Lawlessness (458) (anomia) from a = negates what follows + nomos = law) literally describes that which is without the law and signifies, not merely the abstract idea, but disregard for, or actual breach of, the law of God. Anomia means “no law,” and emphasizes an attitude of disregard for the statutes of God. It means living as if there were no law. A person who rejects God’s authority doesn’t care what God thinks about his habits. Lawlessness is living as though your own ideas are superior to God's. Lawlessness says, "God may demand it but I don't prefer it." Lawlessness says, "God may promise it but I don't want it." Lawlessness replaces God's law with my contrary desires. I become a law to myself. Lawlessness is rebellion against the right of God to make laws and govern His creatures. Lawlessness signifies everything that is contrary to the will and law of God and is more intentional and flagrant sin. It is direct and open rebellion against God and His ways. Lawlessness describes one who has the quality of not being regulated by, restrained by or controlled by law. It is one who is not governed by nor obedient to laws and who is thus unbridled and uncontrolled in general. Some close synonyms include the quality of a person that manifests lawlessness include words such as -- anarchy, rebellion, insurgence, insubordination, chaos, disorderliness, mutiny, recklessness, sedition, unruliness (that's enough for starters!) Anomia -15 times - 7.23" class="scriptRef">Mt 7:23-note; Mt 13:41; 23:28; 24:12; Ro 4:7-note; Ro 6:19-note; 2 Co. 6:14; 2Th 2:3, 7; Titus 2:14-note; Heb 1:9-note; He 10:17-note; 1Jn. 3:4. NAS = lawless deed, 1; lawless deeds, 2; lawlessness, 12. There are about 33.8" class="scriptRef">8.13" class="scriptRef">130.8" class="scriptRef">8.5.18" class="scriptRef">18" class="scriptRef">188 uses of anomia in the non-apocryphal Septuagint (LXX) - 9.12" class="scriptRef">125.5" class="scriptRef">53.4" class="scriptRef">4.51.92.9" class="scriptRef">9" class="scriptRef">9" class="scriptRef">9.132.5" class="scriptRef">5" class="scriptRef">Ge 19:15; Ex 34:7, 9; 64.6" class="scriptRef">6.21" class="scriptRef">Lv 16:21; 19:29; 20.103.10" class="scriptRef">10.14" class="scriptRef">14" class="scriptRef">20:14; 22.16" class="scriptRef">22:16; 43" class="scriptRef">26:43; Nu 14:18; Dt 31:29; 2Sa 14:9; 19:19; 22:5, 24" class="scriptRef">24; 24:10; 2Ki 7:9; 1Chr. 9:1; 13" class="scriptRef">10:13; Ezra 9:6, 7, 13; Neh. 4:5; 9:2; Job 7:21; 8:4; 10:6, 14; 23" class="scriptRef">23" class="scriptRef">13:23; 17" class="scriptRef">14:17; 27" class="scriptRef">20:27; 31:3, 28; 34:37; Ps. 5:4, 5; 6:8; 7:14; 14:4; 18:4, 23; 26:10; 31:18; 32:1, 5; 36" class="scriptRef">36.2-Ps.36.4" class="scriptRef">36:2, 3, 4, 12-Ps.37.1" class="scriptRef">12; 37:1; 38:4, 18; 39:8, 11; 40:12; 41:6; 45:7; 49:5; 50:21; 51:2, 3, 5, 9; 52:1; 53:1, 4; 55:3, 9, 10; 57:1; 58.2" class="scriptRef">58:2; 59:2, 3, 4; 64:2, 6; 65:3; 69:27; 73:19; 74:20; 79:8; 85:2; 89:22, 32; 90:8; 92:7, 9; 94:4, 16, 20, 23; 101:8; 103:3, 10, 12; 106:43; 107:17, 42; 109:14; 119:3, 133, 150; 125:3, 5; 129:3; 30.3" class="scriptRef">130:3, 8; 139:24; 141:4, 9; Pr 13:11; Isa 1:5; 3:8; 5:7, 18; 6:7; 9:18; 21:4; 24:20; 27:9; 33:15; 43:25, 26; 44.22" class="scriptRef">44:22; 50:1; 53:5, 8, 9; 58:1; 59:3, 4, 6, 12; 64:6; Jer. 5:25; 16:18; 29:23; Lam 4:6, 22; Ezek 3:19; 7:23; 8:6, 9, 13, 17; 9:4; 11:18, 21; 12:16; 16:2, 36, 43, 47, 51, 58; 18:12, 13, 20,21, 24, 27; 20:4, 30; 22:2, 5; 23:21, 36, 44; 28:16; 29:16; 32:27; 33:6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 18, 19; 36:31, 33; 37:23; 43:8; 44:6, 7; Da 9:24; Hos. 6:9; Zech 3:4; 5:8; Mal 1:4 Matthew 7:23 (note) And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice (as the habit of your lives, as your lifestyle) lawlessness. Comment: Beware if you claim Christ as Savior and say you have His Holy Spirit indwelling you if you have never experienced a time of repentance, of turning from your old ways of sin. If you have never experienced a time of turning from Sin and unto God, you may be among those Jesus is warning about -- those who continue to practice lawlessness, even in the face of having made a profession of Christ. Only God knows your heart, dear reader. Make certain (cp Peter's warning - 2Pe 1:10 11-note) you have not been deceived by the false and deadly teaching (which is not really the Gospel but is "another gospel" Gal 1:6, 7, 8, 9) that you can pray a prayer to "receive Christ" and then go on living any way you wish, because you have never been made by the Spirit into a new creation in Christ (2Co 5:17-note) and you have never experienced the times of refreshing which come from the presence of the Lord and from a new heart (Ezek 36:26, 27, Acts 3:19). See Mt 23:28 and Titus 2:14-note below for amplification this "eternally" important point. Don't dare go to sleep tonight without 100% assurance (see following paragraph regarding "assurance") that you are not among those who are tragically self-deluded and self-deceived and who will one day cry out "Lord, Lord" (Mt 7:21-note) even though during their time on earth they continually practiced lawlessness, a practice which itself is a clear "marker" of their still unregenerate state, because they lack the power to say "no" to their old nature (cp 2Ti 3:5-note, be willing to read and heed Paul's commands in 2Co 13:5-note) How can a person who is unsure about his or her salvation gain true assurance? (cp 1Jn 5:10 11 12 13 - Especially from 1Jn 5:13, what is the practical step one can take to assure one's assurance? [Clue: What are "these things"? See 1Jn 2:29, 3:9, 14, 4:7, 5:4] cp Ro 10:17-note If that passage is true [which it is], "listen" to the following Words... Heb 6:11 12-note, Sin damages assurance = Ps 32:3-note ["The Spanish inquisition with all its tortures was nothing to the inquest which conscience holds within the heart." - Spurgeon] Assurance is a lifelong fight = 1Ti 6:12 Assurance is to be prayed for = Eph 1:18, 19-note; Assurance is God's will and gift to be received = Ro 8:16-note)? How can we know that we have entered through the narrow door of Mt 7:13, 14-note? (See Jn 20:31, 2Co 5:17-note) Matthew 13:41 (At the end of the Great Tribulation) The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, Matthew 23:28 Even so you too (the "religious" ones! Look out! Religion does not save! Only relationship with Christ and a new heart saves!) outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Matthew 24:12 And because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. Romans 4:7 (note) "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. (Paul quotes Ps 32:1 - Spurgeon's note) Romans 6:19 (note) I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. 2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness (the Antichrist -1Jn 2:18, 22, 4:3, 2Jn 1:7, the Beast - 6" class="scriptRef">Rev 13:3, 4, 5, 6, 6, the Little Horn - Da 7:8, 11, 20, 21, the prince who is to come - Da 9:26, the king Da 11;36, 45) is revealed, the son of destruction, 2Thessalonians 2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Titus 2:14 (note) (Christ) Who gave Himself for (substitution) us, that He might redeem (buy with a price - His precious blood - 1Pe 1:18, 19-note) us from every (how many?) lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession (It is not so much "who we are in Christ" but "Whose we now are" beloved!), zealous for good deeds (Good deeds are "God" deeds, not our plans and programs, but His will done on earth as it is in heaven - see Eph 2:10 [see notes] for where "good deeds" originate. We need to be alert to and ready to walk in those good deeds.). Hebrews 1:9 (note) "Thou (Christ) hast loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee With the oil of gladness above Thy companions." Hebrews 10:17 (note) "And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." 1John 3:4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. Anomia describes those who live immoral, ungodly, unrighteous lives as a matter of continuous practice. They hate God’s righteousness and perpetually live as if they were sovereign over God’s law. Lawlessness is used by John as the definition of sin, who writes that... Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. (1Jn 3:4) Godet says that lawlessness is contempt of the standard of right written in the law of every man's conscience (Ro 2:14, 15) (Romans Commentary - Online) Vine writes that... Lawlessness” (anomia) is not merely transgression of a law, nor simply its nonobservance; it has a far deeper significance; it denotes the denial or rejection of law or restraint, in the spirit of self-will and resistance to God. This is what characterizes sin. (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson ) Barclay adds that anomia is... the sin of the man who knows the right, and who yet does the wrong: the sin of the man who knows the law, and who yet breaks the law. The first of all the human instincts is the instinct to do what we like; and therefore there come into any man’s life times when he wishes to kick over the traces, and to defy the law, and to do or to take the forbidden thing. (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press) Impurity defiles the being, whereas lawlessness violates the law of God. Impurity refers to inward and lawlessness to outward sin. The unregenerate person is both internally and externally sinful, and as he lives out his sinfulness it results in further lawlessness. Like a cancer that reproduces itself until the whole body is destroyed, sin reproduces itself until the whole person is destroyed. Like a vicious animal, sin’s appetite only grows when it is fed like the "beast" God warned Cain about in Genesis declaring that... "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, Sin (here personified as a ferocious, ravenous beast) is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." (Genesis 4:7). Lawlessness birthing further lawlessness is reminds one of cancer which reproduces itself until the whole body is destroyed, sin reproduces itself until the whole person is destroyed. After the brilliant writer Oscar Wilde’s homosexuality and other deviant behavior was made public, he wrote, “I forgot that what a man is in secret he will some day shout aloud from the housetop.” Another famous writer, Sinclair Lewis, was the toast of the literary world and received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1930. To mock what he considered the hypocrisy of Christianity, he wrote Elmer Gantry, the fictitious story of a Bible-pounding evangelist who was secretly an alcoholic, a fornicator, and a thief. Few people know, however, that Lewis himself died an alcoholic in a third-rate clinic outside Rome, a devastated victim of his own sinful life-style. His lawlessness led to further lawlessness. Spurgeon comments that this verse... wants no explanation. In the days of our sin, we sinned with all our power. There was not one part of us but what became the willing servant of sin: and we went from iniquity into iniquity, and now the Cross has made us entirely new, and we have been melted down, poured out into a fresh mold. Now, let us yield every member of our body, soul, and spirit to righteousness, even unto holiness, till the whole of us, in the wholeness and consequently the holiness of our nature, shall be given unto God. ><>><>><> As you submitted yourselves to sin most cheerfully and voluntarily, and yet were slaves under it, so now come, and be slaves under Christ with most blessed cheerfulness and delight: endeavor now to lose your very wills in his will, for no man’s slavery is so complete as his who even yields his will. Now, yield everything to Christ. You shall never be so free as when you do that, never so blessedly delivered from all bondage as when you absolutely and completely yield yourselves up to the power and supremacy of your Lord. SO NOW PRESENT YOUR MEMBERS AS SLAVES TO RIGHTEOUSNESS RESULTING IN SANCTIFICATION: houtos nun parastesate (2PAAM) ta mele humon doula te dikaiosune eis hagiasmon: Regarding the phrase so now Morris writes that Now Paul urges them to a different course. Now that Christ has come, now that atonement has been made, now that they are living in a time of eschatological significance, they must act differently. They have given up slavery to evil; they must accept slavery to righteousness (see on v. 18) with all that that means. This is “with a view to sanctification” (CBSC), that is, to becoming holy as befits the slave of God. The lives of the Roman Christians are to reflect the reality of their full commitment to the service of God. (Ibid) Charles Hodge explains that... The slave is bound to serve his master, and the obedience of the believer to God is no less certain. The one is slavery, because the obedience is independent of the will and coerced, but the other is perfect freedom, because it is given from the heart and with the full consent of the will. Yet both are a slavery as far as the certainty of obedience is concerned. (Romans Commentary - online) MASTER FRUIT Impurity Lawlessness Further Lawlessness Righteousness Sanctification (Holiness) Based on what Paul has just said, he now gives a clear command we are to obey and act upon, making a decisive choice of our will, the result of which will be our progressive growth in holiness (progressive sanctification). When we were initially justified by faith, God's Spirit made us positionally holy in Christ, complete in Him (thus we are called "saints", "holy ones" or set apart ones = positional sanctification), but in this verse Paul is calling for us to participate in the process that takes place in (positionally holy) "saints", the process of growing in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, progressively becoming more and more in our daily experience what we are in our position. As we daily chose to obey what is right (righteousness), empowered by God's Spirit and His ever present grace (transforming power in this context), we grow in conformity to His Son. That is our Father's great desire for us as His children. Does that make sense? Now that we are justified sinners who have been born again and changed into fruit bearing followers of Christ, we are to give ourselves willingly to this process of change. Beloved, let me ask you...are you giving yourself willingly to this end? Or to ask it another way, who are you yielding your members to? To your former harsh "master", Sin (impurity and lawlessness) or to your new kind "Master", God (righteousness)? You will have many opportunities each day to yield your will and your members to God. Don't pass up these opportunities (often in the form of trials, adversity, affliction, most of which are relatively "small" but sometimes "big") to grow more like Christ. Make it your goal each day, under grace not law. Be careful of falling into the trap of "subtle legalism"! For example, don't begin your day or week by writing out a list of do's and don'ts and "trying" to keep them (in your own natural power) - that is legalism for you are placing yourself under the law and such acts will yield no progressive sanctification. Get up each morning, yielding yourself to God as a living sacrifice, putting on the full armor of God and then going forth into the new day with joyful anticipation, expecting to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.