your spouse.”

Do not kill (Exo 20.13) forbids an Israelite to murder a fellow Jew. Here again a more inclusive rendering is preferable, such as simply “Do not commit murder” (Good News Translation). The expression chosen by translators for the word kill or “murder” should refer to deliberate or premeditated killing that is not condoned by society. So killing in warfare or defending tribal or clan rights, or even executions, should not be included in the term used for “murder.”

What James goes on to say is literally “but if you do not commit adultery, but kill.” The meaning of the argument is clear. In some translations the force of the first “but” is sometimes taken as a “now” (so Goodspeed, New Revised Standard Version), as a form of argument. But it is perhaps best to leave it untranslated. More important, however, is the force of If. It is best taken here in the sense of “Although” or “Even if” (so Good News Translation, New American Bible). The rendering of Good News Bible is the most natural structure in English. In some other languages, however, the order of the clauses in the Greek original, reflected in Revised Standard Version, is more natural; thus “Although you do not commit adultery, if you commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.”

Possible alternative translation models for this verse include:
• For the same God who said, “Do not commit adultery [or, have intercourse] with another person’s spouse,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” So even if you do not commit adultery, but commit murder, you have still disobeyed God’s Law.
• The same God who commanded us to be faithful to our spouses also commanded us not to murder. So even if you are faithful to your spouse, but murder someone, you still have broken God’s Law.

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 .