King James Bible
"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."
James identifies both commandments as coming from the same divine source—God who gave the law at Sinai. This establishes the unity and equal authority of all God's commands, countering any attempt to pick and choose which laws to follow. James presents a hypothetical scenario where someone obeys one commandment while violating another. This illustrates the fallacy of selective obedience, particularly relevant to his audience who may have been showing partiality while claiming to keep the law. Breaking even one commandment makes one guilty of lawbreaking in general, not just of a specific violation. This reinforces James's argument that the law is an indivisible whole—one cannot claim righteousness through partial obedience.