PerryDox – BeJustAChristian

The Greek word “nomos” (3551) which is translated usually as “law” occurs 150 times in the NT; 50 of those times in Romans, and 25 in Galatians

 “…We will miss many fine points if we think the Law (of Moses) every time we see the expression ‘the law.’  While the presence or absence of the article (‘the’) does not make for an absolute rule of interpretation, a look at Romans in an interlinear (Greek text with English translation) will show many places where the absence of ‘the’ in Greek makes an important distinction….Both in Romans and in Galatians, where Paul agues against justification on a law basis, we should observe his anarthrous (without ‘the’) use of ‘law.’  We certainly are not justified by ‘the law’ (of Moses), but neither are we justified by ‘law,’ any law.” (Robert F. Turner, Reading Romans, p.5, Florida College Bookstore, Temple Terrace Florida, 1995)

Thayer’s Definition:

1) anything established, anything received by usage, a custom, a law, a command

1a) of any law whatsoever

1a1) a law or rule producing a state approved of God

1a1a) by the observance of which is approved of God

1a2) a precept or injunction

1a3) the rule of action prescribed by reason

1b) of the Mosaic law, and referring, acc. to the context. either to the volume of the law or to its contents

1c) the Christian religion: the law demanding faith, the moral instruction given by Christ, especially the precept concerning love

1d) the name of the more important part (the Pentateuch), is put for the entire collection of the sacred books of the OT

In the following scripture references, if the article is placed within the NASB translation but is not in the Greek, then I have pointed it out.  If the article is translated and is in the Greek then I have not commented.  Likewise if the NASB did not put the article because it is not in the Greek, I likewise left no notation.

Romans 2:12 NASB  For all who have sinned without the [no article in Greek] Law will also perish without the [no article in Greek] Law, and all who have sinned under the [no article in Greek] Law will be judged by the [no article in Greek] Law;

Romans 2:13  NASB  for it is not the hearers of the [no article in Greek] Law who are just before God, but the doers of the [no article in Greek] Law will be justified.

Romans 2:14 NASB  For when Gentiles who do not have the [no article in Greek] Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the [no article in Greek] Law, are a law to themselves,

Romans 2:15 NASB  in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,

Romans 2:18 NASB  and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law,

Romans 2:20  NASB  a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth,

Romans 2:23  NASB  You who boast in the [no article in Greek] Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God?

Romans 2:25  NASB  For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the [no article in Greek] Law; but if you are a transgressor of the [no article in Greek] Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

Romans 2:26  NASB  So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

Romans 2:27 NASB  And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the [no article in Greek] Law?

Romans 3:19 NASB  Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God;

Romans 3:20 NASB  because by the works of the [no article in Greek] Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the [no article in Greek] Law comes the knowledge of sin.

Romans 3:21 NASB  But now apart from the [no article in Greek] Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,

Romans 3:27 NASB  Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.

Romans 3:28 NASB  For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the [no article in Greek] Law.

Romans 3:31 NASB  Do we then nullify the [no article in Greek] Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the [no article in Greek] Law.

Romans 4:13 NASB  For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the [no article in Greek] Law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Romans 4:14 NASB  For if those who are of the [no article in Greek] Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified;

Romans 4:15 NASB  for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.

Romans 4:16 NASB  For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

Romans 5:13 NASB  for until the [no article in Greek] Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

Romans 5:20 NASB  The [no article in Greek] Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

Romans 6:14 NASB  For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 6:15 NASB  What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!

Romans 7:1 NASB  Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the [no article in Greek] law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?

Romans 7:2 NASB  For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.

Romans 7:3 NASB  So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.

Romans 7:4 NASB  Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

Romans 7:5 NASB  For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.

Romans 7:6 NASB  But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

Romans 7:7 NASB  What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the [no article in Greek] Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.”

Romans 7:8 NASB  But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the [no article in Greek] Law sin is dead.

Romans 7:9 NASB  I was once alive apart from the [no article in Greek] Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died;

Romans 7:12 NASB  So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

Romans 7:14 NASB  For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.

Romans 7:16 NASB  But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.

• Second time “law” used is not in Greek –“that it is good” (old NASB)

Romans 7:21 NASB  I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.

• “Principle” (nomos) – article

Romans 7:22 NASB  For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,

Romans 7:23 NASB  but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.

Romans 8:2 NASB  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

Romans 8:3 NASB  For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

Romans 8:4 NASB  so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:7 NASB  because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the [article in Greek] law of God, for it is not even able to do so,

Romans 9:31 NASB  but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.

Romans 9:32 NASB  Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,

• Some versions say “works of law” – no article

Romans 10:4 NASB  For Christ is the end of the [no article in Greek] law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Romans 10:5 NASB  For Moses writes that the man who practices the [article in Greek] righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.

Romans 13:8 NASB  Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the [no article in Greek] law.

Romans 13:10 NASB  Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the [no article in Greek] law.

Tags: Lexicon

This entry was posted by PHall on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 9:28 pm and is filed under Romans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.