Greek word · G460
ἀνόμως
anomōs
without law
An adverb from a- ("without") + nomos ("law"). In general Greek it can mean (1) "lawlessly, wickedly", in defiance of law and custom, or (2) "without law", not having or not governed by a law. BDAG gives both senses and puts Romans 2:12 under the second: "without the law", i.e.
Appears 2 times in 1 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
ἀνόμως,
adv. [in LXX: 2Mac 817* ;]
1. lawlessly (2Mac, l.with).
2. = χωρὶς νόμου, without law: Romans 2:12.†
(AS)
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
An adverb from a- ("without") + nomos ("law"). In general Greek it can mean (1) "lawlessly, wickedly", in defiance of law and custom, or (2) "without law", not having or not governed by a law. BDAG gives both senses and puts Romans 2:12 under the second: "without the law", i.e. without possessing the Mosaic law.
- Against the English
KJV, ESV and NASB have "without (the) law"; BSB and NIV have "apart from the law"; NLT spells it out as people who "never had God's written law". Every major version avoids "lawlessly", and that is right.
- How it drifted
In modern English "lawless" means anarchic or criminal. A reader who knows the related word anomia, "lawlessness" (Matt 7:23; 2 Thess 2:3), can wrongly hear Paul calling Gentiles especially wicked. He is describing where they stand in relation to the Torah, not how wicked they are.
- Used elsewhere in the period
This adverb appears only here in the New Testament, twice. Its cousin anomos is used by Paul in exactly this neutral sense in 1 Cor 9:21: "to those without the law I became as one without the law, not being without law toward God", meaning Gentiles who do not live by the Torah. Acts 2:23 calls the Roman executioners "lawless men" (anomōn), a standard Jewish label for Gentiles. In 1 Maccabees and the Psalms of Solomon, "lawless" is a stock term for Gentile oppressors and for Jews who gave up the Torah. There it combines the ideas of "outside the law" and "wicked".
Similar words
Where it appears
Romans · 2
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Romans 2:12 ἀνόμως ἀνόμως without [the] Law
All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.
Here: "Without having the law", meaning outside the Mosaic Torah. It describes non-Jews who were never given Israel's law, not people who act lawlessly in the sense of anarchy or wickedness.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.