νόμος

νόμος — nómos

νόμος, νόμου, ὁ (νέμω to divide, distribute, apportion), in secular authors from Hesiod down, anything established, anything received by usage, a custom, usage, law; in the Sept. very often for תּורָה, also for חֻקָּה, דָּת, etc. In the N. T. a command, law; and

1. of any law whatsoever: διά ποίου νόμου; Rom 3:27; νόμος δικαιοσύνης, a law or rule producing a state approved of God, i. e. by the observance of which we are approved of God, Rom 9:31, cf. Meyer (see Weiss edition), Fritzsche, Philippi at the passage; a precept or injunction: κατά νόμον ἐντολῆς σαρκίνης, Heb 7:16; plural of the things prescribed by the divine will, Heb 8:10; Heb 10:16; νόμος τοῦ νως, the rule of action prescribed by reason, Rom 7:23; the mention of the divine law causes those things even which in opposition to this law impel to action, and therefore seem to have the force of a law, to be designated by the term νόμος, as ἕτερος νόμος ἐν τοῖς μέλεσί μου, a different law from that which God has given, i. e. the impulse to sin inherent in human nature, or ὁ νόμος τῆς ἁμαρτίας (genitive of author), Rom 7:23; Rom 7:25; Rom 8:2, also ὁ νόμος τοῦ θανάτου, emanating from the power of death, Rom 8:2; with which is contrasted ὁ νόμος τοῦ πνεύματος, the impulse to (right) action emanating from the Spirit, ibid.

2. of the Mosaic law, and referring, according to the context, either to the volume of the law or to its contents: with the article, Mat 5:18; Mat 12:5; Mat 22:36; Luk 2:27; Luk 10:26; Luk 16:17; Joh 1:17; Joh 1:45;; Act 6:13; Act 7:53; Act 18:13; Act 18:15; Act 21:20; Act 23:3; Rom 2:13 ((bis) here L T Tr WH omit the article (also G in Rom 2:13 b)), Rom 2:15; Rom 2:18; Rom 2:20; Rom 2:23 b, 26; Rom 4:15 a; Rom 7:1 b, 5, 14, 21 (on the right interpretation of this difficult passage cf. Knapp, Scripta varii Argumenti, ii., p. 385ff and Fritzsche, Commentary to Romans, ii., p. 57; (others take νόμος here generally, equivalent to controlling principle; see 1 above under the end and cf. Winers Grammar, 557 (578); Buttmann, § 151, 15)); Rom 8:3; 1Co 9:8; 1Co 15:56; Gal 3:13; Gal 3:24; Eph 2:15 (on which passage see δόγμα, 2); 1Ti 1:8; Heb 7:19; Heb 7:28; Heb 10:1, etc.; with the addition of Μωϋσέως, Luk 2:22; Joh 7:23; Joh 8:5; Act 13:38 (here L T Tr WH omit the article); Act 15:5; Act 28:23; 1Co 9:9; of κυρίου, Luk 2:39; of τοῦ Θεοῦ, (Mat 15:6 T WH marginal reading); Rom 7:22; Rom 8:7. κατά τόν νόμον, according to the (standard or requirement of the) law, Act 22:12; Heb 7:5; Heb 9:22. νόμος without the article (in the Epistles of Paul and James and the Epistle to the Hebrews; cf. Winers Grammar, p. 123 (117); Buttmann, 89 (78); (some interpreters contend that νόμος without the article denotes not the law of Moses but law viewed as 'a principle', 'abstract and universal'; cf. Lightfoot on Gal 2:19; also Fresh Revision, etc., p. 99; Vaughan on Rom 2:23; especially Van Hengel on Rom 2:12; Gifford in the Speaker's Commentary on Romans, pp. 41ff. (cf. Cremer, under the word). This distinction is contrary to usage (as exhibited e. g. in Wis 18:4; Sir 19:17 Sir 21:11 Sir 31:8 Sir 32:1 Sir. 35:15, 24 (32);,(33); 1Ma 2:21; 4Ma 7:7, and many other examples in the Apocrypha; see Wahl, Clavis Apocrr. under the word, p. 343), and to the context in such Pauline passages as the following: Rom 2:17; Rom 2:25; Rom 2:27; Rom 7:1;; Gal 3:17-18; Gal 3:23-24 (cf. Rom 2:12 and Rom 3:19; Rom 5:13 and Rom 5:14); etc. It should be added, perhaps, that neither the list of passages with the article nor of those without it, as given by Prof. Grimm, claims to be complete)): Rom 2:23 a, 25; Rom 3:31; Rom 4:15 b; Rom 5:13; Rom 7:1 a, 2a; Rom 10:4; Rom 13:10; Gal 3:1-29 :; Gal 5:23; 1Ti 1:9; Heb 7:12, etc.; with the addition of κυρίου, Luk 2:23 (here L has the article), (L T Tr WH add the article); of Θεοῦ, Rom 7:25; of Μωϋσέως, Heb 10:28; especially after prepositions, as διά νόμου, Rom 2:12; Rom 3:20; Gal 2:21; χωρίς νόμου, without the cooperation of the law, Rom 3:21; destitute or ignorant of the law, Rom 7:9; where no law has been promulged, Rom 7:8; οἱ ἐκ νόμου, those who rule their life by the law, Jews, Rom 4:14; Rom 4:16 (here all editions have the article); οἱ ἐν νόμῳ, who are in the power of the law, i. e. bound to it, Rom 3:19 (but all texts here ἐν τῷ νόμῳ); ὑπό νόμον, under dominion of the law, Rom 6:14; Gal 3:23; Gal 4:4; Gal 4:21; Gal 5:18; οἱ ὑπό νόμον, 1Co 9:20; δικαιοῦσθαι ἐν νόμῳ, Gal 5:4; ἔργα νόμου (see ἔργον, under the end); ἐν νόμῳ ἁμαρτάνειν, under law, i. e. with knowledge of the law, Rom 2:12 (equivalent to ἔχοντες νόμον, cf. Rom 2:14); they to whom the Mosaic law has not been made known are said νόμον μή ἔχειν, ibid. 14; ἑαυτοῖς εἰσί νόμος, their natural knowledge of right takes the place of the Mosaic law, ibid.; νόμος ἔργων, the law demanding works, Rom 3:27; διά νόμου νόμῳ ἀπέθανον, by the law itself (when I became convinced that by keeping it I could not attain to salvation, cf. Rom 7:9-24) I became utterly estranged from the law, Gal 2:19 (cf. Winers Grammar, 210 (197); Buttmann, § 133,12). κατά νόμον, as respects the interpretation and observance of the law, Php 3:5. The observance of the law is designated by the following phrases: πληροῦν νόμον, Rom 13:8; τόν νόμον Gal 5:14; πληροῦν τό δικαίωμα τοῦ νόμου, Rom 8:4; φυλάσσειν (τόν) νόμον, Act 21:24; Gal 6:13; τά δικαιώματα τοῦ νόμου, Rom 2:26; πράσσειν νόμον, Rom 2:25; ποιεῖν τόν νόμον, Joh 7:19; Gal 5:3; τηρεῖν, Act 15:5; Act 15:24 (Rec.); Jas 2:10; τέλειν, Rom 2:27 (cf. Jas 2:8); (on the other hand, ἀκυρουν τόν νόμον Mat 15:6 T WH marginal reading). ὁ νόμος is used of some particular ordinance of the Mosaic law in Joh 19:7; Jas 2:8; with a genitive of the object added, τοῦ ἀνδρός, the law enacted respecting the husband, i. e. binding the wife to her husband, Rom 7:2 where Rec.elz omit τοῦ νόμου (so ὁ νόμος τοῦ πάσχα, Num 9:12; τοῦ λεπροῦ, Lev 14:2; other examples are given in Fritzsche, Ep. ad Romans, ii., p. 9; cf. Winer's Grammar, § 30, 2 β.). Although the Jews did not make a distinction as we do between the moral, the ceremonial; the civil, precepts of the law, but thought that all should be honored and kept with the same conscientious and pious regard, yet in the N. T. not infrequently the law is so referred to as to show that the speaker or writer has his eye on the ethical part of it alone, as of primary importance and among Christians also of perpetual validity, but does not care for the ceremonial and civil portions, as being written for Jews alone: thus in Gal 5:14; Rom 13:8; Rom 13:10; Rom 2:26; Rom 7:21; Rom 7:25; Mat 5:18, and often; τά τοῦ νόμου, the precepts, moral requirements, of the law, Rom 2:14. In the Epistle of James νόμος (without the article) designates only the ethical portion of the Mosaic law, confirmed by the authority of the Christian religion: Rom 2:9-11; Rom 4:11; in the Epistle to the Hebrew, on the other hand, the ceremonial part of the law is the prominent idea.

3. of the Christian religion: νόμος πίστεως, the law demanding faith, Rom 3:27; τοῦ Χριστοῦ, the moral instruction given by Christ, especially the precept concerning love, Gal 6:2; τῆς ἐλευθερίας (see ἐλευθερία, a.), Jas 1:25; Jas 2:12; cf. ὁ καινός νόμος τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἄνευ ζυγοῦ ἀνάγκης ὤν, the Epistle of Barnabas 2, 6 [ET] (see Harnack's note, in the place cited).

4. by metonymy ὁ νόμος, the name of the more important part (i. e. the Pentateuch), is put for the entire collection of the sacred books of the O. T.: Joh 7:49; Joh 10:34 (Psa 81:6 ); Joh 12:34 (Psa 109:4; (Theod.) Dan 2:44; Dan 7:14); Joh 15:25 (Psa 34:19; ); Rom 3:19; 1Co 14:21 (Isa 28:11 f; so 2Ma 2:18, where cf. Grimm); ὁ νόμος καί οἱ προφῆται, Mat 11:13; Joh 1:46; Act 13:15; Act 24:14; Act 28:23; Rom 3:21 (2Ma 15:9); equivalent to the system of morals taught in the O. T., Mat 5:17; Mat 7:12; Mat 22:40; ὁ νόμος (οἱ) προφῆται καί ψαλμοί, the religious dispensation contained in the O. T., Luk 24:44 (ὁ νόμος, οἱ προφῆται καί τά ἀλλά πατριά βιβλία, proleg. to Sir.). Paul's doctrine concerning ὁ νόμος is exhibited by (besides others) Weiss, Biblical Theol. §§ 71, 72; Pfleiderer, Paulinismus, pp. 69f. (English translation, i., p. 68f; A. Zahn, Das Gesetz Gottes nach d. Lehre u. Erfahrung d. Apestel Paulus, Halle 1876; R. Tiling, Die Paulinische Lehre vom νόμος nach d. vier Hauptbriefen, as above with Dorpat, 1878). νόμος does not occur in the following N. T. books: 2 Corinthians, Colossians, Thessalonians, 2 Timothy, Peter, Jude, John, and Revelation.