γράμμα, 
-τος, 
τό, (
γράφω), 
that which has been written;
1. a letter i. e. the character: 
Luke 23:38 [R G L brackets Tr marginal reading brackets]; 
Galatians 6:11.
2. any writing, a document or 
record;
a. a note of hand, bill, bond, account, written acknowledgment of debt (as 
scriptio in 
Varro sat. Men. 8, 1 [cf. Edersheim ii., 268ff]): 
Luke 16:6f. ([Josephus, Antiquities 18, 6, 3], in L text 
T Tr WH plural 
τὰ γράμματα; so of one document also in Antiph., p. 114 (30); Demosthenes, p. 1034, 16; 
Vulg. cautio).
b. a letter, an epistle: 
Acts 28:21; (Herodotus 5, 14; Thucydides 8, 50; Xenophon, Cyril 4, 5, 26, etc.).
c. τὰ ἱερὰ γράμματα the sacred writings (of the 
O. T.; [so Josephus, Antiquities prooem. § 3; 10, 10, 4 at the end; contra Apion 1, 10; Philo, de vit. Moys. 3, 39; de praem. et poen. § 14; leg. ad Gai. § 29, etc. — but always 
τὰ ἱ. 
γ.]): 
2 Timothy 3:15 [here T WH omit; L Tr brackets 
τά]; 
γράμμα equivalent to the written law of Moses, 
Romans 2:27; 
Μωϋσέως γράμματα, 
John 5:47. Since the Jews so clave to the letter of the law that it not only became to them a mere letter but also a hindrance to true religion, Paul calls it 
γράμμα in a disparaging sense, and contrasts it with 
τὸ πνεῦμα i. e. the divine Spirit, whether operative in the Mosaic law, 
Romans 2:29, or in the gospel, by which Christians are governed, 
Romans 7:6; 
2 Corinthians 3:6f [but in 
2 Corinthians 3:7 R G T WH read the plural written 
in letters, so L marginal reading Tr marginal reading].
3. τὰ γράμματα, like the Latin 
litterae, English 
letters, equivalent to 
learning: 
Acts 26:24; 
εἰδέναι, 
μεμαθηκέναι γρ. (cf. German 
studirt haben), of sacred learning, 
John 7:15. (
μανθάνειν, 
ἐπίστασθαι, etc., 
γράμματα are used by the Greeks of the rudiments of learning; cf. Passow, i. p. 571; [Liddell and Scott, under the word, II. a.].) 
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