“You Keep Using That Word…”
There’s a famous line from the classic film The Princess Bride, where the character Inigo Montoya turns to Vizzini, who keeps using the word “inconceivable,” and says,
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
It’s played for laughs, but the line captures something quite serious when it relates to Scripture. The mistranslation of Hebrew words and phrases, or Greek, can distort what Scripture actually says, and what the Father actually means.
For centuries, English Bibles have translated the word Torah as “Law.” But the word, Law, carries with it the weight of courtrooms, punishments, and cold legality. It conjures up images of rigid systems, harsh judgment, and performance-based religion. For most Christians today, “law” is automatically seen as the opposite of “grace,” something to be discarded now that Jesus has come, or the Law of Moses versus the Commandments of Christ.
But here’s the problem: That’s not what the word Torah means.
In Hebrew, Torah (תּוֹרָה), which comes from the root יָרָה (yarah), doesn’t mean law, it means instruction, guidance, direction, as in to shoot an arrow, to hit the mark. Therefore, it is our Father teaching his children how to live in covenant with Him. He’s revealing the path to life. That’s what the Torah is: the Father’s voice in written form, calling us to maturity, to holiness, to covenant loyalty.
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- Proverbs 1:8 says, ”Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching [Torah].”
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- Proverbs 3:1, “My son, do not forget my teaching (Torah), but keep my commands (Mitzvah) in your heart”.
When we transgress His instruction, it’s not just about breaking rules, it’s about breaking fellowship. And because He loves us, He disciplines us, not to shame us, but to restore us. Discipline is proof of sonship.
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- “Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you.” Deuteronomy 8:5.
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- “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” Hebrews 12:6
So why do English translations of Scripture translate the word Torah as Law?
The blunt, short answer is ignorance. The kinder, more gentle answer is translation tradition, shaped by Latin and Greek frameworks, not Hebraic thinking.”
1. The Greek Septuagint and the Word Nomos
When the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek (known as the Septuagint) around the 3rd–2nd century BCE, the word Torah (תּוֹרָה) was often rendered as νόμος (nomos), the Greek word for law.
This made sense in a Greco-Roman legal culture where law referred to statutes, regulations, and enforceable codes. But it missed the relational and instructional nuance of the Hebrew.
So when the New Testament authors used Greek, they inherited this translation. Paul, writing in Greek, used nomos to refer to Torah, but with a deep understanding of its covenantal and heart-based context.
Note: The Greek of the Septuagint (LXX) is a Hebraic or Semitized form of Koine Greek, distinct from the Classical Greek of philosophers like Plato and Aristotle. This makes the Septuagint a transitional linguistic bridge between the Hebrew worldview and the Greco-Roman world.
2. Latin Vulgate and the Influence of “Lex”
Later, when Jerome translated the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate, 4th century AD), nomos became lex, which means “law.” This solidified the idea of Torah as primarily a legal system, a code to be obeyed rather than a relationship to be walked out.
3. Protestant Reformers and Legal Frameworks
When the Reformers translated the Bible into German and English, they continued this tradition, translating Torah as “law.” Think of Luther’s German Bible or the King James Version. The Reformation was wrestling with legalism vs. grace, and unfortunately, that struggle got mapped onto the Scriptures.
The power and simplicity of Hebrew
One of the most profound and poetically rich features of the Hebrew language is that it doesn’t define things merely in abstract terms. It also defines them functionally: by purpose, relationship, and effect.
Take the word Torah. As we’ve explored, it comes from the Hebrew root יָרָה (yarah), meaning to shoot, to aim, to throw straight, to hit the mark. In its essence, Torah is instruction that aligns you with the target of God’s will, to hit the mark of our Father’s purpose.
Now contrast that with the Hebrew word for sin: חָטָא (chata’), which literally means to miss the mark. In ancient archery, this was the term used when an archer’s arrow veered off target and missed the mark.
Sin, then, isn’t just a violation of a rule, it’s a failure to live in alignment with the Father’s purpose for your life. This is seen in Hebrews 6:1 regarding the first of the elementary principles of Christ, which is repentance from dead works. Dead works can be anything in your life that isn’t pleasing to the Father, whether it would be counted as a sin by Scripture.
This contrast in Hebrew between hitting the mark and missing the mark is obviously not accidental. It is built into the very language our Father chose to reveal Himself. Torah is how the Father teaches us, His children, to aim our lives. Sin is what happens when we ignore, distort, or depart from that instruction.
The contrast is astonishing:
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- Torah = hitting the mark (living as God intended)
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- Sin = missing the mark (living outside His intent)
So yes, most translators, theologians, pastors and teachers keep using that word, “law.” I know it doesn’t mean what they think it means.
To read more on the Law of Moses versus the Commandments of Christ controversy, check out the article: The Law of Moses versus The Commandments of Christ?
Thanks for reading,
Blessings