The word ‘law’ is not specifically used in the Hebrew Scriptures so the word for ‘lawless’ is used for those who are wicked. To be without ‘law’ is to be considered wicked. Rejecting Torah makes a person wicked and lawless.
“Then I will tell them to their faces, ‘I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:23).
In Greek anomia means without law or lawless, iniquity, the attempt to overthrow divine government.
Vines Expository Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words: “In 1 John 3:4 there is the real meaning of the word, ‘everyone that doeth sin (a practice not a committal of an act) doeth also lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. This definition of sin sets forth its essential character as the rejection of the nomia or will of God ‘law’ and the substitution of the will of self.”
The rejection of the ‘will of God’ is the rejection of God’s Torah. This rejection is considered lawlessness.
“Antinomianism comes from a Greek expression meaning lawlessness. It is both a theological and pejorative term for the teaching that followers of Yeshua are not obligated to obey laws relating to ethics or morality. The term was first used by Martin Luther during the Reformation against Roman Catholicism. Because it is largely a pejorative term, few, if any, would explicitly call themselves “antinomian,” therefore, it is usually a charge leveled by one group against another. This view is the polar opposite of legalism, the notion that obedience to religious law is necessary for salvation. In this sense, both antinomianism and legalism are considered errant extremes.
For Judah [the writer of the book of Jude], as well as for other New Testament authors, there is no law or teaching which replaces the Torah, its way of life, and a common Jewish understanding of ethics and morality. This is a distortion of who Yeshua really is and his relationship to the Torah” (A Messianic Commentary: Jude on Faith and the Destructive Influence of Heresy, Rabbi Joshua Brumach, Forward by Dr. David H. Stern).
“Everyone who keeps sinning is violating Torah — indeed, sin is violation of Torah” (1 John 3:4, Complete Jewish Bible).
Paul speaks of a ‘man of lawlessness’ who will be revealed; however, his spirit is already at work in this world. The preaching of lawlessness, a doctrine of anti-Torah, is the spirit of lawlessness. This spirit will ultimately birth complete lawlessness in the world.
“For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work … the lawless one will be revealed …. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of the Adversary displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs, and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refuse to love the truth (d’var) and so be saved (yasa) (2 Thessalonians 2:7-10).
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