Meaning
an adjective, "learned in the law" (see Tit 3:9, under LAW, C, No. 1), is used as a noun, "a lawyer," Mat 22:35, Luk 7:30, Luk 10:25, Luk 1:11-46, Luk 11:52 (Luk 11:53 in some mss.); Luk 14:3, Tit 3:13, where Zenas is so named. As there is no evidence that he was one skilled in Roman jurisprudence, the term may be regarded in the usual NT sense as applying to one skilled in the Mosaic Law.
The usual name for a scribe is grammateus, a man of letters; for a doctor of the law, nomodidaskalos (see DOCTOR). "A comparison of Luk 5:17 with Luk 5:21, Mar 2:6, Mat 9:3 shows that the three terms were used synonymously, and did not denote three distinct classes. The scribes were originally simply men of letters, students of Scripture, and the name first given to them contains in itself no reference to the law; in course of time, however, they devoted themselves mainly, though by no means exclusively, to the study of the law. They became jurists rather than theologians, and received names which of themselves called attention to that fact. Some would doubtless devote themselves more to one branch of activity than to another; but a 'lawyer' might also be a 'doctor,' and the case of Gamaliel shows that a 'doctor' might also be a member of the Sanhedrin, Act 5:34" (Eaton, in Hastings' Bib Dic.).
