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comprehensive of all the Scriptures, not a “law” of compulsion enforced from without,
but meeting with ready obedience through the desire and delight of the renewed being
who is subject to it; into it he looks, and in its teaching he delights; he is “under law
(
, “in law,” implying union and subjection) to Christ,” 1 Cor. 9:21; cf, e.g., Ps.
119:32, 45, 97; 2 Cor. 3:17; (f) “the royal law,” Jas. 2:8, i.e., the “law” of love, royal in
the majesty of its power, the “law” upon which all others hang, Matt. 22:34-40; Rom.
13:8; Gal. 5:14; (g) “the law of the Spirit of life,” Rom. 8:2, i.e., the animating principle
by which the Holy Spirit acts as the imparter of life (cf. John 6:63); (h) “a law of
righteousness,” Rom. 9:31, i.e., a general principle presenting righteousness as the object
and outcome of keeping a “law,” particularly the “Law” of Moses (cf. Gal. 3:21); (i) “the
law of a carnal commandment,” Heb. 7:16, i.e., the “law” respecting the Aaronic
priesthood, which appointed men conditioned by the circumstances and limitations of the
flesh. In the Epistle to the Hebrews the “Law” is treated of especially in regard to the
contrast between the Priesthood of Christ and that established under the “law” of Moses,
and in regard to access to God and to worship. In these respects the “Law” “made nothing
perfect,” 7:19. There was “a disannulling of a foregoing commandment … and a bringing
in of a better hope.” This is established under the “new Covenant,” a covenant instituted
on the basis of “better promises,” 8:6.
Notes:
(1) In Gal. 5:3, the statement that to receive circumcision constitutes a man a
debtor to do “the whole Law,” views the “Law” as made up of separate commands, each
essential to the whole, and predicates the unity of the “Law”; in v. 14, the statement that
“the whole law” is fulfilled in the one commandment concerning love, views the separate
commandments as combined to make a complete “law.” (2) In Rom. 8:3, “what the law
could not do,” is lit., “the inability (
$
, the neuter of the adjective
$
,
‘unable,’ used as a noun) of the Law”; this may mean either “the weakness of the Law”
or “that which was impossible for the Law”; the latter is preferable; the significance is the
same in effect; the “Law” could neither give freedom from condemnation nor impart life.
(3) For the difference between the teaching of Paul and that of James in regard to the
“Law,” see under
JUSTIFICATION
. (4) For Acts 19:38,
KJV
, “the law is open” (
RV
,
“courts,” etc.) see
COURT
, No. 1. (5) For
, “doctors of the law”, Luke
5:17, singular in Acts 5:34, “teachers of the law,” 1 Tim. 1:7, see
DOCTOR
.
2.
(
&
, 3548) denotes “legislation, lawgiving” (No. 1, and
, “to place, to put”), Rom. 9:4, “(the) giving of the law.” cf. B, No 1.¶
B. Verbs.
1.
(
!
, 3549), (a) used intransitively, signifies “to make laws”
(cf. A, No. 2, above); in the passive voice, “to be furnished with laws,” Heb. 7:11,
“received the law,” lit., “was furnished with (the) law”; (b) used transitively, it signifies
“to ordain by law, to enact”; in the passive voice, Heb. 8:6. See
ENACT
.¶
2.
(
$&
, 2919), “to esteem, judge,” etc., signifies “to go to law,” and is so
used in the middle voice in Matt. 5:40,
RV
, “go to law” (
KJV
, “sue … at the law”); 1 Cor.
6:1, 6. See
ESTEEM
.
Note:
In 1 Cor. 6:7, the
KJV
, “go to law,” is a rendering of the phrase
,
“to have lawsuits,” as in the
RV
.