HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE BIBLE
1 Corinthians 6:9 & 10
Don’t you know that the unholy will not inherit the realm of God? Don’t kid yourselves. None of these will inherit the realm of God: the immoral, idolaters, adulterers, malakoi, arsenokoitai, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, slanderers nor extortionists will inherit the realm of God.
Paul presents the reader with a catalogue of those whom he declares will not inherit the realm of God. The word in the original Greek which I have paraphrased unholy is akidos and means unjust; by extension wicked, by implication treacherous; especially heathen: unjust, unrighteous.
Two words I’m sure caught your immediate attention: malakoi and arsenokoitai. You won’t find these words in any translation–you’ll find various English words and phrases instead. What I have shown above are the words in the original language. The truth is, no one knows absolutely for sure what the words mean, and therefore what Paul really meant.
Comparing the words in different translations you
will note wide variations on how these words are defined:
King James: effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind;
New King James: homosexuals nor sodomites
Jerusalem: sodomites or catamites
Revised Standard (just one word): homosexuals
New International: male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
Contemporary English: behaves like a homosexual
Inclusive New Testament: hustlers and pederasts
Oxford Annotated: male prostitutes, sodomites
I find it very interesting that the Contemporary English Bible uses the phrase,
behaves like a homosexual. If the stricture is against someone who
"behaves" like a homosexual, then the writers of this translation believe that
the words don’t refer or apply to homosexuals, but to heterosexuals who behave
(read: engage in homosexual sexual behavior) like homosexuals. Could this again
be a reference to the cultic temple or shrine prostitution?
Why such a wide range of differences among the translations? The words are extremely obscure. Malakoi (or malekos) appears only four times in the New Testament. Three times it means soft, as when Jesus used it to speak of John the Baptist in Matthew 11:8: "…but what went you out to see? Behold a man clothed in soft (malekos) raiment? Behold, they who wear soft (malekos) clothing are in kings’ houses" (KJV). The other time the word appears is in Luke’s version of this same speech (7:25).
While Strongs Greek Dictionary of the New
Testament reads as follows: malakos = soft (i.e. fine clothing)
figuratively, a catamite–effeminate, some Greek dictionaries define it
to mean morally weak. Martin Luther translated it weaklings.
In Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words, if you look up the word
soft, the book reads: See Effeminate. There you will find the
original: malakos: soft, soft to the touch, is used (a) of raiment; (b)
metaphorically, in a bad sense, "effeminate," not simply of a male who practices
forms of lewdness, but persons in general who are guilty of addiction to sins of
the flesh, voluptuous.
Note the word catamite(s) used in the Jerusalem Bible as indicated above, as well as in the Strongs. Tom Horner in his book, Jonathan Loved David identifies catamites as:
"…the extremely effeminate men who turned homosexuality into a profession. These were the catamites–the homosexual prostitutes of ancient Greece, the so-called "(holy) dogs" of the Canaanite shrines, and the eunuch followers of the goddess Cybele…In some societies, such as that of ancient Phrygia, the catamites were looked upon with honor and respect; but in Hebrew society, in all periods that we know about, they were not.” Again we find the reference to shrine prostitutes–those who engaged in same-gender sex for purposes of idol worship–idolaters.
Horner continues:
"In classical Greece, too, effeminate men were generally looked down upon. Why? Because they represented the exact opposite of the heroic or noble type of love that was so admired from the time of the legendary Hercules, who was erotically linked with two men (and numerous women) to that of the Emperor Hadrian. This heroic model was idealized as the most noble–and in some cases, romantic–type of love. In Plato’s Symposium it is praised as the greatest expression of physical love. On the contrary, to go with a catamite was something ordinary. Any man could do it; and in some societies almost every male did at one time of another. Furthermore, as patriarchy increased its grip on the Eastern Mediterranean societies, the man who was lacking in "manly" traits, like the female whom he so closely resembled, was more and more stigmatized.” (Pgs 22, 23).
The second word used in the captioned scripture, arsenokoitai (arsenokoites) is even more obscure. It appears only twice in the New Testament–here and in 1 Timothy 1:10. This word is so obscure that Vine’s doesn’t even attempt to define it. Instead of a definition, Vine’s gives the only two scripture references where the word appears. Strongs uses: a sodomite: abuser of (that defile) self with mankind. Derived from arsen = male, man, and kemai = to lie outstretched.
Rev. Robert Arthur, in his Homosexuality in the Light of Biblical Language and Culture, speaking of pagan worship writes:
"It was quite common, therefore, to find gods and
goddesses receiving a gift of appreciation and worship from their adherents in
the form of sexual activity. To facilitate the offering of such gifts, men and
women were attached to (temples) to receive these gifts, and became known as
temple prostitutes (homosexual as well as heterosexual)….
Fertility worship of this type and similar expression continued for at least the
first 100 years into the Christian era in such places as the Temple of Diana at
Ephesus. In the Greek language the word used for the temple prostitutes at these
places of pagan worship was arsenokoites. It was not until around 200-250 C.E.
that marked homophobia…began creeping into theology. By this time, the cultic
sex worship had begun to die down and the word used by Paul to describe temple
prostitutes was beginning to be obsolete. It is important to note that…At the
time of Christ the word in common usage which meant "homosexuality" was
homophilia…That word was used in the Greek language until well after the time of
Paul’s death. But this word is never used in Scripture.
Father John McNeill, a Jesuit priest, in his work, The Church and the Homosexual writes that a second century use of the word in Apology of Aristedes seems to indicate that it means an obsessive corrupter of boys. Likewise, Professor Robin Scroggs of Chicago Theological Seminary, in his book, New Testament and Homosexuality, takes the position that both words–malekos and arsenokoites refer to the active and passive partners in the Greek practice of pederasty, which should not in any way be confused with homosexuality. Pederasty is child molestation, pure and simple. A pederastic relationship existed between a lover (usually a mature male), and the beloved, a boy young enough not to yet have whiskers. The lover was always the active partner; the beloved was required to be passive. Not every relationship was sexual in nature, but nearly all were. The beloved was not to be sexually satisfied–that was the prerogative of the lover only. When the beloved became old enough to grow whiskers and otherwise become more manly, he was exchanged for a younger person. The reason for this was because the ideal was a boy who resembled a woman. Boys would pluck facial hairs, let their hair grow–some even wore makeup. Professor Scroggs contends that the boy was the malekos, and the adult the arsenokoites referred to in this passage of scripture.
While pederasty appears to be homosexual in nature, the reality is that the persons engaging in this activity were for the most part heterosexuals. Pederasty was considered appropriate to a boy’s training for manhood. The relationship was impermanent, lasting only as long as the boy kept his youthful appearance. There was no mutuality–no mutual satisfaction or pleasure, and the boy was dehumanized–used by the lover like a thing, not as a person to love and to treasure. On the other hand, the beloved regularly received gifts from the lover. The beloved, in turn, often became the beloved of several lovers–all the more lucrative for him–becoming, finally, a male prostitute, for as long as his beauty held out.
Pederasty, while culturally accepted, was morally wrong on many fronts, as demonstrated above. It cannot in any way be construed to be a description of homosexuality, which is the emotional, spiritual, romantic, and yes, sexual love between mutual partners of the same gender.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible, published 2001, and considered one of the most authorative of all translations, offers the following footnote to the captioned verses:
The Greek terms translated male prostitutes and sodomites do not refer to "homosexuals," as in inappropriate older translations; "masturbators" and male prostitutes might be a better translation.
This ends our study for today.