Greek word · G3550
νομοθέτης
nomothetēs
lawgiver
"One who gives or lays down laws": a legislator, someone who founds a legal order. The word is built from nomos (law) and tithēmi (to set or lay down).
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
"One who gives or lays down laws": a legislator, someone who founds a legal order. The word is built from nomos (law) and tithēmi (to set or lay down).
- Against the English
"Lawgiver" is accurate. English readers may miss that in the Greek world this was a title of honor for the great founders of a city's laws, and that Jewish writers in Greek gave it to Moses.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Greek writers used it for Solon and Lycurgus. Philo of Alexandria calls Moses "the lawgiver" (ho nomothetēs) again and again. The Greek Old Testament (LXX) uses it in Ps 9:21 ("Appoint, O Lord, a lawgiver over them"). Isaiah 33:22 in Hebrew has "The LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver (meḥoqeqēnu), the LORD is our king; he will save us." That line gathers judge, lawgiver and saving in one breath, much as James does. In the New Testament the noun appears only here; related words appear in Rom 9:4 (nomothesia) and Heb 7:11 and 8:6 (nomotheteō).
From the study of Epistle of Barnabas 21:4
- Range of meaning
A lawgiver or legislator: someone who lays down laws, such as the founder of a city's constitution (Solon, Lycurgus) or, in Jewish Greek, Moses above all. More loosely, someone who sets the rule or standard others are to follow.
- Against the English
'Lawgiver' or 'legislator' suggests a modern law-maker or someone who imposes rules. Translations keep 'lawgivers' (Lake, Holmes, Ehrman). None of them softens it to 'teachers', which would lose how bold the word is.
- How it drifted
In modern English 'lawgiver' suggests authority over others, or legalism. Barnabas means members of a community teaching one another God's commands and holding one another to them.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Philo calls Moses 'the lawgiver' (ὁ νομοθέτης) again and again. Josephus uses the word for Moses as well (e.g., Against Apion 2). In the New Testament the related noun appears only at James 4:12: 'There is one lawgiver and judge.' The Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) has the verb in Ps 83:7 (84:6 Eng.) and Ps 118(119):33, where God 'gives law' or instruction. In Barnabas, Christians live under 'the new law of our Lord Jesus Christ' (2:6). In 21:1 it is good 'to learn the ordinances of the Lord, as many as have been written, and to walk in them.'
Similar words
Where it appears
James · 1
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James 4:12 νομοθέτης Lawgiver
There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
Here: The one who lays down the law. This is the only place the word appears in the New Testament. It picks up v. 11: someone who slanders a brother puts himself above the law, as if he were its author.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.