νόμος: Difference between revisions

|txtha=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<br /><b class="num">1.</b> of any law whatsoever: διά ποίου νόμου; νόμος δικαιοσύνης, a law or rule producing a state approved of God, i. e. by the observance of which we are approved of God, a precept or injunction: κατά νόμον ἐντολῆς σαρκίνης, νόμος τοῦ νως, the rule of action prescribed by reason, 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), ὁ νόμος τοῦ θανάτου, emanating from the power of death, ὁ νόμος τοῦ πνεύματος, the impulse to (right) action emanating from the Spirit, ibid.<br /><b class="num">2.</b> of the Mosaic law, and referring, according to the context, either to the volume of the law or to its contents: with the article, L T Tr WH omit the article (also G in Romans , ii., p. 57; (others take νόμος here generally, equivalent to controlling principle; see 1above under the end and cf. Winer s Grammar, 557 (578); Buttmann, § 151,15)); δόγμα, 2); Μωϋσέως, L T Tr WH omit the article); κυρίου, τοῦ Θεοῦ, (T WH marginal reading); κατά τόν νόμον, according to the (standard or requirement of the) law, νόμος without the article (in the Epistles of Paul and James and the Epistle to the Hebrews; cf. Winer s 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 Fresh Revision, etc., p. 99; Vaughan on Romans , pp. 41ff. (cf. Cremer, under the word). This distinction is contrary to usage (as exhibited e. g. in Galatians 3:; κυρίου, L has the article), L T Tr WH add the article); of Θεοῦ, Μωϋσέως, διά νόμου, χωρίς νόμου, without the cooperation of the law, οἱ ἐκ νόμου, those who rule their life by the law, Jews, οἱ ἐν νόμῳ, who are in the power of the law, i. e. bound to it, ἐν τῷ νόμῳ); ὑπό νόμον, under dominion of the law, οἱ ὑπό νόμον, δικαιοῦσθαι ἐν νόμῳ, ἔργα νόμου (see ἔργον, under the end); ἐν νόμῳ ἁμαρτάνειν, under law, i. e. with knowledge of the law, ἔχοντες νόμον, cf. 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, διά νόμου νόμῳ ἀπέθανον, by the law itself (when I became convinced that by keeping it I could not attain to salvation, cf. Winer s Grammar, 210 (197); Buttmann, § 133,12). κατά νόμον, as respects the interpretation and observance of the law, πληροῦν νόμον, τόν νόμον πληροῦν τό δικαίωμα τοῦ νόμου, φυλάσσειν (τόν) νόμον, τά δικαιώματα τοῦ νόμου, πράσσειν νόμον, ποιεῖν τόν νόμον, τηρεῖν, ); τέλειν, ἀκυρουν τόν νόμον T WH marginal reading). ὁ νόμος is used of some particular ordinance of the Mosaic law in τοῦ ἀνδρός, the law enacted respecting the husband, i. e. binding the wife to her husband, elz omit τοῦ νόμου (so ὁ νόμος τοῦ πάσχα, τοῦ λεπροῦ, 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 τά τοῦ νόμου, the precepts, moral requirements, of the law, νόμος (without the article) designates only the ethical portion of the Mosaic law, confirmed by the authority of the Christian religion: the Christian religion: νόμος πίστεως, the law demanding faith, τοῦ Χριστοῦ, the moral instruction given by Christ, especially the precept concerning love, τῆς ἐλευθερίας (see ἐλευθερία, a.), 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).<br /><b class="num">4.</b> 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.: Theod.) Song of Solomon 2Macc. 2:18, where cf. Grimm); ὁ νόμος καί οἱ προφῆται, ὁ νόμος (οἱ) προφῆται καί ψαλμοί, the religious dispensation contained in the O. T., 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.