The first argument is that the source of infighting lies in the pursuit of passions. James makes his argument very forcefully and effectively by using rhetorical questions, repeating the interrogative adverb “where … where…,” and arranging the keywords in the first two verses in a chiastic pattern: “wars … fightings … fight … war.”

What causes wars, and what causes fightings among you?: this is a short sentence without a verb in the Greek text, literally “From where wars, and from where fightings among you.” A number of translations take the interrogative adverb in its primary sense of source by supplying the verb “come”; for example, “From whence come…?” (King James Version) or “Where do … come from?” (Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version). It is also possible to take the adverb in the sense of reason by rendering it as “Why do you fight and…?” (Contemporary English Version), or in the sense of cause by translating it as What causes…? as Revised Standard Version and others have done (so Goodspeed, New English Bible, New International Version). This rhetorical question need not be answered, as James will try to provide his own answer later. Another possible way to render this question is to make it a causative, “Why do you fight and…?” (similarly Contemporary English Version), and the following sentence then gives the reason or cause for these aggressive actions.

There are several things to be said about the terms wars and fightings (New Jerusalem Bible “wars and battles”). First, they are often used of military encounters between nations and groups, but they can also be used to describe arguments or conflicts between individuals, families, or groups. Although some scholars do not rule out the possibility of taking these terms literally as referring to physical conflicts, it is more likely that the other sense is intended here. James is simply using the terms metaphorically to describe the conflicts within the Christian community occasioned by internal rivalries and factions (3.13-18).

Secondly, the two words are meant to be a pair of terms that mean the same thing. This is reflected in translating the pair interchangeably; for example, “fightings and quarrels” (similarly Good News Translation, New International Version, Revised English Bible), or “quarrels and conflicts” (New American Standard Bible).

Finally, the word wars will be understood in some languages to mean only military conflicts, and therefore it will be unsuitable in this context. It may be for this reason that many translations choose to render it as “fights” (Good News Translation, New International Version), “conflicts” (New English Bible, New Revised Standard Version), or “feuds” (Barclay, Phillips). The same problem exists for the word fightings. In some languages therefore it is best to use terms that tend more to suggest arguments or feuds between persons; for example, “conflicts and disputes” (New Revised Standard Version, Today’s Chinese Version). The phrase among you is not to be taken in the sense of within individual persons but among members of the community.

Other ways to translate this first sentence are:
• Why do you fight and argue with each other?
• What causes you to fight and quarrel with each other?

In languages that do not normally use rhetorical questions, this may be expressed as:
• There’s a good reason why you fight and quarrel with each other. It’s because of….

Is it not your passions that are at war in your members?: this rhetorical question is expressed in such a way as to expect an affirmative answer. It is possible therefore to restructure the sentence as an emphatic positive statement in languages that do not use a rhetorical question here; for example, “It is your passions that are at war in your members!” (similarly Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) or “It is because you are full of selfish desires that fight to control your body!” (similarly Contemporary English Version). Conflicts in the community come from your passions. The Greek word that Revised Standard Version renders as passions is usually translated as “pleasures” (so American Standard Version) and can have a neutral meaning in Greek, but it is used in the New Testament only in the negative sense of sinful passions or self-indulgent desires. It is used of “the pleasures of life” that choke the good seed (Luke 8.14), “pleasures” that enslave a person (Titus 3.3), and of “pleasure” that revels in daytime (2 Peter 2.13). In this context it may be rendered “lusts” (King James Version), “bodily desires” (New English Bible), “desires for pleasure” (Phillips, Good News Translation), or more generally “selfish desires” (Translator’s New Testament, Contemporary English Version).

James again uses a military metaphor at war to describe the conflict. The verb is in the present tense and so may be rendered as “are constantly fighting” (Good News Translation) or “are always fighting…” (Translator’s New Testament). The phrase in your members may be understood in two ways. The first possibility is to take it as referring to the Christian community, where individuals are “members.” In this case the fighting is between the individual members of the community (so New American Bible). The second possibility is to take it as internal conflict within individuals. Now if we take passions in the sense of bodily desires or desires for pleasure, and if we understand “member” as “part of the body” as in 3.5, 6, then it is consistent to interpret in your members as referring to the personal life of individuals. In this case the fighting is between a person’s different desires. This understanding is reflected in translations like “inside your own selves” (New Jerusalem Bible), “in your bodies” (Revised English Bible), or “within you” (Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version). Either interpretation is possible.

Possible alternative translation models for this verse are:
• What causes you to fight and quarrel with each other? It’s because your own bodily desires are constantly fighting to control your body.
• There’s a good reason why you fight and quarrel with each other. It’s because your own bodily desires….

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 .