Lexicon

G3551 - nomos

Strong's: G3551 · BLB lookup Pronunciation: nom'-os Part of speech: masculine noun LXX equivalent: renders Hebrew torah (H8451), see H8451 - torah NT occurrences: 195

Semantic range (Thayer / BDAG)

Law, code, statute, formal legal ordinance
The Mosaic Law / Torah, the OT-revealed law (the dominant NT use)
The Pentateuch, the five books of Moses (Mt 5:17; 7:12; 22:40)
Principle, rule, internal ordering principle (Romans 7:21, 23, 25; 8:2)
Custom / norm in some contexts

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Theological force

Nomos as the Mosaic Torah

The dominant NT use is for the Mosaic Law. Paul especially engages nomos in the soteriological-Pauline sense: the law given through Moses, with which Christ's gospel intersects.

Three classical Reformed-Pauline distinctions

The Reformed tradition (following Aquinas / refined by Calvin / canonized in Westminster Confession 19) distinguishes three uses / aspects of the nomos:

Civil / political law (Mosaic-Israel-specific), applied to ancient Israel as covenant-nation; not directly binding on contemporary states though instructive in moral principles
Ceremonial law (sacrificial-ritual), fulfilled in Christ; superseded in the new covenant
Moral law (the Decalogue + summary in love-of-God-and-neighbor), universally binding; expression of God's eternal-character

The threefold-use of the moral law:

First use (usus politicus / civilis), restrains evil in society
Second use (usus elenchticus), convicts sinners; drives them to Christ
Third use (usus didacticus / normativus), guides Christian conduct (Reformed emphasis; rejected by some Lutheran-radical traditions)

Pauline nomos / faith dialectic

Paul's most extended nomos-engagement is in Romans and Galatians:

Romans 3:19-20, "by the works of nomou no flesh will be justified… for through the nomou comes the knowledge of sin"
Romans 3:21-22, "now apart from the nomou the dikaiosynē theou has been manifested, being witnessed by the nomou and the prophets, even the dikaiosynē theou through faith in Jesus Christ"
Romans 6:14, "you are not under nomon but under charin"
Romans 7:7-25, nomos and indwelling sin
Romans 8:2-4, "the nomos of the Spirit of life… freed you from the nomou of sin and of death"
Romans 10:4, "Christ is the telos of the nomou for dikaiosynēn to everyone who believes"
Galatians 2:16, 19, 21; 3:2, 5, 10-13, 17-18, 21, 24-25; 4:21-31; 5:3-4, 14, 18, 23; 6:2, 13, extensive

The Pauline pattern:

Nomos convicts of sin (cannot save)
Nomos is fulfilled in Christ
Believers are not under the nomos (as way of justification)
Yet the nomos remains valid (its moral substance) and is fulfilled in love (Romans 13:8-10)

Nomos Christou, the law of Christ

Galatians 6:2, "bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the nomon tou Christou" 1 Corinthians 9:21, "though not without nomos theou, but under nomō Christou"

The law of Christ is not a different code from the moral law but its fulfillment / Christological reframing, the moral law shaped by and embodied in Christ.

James and Romans 2, the nomos of love / liberty

James 1:25; 2:8, 12, nomos teleios eleutherias, "the perfect law of liberty"; the nomos basilikon (royal law) of love
Romans 13:8-10, love fulfills nomos
Galatians 5:14, "the whole nomos is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'"

The trajectory: external-Mosaic-nomos → internalized-love-nomos → Christ-formed-life. Jeremiah 31's new covenant (torah on the heart) is fulfilled in Christ-with-Spirit-empowered believers.

Internal-principle uses

In Romans 7-8, Paul uses nomos metaphorically for principles / patterns:

nomos hamartias, law/principle of sin (Rom 7:23, 25; 8:2)
nomos thanatou, law of death (Rom 8:2)
nomos tou Pneumatos, law of the Spirit (Rom 8:2)

These are not codified-rules but operative-principles in human moral life.

Apologetic significance

Nomos anchors:

The unity of OT and NT, the nomos / torah trajectory continues through Christ
Christian ethics, moral law universally binding; civil / ceremonial fulfilled
Justification by faith, not law, sola fide (Romans 3:21-22; Galatians 2:16)
Anti-antinomianism, Christian liberty does not abolish moral nomos
Anti-legalism, the nomos cannot save; only Christ saves
The third use of the law, guides Christian conduct (against Lutheran-radical / "free grace" rejection)

Notable verses

Christ and the nomos

Matthew 5:17-19, "I did not come to abolish but to plērōsai (fulfill)"
Matthew 22:36-40, Greatest Commandment summarizes nomos
Romans 10:4, Christ as telos of nomou
Galatians 4:4-5, Christ "born under nomon… that He might redeem those who were under nomon"

Pauline soteriology

Romans 3:19-20, 21-22, 28; 4:14-16; 5:13, 20; 6:14-15; 7:1-25; 8:2-4, extensive
Galatians 2-5, extensive
Philippians 3:5-9, Paul's nomos-righteousness vs Christ-righteousness
1 Timothy 1:7-9, "nomos is good if one uses it lawfully"

Internalization

Romans 2:14-15, Gentiles by nature poiōsin the nomou; nomos in the heart
Hebrews 8:10; 10:16, new covenant nomos in the heart (citing Jeremiah 31)
James 1:25; 2:8, 12, perfect nomos of liberty
Romans 13:8-10, love fulfills nomos

Internal principles

Romans 7:21-25; 8:2, nomos of sin / Spirit / death

Patristic / scholarly note

Patristic engagement: extensive across all eras. Augustine's De Spiritu et Littera and Contra Iulianum are foundational anti-Pelagian nomos-engagements.

The Reformation: Luther's Lectures on Galatians (1535); Calvin (Institutes II.7-8, "Law as Mirror" / "Three Uses"); Westminster Confession ch. 19.

Modern conservative engagement:

D. A. Carson (From Sabbath to Lord's Day, 1982)
Tom Schreiner (Romans BECNT, 2018)
Doug Moo (Romans NICNT, 2018)
Brian Rosner (Paul and the Law, 2013), repurposing model
Stephen Westerholm (Perspectives Old and New on Paul, 2004)

Notes

Lexical workspace for nomos.