Verses¶
Question¶
Does the NT vocabulary systematically distinguish moral law from ceremonial and/or civil law? Map every NT occurrence where Greek law terms are used with identifiable law content.
I. Entole (G1785) -- All NT Occurrences with Verse Text¶
Occurrences Where Identifiable Content = MORAL/DECALOGUE¶
Matthew 5:19 -- "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach [them], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." - Context: Follows Mat 5:17-18 (not come to destroy the law); precedes deepening of commandments 6,7,3,9 in vv.21-48 - Identifiable content: Moral law commands (murder, adultery, oaths, etc.)
Matthew 15:3 -- "But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?" - Context: Pharisees criticize hand-washing traditions; Jesus responds by pointing to 5th commandment - v.4: "For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother" = 5th commandment - v.6: "Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition." - Identifiable content: 5th commandment (Honour father and mother)
Matthew 19:17-19 -- "And he said unto him...if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and [thy] mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." - Identifiable content: Commandments 6, 7, 8, 9, 5 + love summary
Matthew 22:36-40 -- "Master, which [is] the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." - Identifiable content: Summary of Decalogue -- 1st table (love God) and 2nd table (love neighbor)
Mark 7:8-9 -- "For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, [as] the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition." - v.10: "For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother" = 5th commandment - Identifiable content: 5th commandment contrasted with human tradition
Mark 10:19 -- "Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother." - Identifiable content: Commandments 7, 6, 8, 9, (8 expanded), 5
Mark 12:28-31 -- "Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments [is], Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart... And the second [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." - Identifiable content: Decalogue summary (love God, love neighbor)
Luke 18:20 -- "Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother." - Identifiable content: Commandments 7, 6, 8, 9, 5
Luke 23:56 -- "And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment." - Identifiable content: 4th commandment (Sabbath rest)
Romans 7:7-12 -- "What shall we say then? [Is] the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." (v.7) "But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence." (v.8) "For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." (v.9) "And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death." (v.10) "For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me]." (v.11) "Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." (v.12) "Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." (v.13) - Identifiable content: 10th commandment ("Thou shalt not covet") - Entole described as "holy, and just, and good" -- affirming language
Romans 13:9 -- "For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if [there be] any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." - Identifiable content: Commandments 7, 6, 8, 9, 10 + love summary
1 Corinthians 7:19 -- "Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God." - Identifiable content: Entole explicitly distinguished FROM circumcision (a ceremonial rite). Therefore entole here = NOT ceremonial. - Greek: teresis entolon Theou
Ephesians 6:2 -- "Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)" - Identifiable content: 5th commandment
Occurrences Where Identifiable Content = CEREMONIAL/LEVITICAL (with qualifier)¶
Hebrews 7:5 -- "And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law..." - Identifiable content: Levitical tithe law (ceremonial/institutional) - Note: Context specifies Levitical priesthood system
Hebrews 7:16 -- "Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life." - Identifiable content: Levitical priesthood succession law - Greek: entoles sarkines (commandment + qualifier "fleshly/carnal") - QUALIFIER: sarkines modifies entole -- this is entole WITH a qualifier
Hebrews 7:18 -- "For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof." - Identifiable content: Same Levitical succession law from v.16 - Context: The commandment that required priests from Levi's line
Hebrews 9:19 -- "For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats..." - Identifiable content: "Every precept" (pasan entolen) spoken by Moses -- the entire law corpus - Note: This refers to the ceremony in Exo 24:3-8, encompassing all commands Moses delivered
Occurrences Where Content = ABOLISHED Ceremonial (with qualifier "en dogmasin")¶
Ephesians 2:15 -- "Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, [even] the law of commandments [contained] in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, [so] making peace;" - Greek: ton nomon ton entolon en dogmasin - Identifiable content: The entole here is QUALIFIED by "en dogmasin" (in ordinances/decrees) - Narrowing construction: the law > of commandments > in ordinances - What created the Jew-Gentile barrier: circumcision, dietary laws, purity regulations
Occurrences Where Content = DIVINE INSTRUCTIONS (Jesus' or Father's commandments)¶
John 10:18 -- "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." - Identifiable content: Father's instruction to Jesus regarding sacrificial death/resurrection
John 11:57 -- "Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should shew [it], that they might take him." - Identifiable content: Human authorities' decree to report Jesus' location
John 12:49-50 -- "For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting." - Identifiable content: Father's instruction to Jesus regarding teaching
John 13:34 -- "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." - Identifiable content: Love one another (moral, Decalogue summary applied)
John 14:15 -- "If ye love me, keep my commandments." - Identifiable content: Jesus' commandments -- contextually connected to love (moral)
John 14:21 -- "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." - Identifiable content: Jesus' commandments linked with love
John 14:31 -- "But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do." - Identifiable content: Father's commandment to Jesus (missional)
John 15:10 -- "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." - Identifiable content: Jesus' commandments = Father's commandments; content = love (moral)
John 15:12 -- "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." - Identifiable content: Love one another (moral/ethical)
Occurrences Where Content = MORAL (General/Continuing)¶
Luke 1:6 -- "And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." - Greek: en pasais tais entolais kai dikaiOmasin tou Kyriou - Note: Entole AND dikaioma listed as two SEPARATE categories - Identifiable content: Comprehensive OT obedience (moral + ceremonial)
Luke 15:29 -- "And he answering said to [his] father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment." - Identifiable content: Father's instructions (parable context -- moral obedience)
1 Corinthians 14:37 -- "If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord." - Identifiable content: Paul's apostolic instructions as Lord's commandments
1 Timothy 6:14 -- "That thou keep [this] commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:" - Identifiable content: The charge/instruction Paul is giving Timothy (apostolic)
2 Peter 2:21 -- "For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known [it], to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them." - Identifiable content: "The holy commandment" = moral/ethical standard of righteousness
2 Peter 3:2 -- "That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour." - Identifiable content: Apostolic teaching/instruction
1 John 2:3-4 -- "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." - Identifiable content: God's commandments; context in 1 John emphasizes love (moral)
1 John 2:7-8 -- "Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you..." - Identifiable content: "Old" = from the beginning; "new" = love command (Jhn 13:34); moral
1 John 3:22-24 -- "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him." - Identifiable content: Faith in Christ + love one another = moral/ethical
1 John 4:21 -- "And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also." - Identifiable content: Love command (moral, Decalogue summary)
1 John 5:2-3 -- "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." - Identifiable content: God's commandments = moral (connected with love)
2 John 1:4-6 -- "I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk after his commandments." - Identifiable content: Love one another = moral
Revelation 12:17 -- "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." - Identifiable content: "Commandments of God" -- end-time saints keeping commandments (moral/Decalogue)
Revelation 14:12 -- "Here is the patience of the saints: here [are] they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." - Identifiable content: Commandments of God paired with faith of Jesus (moral)
Revelation 22:14 -- "Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." - Identifiable content: God's commandments for entrance to New Jerusalem (moral/continuing)
Occurrences Where Content = HUMAN COMMANDS / APOSTOLIC INSTRUCTIONS¶
Acts 17:15 -- "And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed." - Identifiable content: Paul's travel instructions to Silas and Timothy
Colossians 4:10 -- "Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;)" - Identifiable content: Instructions about receiving Mark (apostolic/practical)
Titus 1:14 -- "Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth." - Identifiable content: "Commandments of MEN" -- human religious regulations (negative) - Note: Entole WITH qualifier "of men" -- distinguished from God's commands
II. Dogma (G1378) -- All 5 Occurrences + Dogmatizo (G1379)¶
Luke 2:1 -- "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed." - Identifiable content: Roman imperial census decree - Category: CIVIL
Acts 16:4 -- "And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem." - Context: Acts 15:28-29: "That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication" - Identifiable content: Jerusalem Council decisions (ecclesiastical decrees) - Category: ECCLESIASTICAL
Acts 17:7 -- "Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, [one] Jesus." - Identifiable content: Roman imperial decrees - Category: CIVIL
Ephesians 2:15 -- "Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, [even] the law of commandments [contained] in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, [so] making peace;" - Greek: ton nomon ton entolon en dogmasin - Identifiable content: The regulations that created the Jew-Gentile barrier (circumcision, dietary laws, purity rules) - Category: CEREMONIAL (abolished)
Colossians 2:14 -- "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;" - Greek: to kath' hemon cheirographon tois dogmasin - Context identifies content in vv.16-17: "meat, drink, holyday, new moon, sabbath days" = "shadow of things to come" - Further in vv.20-22: "Touch not; taste not; handle not" = "commandments and doctrines of men" - Identifiable content: Ceremonial/ritual regulations - Category: CEREMONIAL (abolished)
Colossians 2:20 (dogmatizo G1379) -- "Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances," - Context vv.21-22: "Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using; after the commandments and doctrines of men?" - Identifiable content: Dietary/purity regulations described as "commandments and doctrines of men" - Category: CEREMONIAL (abolished)
III. Dikaioma (G1345) -- All 10 Occurrences¶
Luke 1:6 -- "And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." - Greek: en pasais tais entolais kai dikaiOmasin tou Kyriou - dikaioma (dative plural): dikaiOmasin - Identifiable content: OT ordinances generally -- note entole and dikaioma listed as TWO DISTINCT categories - Category: GENERAL (comprehensive OT observance)
Romans 1:32 -- "Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." - Greek: to dikaiOma tou Theou (singular, articular) - Context vv.29-31: Vice list including unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, debate, deceit... - Identifiable content: God's righteous decree/judgment regarding moral violations - Category: MORAL (righteous decree)
Romans 2:26 -- "Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?" - Greek: ta dikaiOmata tou nomou (plural, articular) - Context: Gentiles keeping the law's requirements without circumcision - Identifiable content: The law's moral requirements - Category: MORAL (righteous requirements)
Romans 5:16 -- "And not as [it was] by one that sinned, [so is] the gift: for the judgment [was] by one to condemnation, but the free gift [is] of many offences unto justification." - Greek: dikaiOma (singular) - Identifiable content: Forensic/legal acquittal; justification - Category: NOT LAW-REFERENT (forensic/judicial act)
Romans 5:18 -- "Therefore as by the offence of one [judgment came] upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [the free gift came] upon all men unto justification of life." - Greek: dikaiOmatos (singular genitive) - Identifiable content: Christ's righteous act (not a specific law) - Category: NOT LAW-REFERENT (Christ's righteous act)
Romans 8:4 -- "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." - Greek: to dikaiOma tou nomou (SINGULAR, ARTICULAR: "THE righteous requirement of THE law") - Identifiable content: Connected to Rom 7:7 (10th commandment); THE moral standard of the law - Category: MORAL (singular articular = moral standard)
Hebrews 9:1 -- "Then verily the first [covenant] had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary." - Greek: dikaiOmata latreias (PLURAL: "ordinances of service/worship") - Context: vv.2-10 describe sanctuary furniture, priestly service, sacrifices - Identifiable content: Sanctuary service regulations - Category: CEREMONIAL (plural + genitive modifier "of service")
Hebrews 9:10 -- "[Which stood] only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed [on them] until the time of reformation." - Greek: dikaiOmata sarkos (PLURAL + "of flesh/carnal") - Identifiable content: Meats, drinks, various washings = ceremonial purity regulations - Category: CEREMONIAL (plural + qualifier "carnal/fleshly") - Note: "Until the time of reformation" = temporary/abolished
Revelation 15:4 -- "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for [thou] only [art] holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest." - Greek: ta dikaiOmata sou (plural) - Identifiable content: God's righteous judgments made manifest to nations - Category: NOT LAW-REFERENT (God's righteous acts/judgments)
Revelation 19:8 -- "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." - Greek: ta dikaiOmata tOn hagiOn (plural) - Identifiable content: Righteous deeds/acts of the saints - Category: NOT LAW-REFERENT (righteous deeds)
IV. Cheirographon (G5498) -- The 1 Occurrence¶
Colossians 2:13-17 (full context):
v.13: "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;" v.14: "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;" v.15: "[And] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." v.16: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath [days]:" v.17: "Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [is] of Christ."
Colossians 2:20-23 (continuation identifying content):
v.20: "Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances," v.21: "(Touch not; taste not; handle not;" v.22: "Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?" v.23: "Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh."
- Greek: to cheirographon tois dogmasin = "the handwriting in/by the ordinances"
- Etymology: cheir (hand) + grapho (write) = "hand-written document"
- Content identification clues:
- Paired with "tois dogmasin" (the ordinances)
- vv.16-17 specify: meat, drink, holyday, new moon, sabbath days = "shadow"
- vv.20-22 specify: Touch not, taste not, handle not = dietary/purity regulations = "commandments and doctrines of men"
- Contrast: Decalogue was "written with the finger of God" (Exo 31:18; Deu 9:10) -- NOT hand-written
- Contrast: Moses wrote "the words of this law in a book" (Deu 31:24-26) -- hand-written, placed "in the side of the ark"
V. Nomos (G3551) -- Selected Content-Identifiable Passages¶
Articular (ho nomos) with Moral Content¶
Romans 7:7 -- "[Is] the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." - Greek: ho nomos (articular) = identifies with 10th commandment - Content: Decalogue, specifically "Thou shalt not covet" - Article: YES (ho nomos)
Romans 7:12 -- "Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." - Greek: ho nomos (articular) - Content: The law identified in v.7 as Decalogue - Article: YES
Romans 7:14 -- "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." - Greek: ho nomos (articular) - Content: Same law as v.7 = Decalogue; described as "spiritual" - Article: YES
Romans 3:31 -- "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." - Greek: nomon (anarthrous first use), ton nomon (articular second use) - Content: The law that faith establishes (moral standard) - Article: Mixed -- Paul moves from anarthrous to articular
Romans 8:7 -- "Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." - Greek: to nomo tou Theou (articular + "of God") - Content: God's moral law -- the carnal mind cannot submit to it - Article: YES
Romans 13:8-10 -- "...for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal...Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love [is] the fulfilling of the law." - Greek: nomon (anarthrous v.8), ho nomos (articular implied) - Content: Decalogue commands 7, 6, 8, 9, 10 - Article: Mixed
Galatians 5:14 -- "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, [even] in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." - Greek: ho pas nomos (articular + "all") - Content: Love neighbor = moral summary - Article: YES
James 1:25 -- "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth [therein]..." - Greek: nomon teleion ton tes eleutherias (articular) - Content: James 2:8-12 identifies this as Decalogue (citing commandments 7 and 6) - Article: YES
James 2:8-12 -- "If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one [point], he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill...So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty." - Content: "Royal law" = love neighbor; "law of liberty" = Decalogue (commandments 7 and 6 cited) - Article: YES (nomon basilikon)
1 John 3:4 -- "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." - Greek: anomia = lawlessness (a-nomos) - Content: THE law that defines sin = moral law - Article: Embedded in compound (anomia)
Articular (ho nomos) with Potentially Ceremonial/Temporary Content¶
Galatians 3:19 -- "Wherefore then [serveth] the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; [and it was] ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator." - Greek: ho nomos (articular) - Content: "The law" that was "added" 430 years after Abraham (v.17) and served "till the seed should come" - Article: YES -- but "added" and temporal limit suggest ceremonial/regulatory system - Note: This is a KEY counter-example for the article pattern
Galatians 3:24-25 -- "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster [to bring us] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster." - Greek: ho nomos (articular) - Content: The law as pedagogical system -- temporary function - Article: YES
Hebrews 7:11-12 -- "If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need [was there] that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec...For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law." - Greek: ton nomon (articular) - Content: The law connected with Levitical priesthood - Article: YES
Hebrews 10:1 -- "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, [and] not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect." - Greek: ho nomos (articular) - Content: The law having a "shadow" = sacrificial system - Article: YES
Anarthrous (nomos) as Principle/General¶
Romans 3:27 -- "Where [is] boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith." - Greek: nomou ergon...nomou pisteos (both anarthrous) - Content: "law of works" vs. "law of faith" = operating principles, NOT legal codes - Article: NO (anarthrous = principle/system)
Romans 4:15 -- "Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, [there is] no transgression." - Greek: ho nomos (articular first) then nomos (anarthrous second) - Content: First = the specific Mosaic law; second = law-as-principle - Article: Mixed (articular then anarthrous in same verse)
Romans 7:21 -- "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me." - Greek: ton nomon (but in sense of "a principle/pattern") - Content: An operating principle of sin - Article: Articular but functioning as principle
Romans 7:23 -- "But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." - Greek: heteron nomon (another law, anarthrous)...to nomo tou noos mou (law of my mind, articular)...to nomo tes hamartias (law of sin) - Content: Multiple "laws" as operating principles - Article: Mixed
Romans 8:2 -- "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." - Greek: ho nomos tou pneumatos tes zoes...tou nomou tes hamartias kai tou thanatou (both articular) - Content: Operating principles -- "law of the Spirit" vs. "law of sin and death" - Article: Both articular (but both are principles, not codes)
Galatians 2:16 -- "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law..." - Greek: ergon nomou (anarthrous) - Content: "Works of law" -- debated whether specific code or principle - Article: NO
Galatians 2:19 -- "For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God." - Greek: dia nomou nomo (both anarthrous) - Content: Law as system/principle - Article: NO
Galatians 6:2 -- "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." - Greek: ton nomon tou Christou (articular) - Content: Christ's moral teaching - Article: YES
New Covenant Passages¶
Hebrews 8:10 -- "For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." - Greek: nomous mou (anarthrous plural: "laws of me") - Content: God's laws written on hearts (Jeremiah 31:33 quotation) = moral law - Article: NO (but "my laws" = God's own laws)
Hebrews 10:16 -- "This [is] the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;" - Greek: nomous mou (anarthrous plural) - Content: Same Jeremiah quotation = moral law written on hearts - Article: NO
VI. OT Background Passages¶
Exodus 20:1-17 -- The Decalogue (full text retrieved above) - Spoken directly by God; written by God's finger
Exodus 31:18 -- "And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God." - Key: Decalogue = "written with the finger of God" (NOT hand-written)
Deuteronomy 4:13 -- "And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, [even] ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone." - Key: "His covenant" = "ten commandments" = God wrote them
Deuteronomy 9:10 -- "And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them [was written] according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly." - Key: "Written with the finger of God"
Deuteronomy 31:24-26 -- "And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee." - Key: Moses wrote this law in a book (HAND-written); placed "in the side of the ark" (not inside); "a witness AGAINST thee" - Contrast: Decalogue was written by God and placed INSIDE the ark
Jeremiah 31:31-34 -- "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers...But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts..." - Key: The new covenant involves God's law written on hearts -- moral law continues in a new mode
VII. Counter-Argument / Exception Passages¶
2 Corinthians 3:7-11 -- "But if the ministration of death, written [and] engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which [glory] was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation [be] glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away [was] glorious, much more that which remaineth [is] glorious." - Greek: he diakonia tou thanatou en grammasin entypomene lithois (the ministry of death in letters engraved on stones) - Key: Uses katargeo for what is "done away" -- but the object is "the MINISTRY" (diakonia), not the law itself - Greek parsing confirms: katargoumenen modifies ten doxan (the glory) in v.7, not the law - Note: Does NOT use entole, dogma, dikaioma, or nomos for what ceases. Uses diakonia (ministry) and doxa (glory)
Romans 7:4,6 -- "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, [even] to him who is raised from the dead...But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held." - Context: Paul then identifies the law as 10th commandment in v.7 ("Thou shalt not covet") - Key: "Dead to the law" = relationship to law changed, not law abolished. The law remains "holy, just, good, spiritual" (vv.12,14)
Hebrews 7:11-19 -- Priesthood change requiring law change - v.16: entole sarkines (commandment with qualifier "carnal/fleshly") = Levitical succession law - v.18: "disannulling of the commandment going before" = same Levitical succession commandment - Key: The entole that is disannulled has the qualifier sarkines and refers specifically to priesthood succession, NOT the Decalogue
Galatians 3:13,19,24-25 -- "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law...Wherefore then [serveth] the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come...the law was our schoolmaster." - Greek: ho nomos (articular throughout) - Key counter-example: Articular nomos for what was "added" and served a temporary pedagogical function - Note: This challenges a rigid article = moral rule, but Galatians may refer to the entire Mosaic regulatory system
Matthew 5:17-19 -- "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments..." - Greek: ton nomon (articular), entole (commandments) - Content: Jesus affirms the law and commandments as continuing - Key: Strongest affirmation passage; uses both nomos and entole for what continues
Luke 16:17 -- "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." - Greek: tou nomou (articular genitive) - Content: The law's permanence affirmed
VIII. Additional Context Passages¶
Acts 15:28-29 -- "For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication." - Context for Acts 16:4 (dogma): The Jerusalem Council "decrees" concerned dietary/purity matters for Gentile converts
1 Timothy 1:5,8-10 -- "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart...But we know that the law [is] good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners..." - Note: v.5 uses entole (G1785 -- but check: this may be parangelia G3852 not entole); v.8 uses nomos - The vice list in vv.9-10 maps to Decalogue violations: murderers of fathers/mothers (5th), manslayers (6th), whoremongers (7th), menstealers (8th), liars/perjured (9th)
Titus 1:14 -- "Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth." - Greek: entolais anthropon ("commandments of men") - Key: Entole WITH qualifier "of men" = human religious regulations (negative context)
Matthew 15:9 / Mark 7:7 -- "But in vain they do worship me, teaching [for] doctrines the commandments of men." - Greek: entalma (G1778), NOT entole (G1785) -- different word - But G1778 is cognate of G1785; the "commandments of men" concept uses a related term
Colossians 2:22 -- "Which all are to perish with the using; after the commandments and doctrines of men?" - Greek: entalma (G1778) and didaskalia (G1319) -- again, the related word entalma for human precepts