What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alamo Square Press
Published: 2000-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

Seven. 1 Corinthians & 1 Timothy: Abusive Male-Male Sex

Two other texts in the Christian Testament have something to do with homogenital acts, and they can be treated together. Their meaning depends on the translation of two Greek words—malakoi and arsenokoitai—and their translation is highly debated.

The bottom line on this discussion is as follows: Malakoi has no specific reference to homogenitality. On the other hand, arsenokoitai, which occurs in two texts, may be some kind of reference to male same-sex acts. If it is, these texts condemn wanton, lewd, irresponsible male homogenital acts but not homogenital acts in general.

Wide Variation in Translations

In both texts those words occur in lists of sinners of various kinds. It is hard to determine what any words in a list mean because the words have no context to help suggest a meaning. All that can be determined in the present case is that the words refer to something evil. But to what?

In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, the 1952 Revised Standard Version translates the two words as one. The result is as follows:

Do not be deceived: neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals (oute malakoi oute arsenokoitai), nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.

The 1977 version of that Bible translates those two words as “sexual perverts.” The 1989 New Revised Standard Version translates the two words separately as “male prostitutes and sodomites.”

1 Timothy 1:9-10 in that same 1989 translation reads as follows:

the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, fornicators, sodomites (arsenokoitai), slave traders, liars, perjurers and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching...

Various modern versions translate those words differently. Arsenokoitai is rendered as “homosexuals,” “sodomites,” “child molesters,” “perverts,” “homosexual perverts,” sexual perverts” or “people of infamous habits.”

Malakoi is rendered as “catamites,” “the effeminate,” “boy prostitutes” or even as “sissies.” The 1985 New Jerusalem Bible provides the most accurate translation: “the self-indulgent.” But until the Reformation in the 16th Century and in Roman Catholicism until the 20th Century, the word malakoi was thought to mean “masturbators.” It seems that as prejudices changed, so have translations of the Bible.

The Catholic Church’s recent New American Bible invites the same cynicism. It translated arsenokoitai as “practicing homosexuals.” How amazing! A first-century text would now seem to teach exactly what Roman Catholicism began teaching only in the mid-1970s: to be homosexual is no fault, but to engage in homogenital acts is wrong. The attempt to nuance the translation is certainly understandable and welcome. Still, this translation reads a whole new worldview into the original Greek text, for there was no elaborated awareness of sexual orientation in first-century Christianity. Even worse, “practicing homosexuals”—like “homosexuals” and “homosexual perverts” in those other translations—includes women as well as men. But as we shall see, arsenokoitai certainly refers only to men. At the instigation of Dignity/USA, a

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