νομίμως

From the study of 2 Timothy 2:5

Range of meaning

In accordance with nomos, meaning law, custom or established rule. So: lawfully, properly, by the rules. In athletics it meant competing within the regulations of the games. Some ancient evidence also uses it for athletes who kept the full professional training regimen.

Against the English

'According to the rules' (BSB, ESV, NIV, NASB) and 'by the rules' (WEB) are accurate. KJV and YLT's 'lawfully' is literal, but modern readers may hear in it the law of Moses or a criminal code, when the picture is a referee's rulebook.

How it drifted

'Lawfully' in religious English easily calls up debates about law and grace, which are not in view here.

Used elsewhere in the period

It appears elsewhere in the New Testament only at 1 Tim 1:8: 'the law is good if one uses it lawfully', meaning in the way it is meant to be used. At Olympia athletes, with their fathers, brothers and trainers, swore an oath before a statue of Zeus Horkios ('Zeus of Oaths') that they had trained for ten months and would not cheat (Pausanias 5.24.9). Fines paid by cheaters funded bronze statues of Zeus, the Zanes, which lined the path into the stadium (Pausanias 5.21). The medical writer Galen is cited by commentators (e.g. Dibelius–Conzelmann) for 'competing lawfully' used of professional athletes who kept the required regimen.

From the study of 1 Timothy 1:8

Range of meaning

Adverb from nomimos ("lawful, customary, conforming to rule"): "lawfully, according to rule or custom, properly, as it ought to be done." In Greek usage it often describes doing something by the rules of an institution, such as a contest, a ritual or a legal procedure.

Against the English

KJV/ESV/NASB/WEB "lawfully" keeps the wordplay but can sound to a modern ear like "legally, without breaking any law." NIV "properly" and BSB "legitimately" catch the sense but lose the echo of nomos.

How it drifted

Modern "lawfully" is mostly a legal-compliance word. The Greek adverb means using something in the way that fits the law's own nature and purpose, as an athlete competes by the rules of the games.

Used elsewhere in the period

2 Timothy 2:5: "an athlete is not crowned unless he competes nomimōs," i.e., according to the rules. The word is common in classical and Hellenistic Greek for proper, rule-keeping conduct. Commentators (e.g., Dibelius–Conzelmann, Marshall) note that the nomos/nomimōs pun has the ring of a Greek maxim.