Of Saints & Shepherds

Quick Facts

• Pronunciation: no-mo-dē-dä’-skä-los
• Strongs Concordance: #G3547
  • a teacher and interpreter of the law: among the Jews
    • of those who among Christians went about as champions and interpreters of the Mosaic law
• Appears 6 times in 3 verses in the New Testament
• Common translations
  • “teacher of the Law” (1x)
  • “teachers of the Law” (2x)

Where and how nomodidaskalos is used in the New Testament

1. Luke 5:17 NASB – “17 One day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.”

2. Acts 5:34 NASB – “34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time.”

3. 1 Timothy 1:7 NASB – “7 wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.”

My observations and perspective

In the three verses where the word nomodidaskalos is used, no mention is made of doing so in the local church. One can even detect a certain derogatory application of the word as those who seek to be interpreting the Law to others.

There is no mention of local church leadership implied or otherwise.