Thanks for your question (which is referring to 1 Corinthians 6v9), and apologies for the delay in responding. Finally most of my uni assignments are over – yay! It’s a tricky question to answer concisely, because interpretation of this verse really hinges on how they translate the original Greek words ‘malakoi’ and ‘arsenkoites’, which more recent translations have interpreted as ‘men who practice homosexuality’ (ESV), ‘male prostitutes and homosexual offenders’ (NIV), and ‘effeminate and abusers of themselves with mankind’ (KJV). There is a lot of debate about how these words should be translated because their exact meaning in this context is unclear – especially the meaning of the word ‘arsenkoites’, because this is the first ever recorded use of the word. Some people even suggest that Paul made it up himself.
Each translation of the Bible interprets these words slightly differently – for a comprehensive list of how a range of different Bibles have translated them, then follow this link. ‘Malakoi’ only appears three times in the Bible – once here, and twice mentioned by Jesus, where he describes the clothes of rich rulers as ‘malakoi’ (Matthew 11v8, Luke 7v25). Other literary texts from the period have suggested that it means either a male prostitute, or a catamite (a boy kept by a child molester). The literal meaning of the word is ‘soft’. ‘Arsenkoites’ is only used twice in the Bible, with the second time being in a similar list in 1 Timothy 1v9-10. Its compound words ‘arsen’ and ‘koites’ mean ‘male’ and ‘bed’, so it obviously refers to some kind of male homosexual activity, but it is not exactly clear what that activity is, and whether it is a generalised, or a specific, condemnation – that is, is Paul condemning people who practice a specific homosexual activity in a specific context, or all gay people, for all time.
Side B perspective
The Side B perspective on this verse suggests that the practice of any kind of homosexuality is a sin, but, like other sins, it is forgiven, redemption is granted, and gay people can enter the kingdom of God, as long as they remain celibate. People who subscribe to this perspective suggest that Paul made the word ‘arsenkoites’ up, and combined it with ‘malakoi’ in order to provide a general condemnation of homosexuality in the New Testament by referring to both the passive and active partners in anal intercourse. They point out that Septuagint (the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament which Paul would have been educated in) translates Leviticus 20v13, i.e. the verse that says it is an abomination for a man to lie with another man, using the words ‘arsenos koiten’. So they think that Paul took those terms and combined them, as a continuance of the Old Testament law in the New Testament.
On the surface, this sounds like a fairly convincing argument; however, I see some major flaws with it:-
- If Paul was trying to make up a general term for homosexuality, which would act as a condemnation of all homosexual behaviour for all time, then why did he make up a term that was specific to men? Surely he would also have coined a similar term referring to homosexuality practiced among women?
- This argument assumes that Paul conceptualised homosexuality as an orientation, rather than a behaviour – i.e. that homosexuals experience continued sexual and romantic attractions to people of the same gender. However, there is no evidence that an ancient Greek understanding of same-sex gender orientation existed, even though same-sex behaviour clearly existed. The word ‘homosexuality’ did not exist before the mid-19th century, and it wasn’t used in a Bible translation until the mid-20th century. Consequently, the use of ‘homosexuality’ as a translation of ‘malakoi’ and ‘arsenkoites’ is an example of how a translator has taken a modern idea, and applied it to an ancient word. It was not what Paul originally intended when writing the text.
- It also assumes that the Leviticus reference was a general condemnation of homosexuality, when there is actually a lot of evidence to suggest that it was a reaction to homosexual practices in cultic pagan worship rituals, and therefore a specific and contextual reference.
Side A perspective
On the other hand, the Side A perspective suggests that Paul was referring to a specific homosexual behaviour in this verse, and that he wasn’t condemning all homosexual behaviour for all time, or saying that people who practice homosexuality couldn’t go to heaven. This is the perspective that I subscribe to, and I believe that, as well as the evidence against the Side A perspective listed above, there is strong evidence to suggest that ‘arsenkoites’ refers to some kind of homosexual power abuse or subjugation. The reason that I believe this is because how ‘arsenkoites’ is used in other Greek literature of the period.
Every other recorded use of arsenkoites is in a “sin” list, similar to Paul’s. Scholars have noted that sin lists tend to put words of similar type together. In almost all the lists in which you find arsenkoites (and there are about 80 examples, of which you can read several at the following link) the order of words is very similar – first, there are words referring to sexual sins, (e.g. temple prostitution, adultery), then comes ‘arsenkoites’, then come sins of violence and economics (e.g. stealing, greed, slave-trader, perjurer), and sometimes at the end there are sins of licentiousness (e.g. drunkenness, revelers, foul-mouthed). The positioning of ‘arsenkoites’ is almost always in between the sins of sex and economics, suggesting that it relates to one or both of the two. There are also several examples given by the historian Martin (1996) where arsenkoites is used in lists that are purely related to economics and injustice, with no mention of sexual sins. Combined, these contextual uses suggest that ‘arsenkoites’ is a homosexual act that refers to exploitation or subjugation. The most popular suggestion (also endorsed by Martin, 1996) is that it refers to homosexual slave traders, who would dominate their slaves by forcing them to be the passive partner in anal intercourse.
Conclusion
So, we have two main suggestions for what Paul is referring to in this verse. The first suggestion is that he is condemning every type of homosexual behaviour. The second suggestion is that he is condemning a specific type of homosexual behaviour, related to a contextual practice involving exploitation. Of course, the verse doesn’t exist in isolation. If you read the preceding passages in 1 Corinthians, you can see that Paul is instructing the church on how to deal with disputes. He is criticising them, because many church members were taking disputes with other members to the law courts, when they could be sorted out within the church, because it’s a bad witness, and because it’s behaviour that reflects their former selves, and not their new selves in Christ. Then, immediately preceding the sin list, he says something very interesting – “The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers.” (1 Cor 6v7-8) Basically, what he is saying here is that as Christians, we should be more willing to be the victim of an abuse of power, than to exert our power over others. I think that, in this context, and given that many other words in the sin list refer to some kind of power abuse, that the Side A interpretation of ‘arsenkoites’ is a lot more appropriate for the passage than a Side B interpretation.
To the question-asker, I hope this has allayed some of your doubt and confusion about the verse. If you want to read more, I would highly recommend Jeramy T’s webpage. It is long and very in-depth, but he is extremely well-read, and has researched all the sources very extensively.
