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LAWLESS, LAWLESSNESS
A. Adjective.
(
/
, 459), “without law,” also denotes “lawless,” and is so rendered in
the
RV
of Acts 2:23, “lawless (men),” marg., “(men) without the law,”
KJV
, “wicked
(hands);” 2 Thess. 2:8, “the lawless one” (
KJV
, “that wicked”), of the man of sin (2Th
2:4]; in 2 Pet. 2:8, of deeds (
KJV
, “unlawful”), where the thought is not simply that of
doing what is unlawful, but of flagrant defiance of the known will of God. See
LAW
, C,
No. 3.
B. Noun.
(
&
, 458), “lawlessness,” akin to A, is most frequently translated
“iniquity;” in 2 Thess. 2:7,
RV
, “lawlessness” (
KJV
, “iniquity”); “the mystery of
lawlessness” is not recognized by the world, for it does not consist merely in confusion
and disorder (see A); the display of “lawlessness” by the “lawless” one (v. 8) will be the
effect of the attempt by the powers of darkness to overthrow the divine government. In 1
John 3:4, the
RV
adheres to the real meaning of the word, “every one that doeth sin (a
practice, not the committal of an act) doeth also lawlessness: and sin is lawlessness.” This
definition of sin sets forth its essential character as the rejection of the law, or will, of
God and the substitution of the will of self. See
INIQUITY
and synonymous words.
LAWYER
(
, 3544), an adjective, “learned in the law” (see Titus 3:9, under
LAW, C, No. 1), is used as a noun, “a lawyer,” Matt. 22:35; Luke 7:30; 10:25; 11:45, 46,
52 (v. 53 in some mss.); 14:3; Titus 3:13, where Zenas is so named. As there is no
evidence that he was one skilled in Roman jurisprudence, the term may be regarded in the
usual NT sense as applying to one skilled in the Mosaic Law.¶
The usual name for a scribe is
$
, a man of letters; for a doctor of the law,
(see
DOCTOR
), “A comparison of Luke 5:17 with v. 21 and Mark 2:6
and Matt. 9:3 shows that the three terms were used synonymously, and did not denote
three distinct classes. The scribes were originally simply men of letters, students of
Scripture, and the name first given to them contains in itself no reference to the law; in
course of time, however, they devoted themselves mainly, though by no means
exclusively, to the study of the law. They became jurists rather than theologians, and
received names which of themselves called attention to that fact. Some would doubtless
devote themselves more to one branch of activity than to another; but a ‘lawyer’ might
also be a ‘doctor,’ and the case of Gamaliel shows that a ‘doctor’ might also be a member
of the Sanhedrin, Acts 5:34” (Eaton, in
B
0 ! 4 !
).
LAY
1.
(
&
, 5087), “to put, place, set,” frequently signifies “to lay,” and is used
of (a) “laying” a corpse in a tomb, Matt. 27:60; Mark 6:29; 15:47; 16:6; Luke 23:53, 55;
John 11:34; 19:41, 42; 20:2, 13, 15; Acts 7:16; 13:29; Rev. 11:9,
RV
, “to be laid” (
KJV
,
“to be put”); in an upper chamber, Acts 9:37; (b) “laying” the sick in a place, Mark 6:56;
Luke 5:18; Acts 3:2; 5:15; (c) “laying” money at the apostles’ feet, Acts 4:35, 37; 5:2; (d)
Christ’s “laying” His hands upon children, Mark 10:16,
RV
, “laying” (
KJV
, “put”); upon
John, Rev. 1:17 (in the best mss.); (e) “laying” down one’s life, (1) of Christ, John 10:11,