Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!
Genesis
Leviticus
Judges
Romans
Timothy
Home
Pantheism
Scriptural Essays
My Thoughts
Site Updates
Theater Resume
Email Me
1 Corinthians 6:9 & 10

(9)Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolators nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders (10)nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.


The problem we find in Corinthians is based on the interpretation of two words: Malakoi and arsenokoaitai. As we will see, there has been much debate over the centuries as to exactly what Paul meant by these terms... especially the word arsenokoaitai.
It seems to be a word Paul coined and therefore has no earlier usages (Biblical or secular) by which a single interpretation can be surmised. Later use of the term is confined mostly to Church literature and those uses themselves reveal the disagreement the Church has had over the meaning of the word.
The word malakoi literally means "soft" and the word arsenokoaitai seems to be a combination of two words; arseno which would translate to "male" and koitai which means "marriage bed" or "copulation".
With that in mind, let's take a look at some historical interpretations of these two words. As I have done above, I will put the translation of malakoi in italics and the translation of the word arsenokoaitai in bold. (The information marked with an asterick [*] comes from Rosewoman's website. The rest comes from various Bibles I own.)
*In 1525, Tyndale used weaklings and abusers of themselves with mankynde.
*In 1539, the Great Bible used weaklynges and abusers of themselves with mankynde.
*1560 - Geneva Bible - wantons and bouggerers.
*1568 - Bishops Bible - effeminate and abusers of themselves with mankinde.
*1582 - Rheims Bible - effeminate and liers with mankinde.
1611 - King James Version - effeminate and abusers of themselves with mankind.
*1811 - Revised Version - effeminate and abusers of themselves with men.
*1901 - American Standard - effeminate and abusers of themselves with men.
1924 - Century Translation - catamites (young boys kept [often bought] and used by men [usually heterosexually married men] into their adolescence.) and sodomites (temple prostitutes).
*1946 - Revised Standard - sexual perverts. (Both words are translated as one here.)
*1958 - Phillips Translation - voluptuous persons and sodomites.
1958 - The Amplified New Testament - those who participate in homosexuality.
1961 - The New Testament an Expanded Translation - those who are of a voluptuous nature and men who are guilty of sexual intercourse with members of their own sex.
1963 - The New American Standard Bible - effeminate and homosexuals.
*1966 - Today's English Version - homosexual perverts.
1966 - The Jerusalem Bible - catamites and sodomites.
1967 - The Living New Testament - homosexuals.
1970 - The New English Bible - homosexual perversion.
1973 - New International Version - male prostitutes and homosexual offenders.
While all of these translations are sexual in nature, and some do indeed have to do with homosexual conduct, there
Genesis
Leviticus
Judges
Romans
Timothy
Home
Pantheism
Scriptural Essays
My Thoughts
Site Updates
Theater Resume
Email Me
remains a wide disparity between translators as to what type of homosexual conduct is being condemned. They range from 'homosexual' to 'temple prositutes' to 'male prostitutes' to 'pedophiles'. These three are not in any way synonomous.
So how are we to know for sure what Paul meant when he dictated these words? There is no way for us to know absolutely. We have to rely on other, clearer Scripture to interpret this one correctly. As we have seen in our study of Leviticus , temple prostitutes were not necessarily homosexual by nature, nor were homosexuals themselves being targeted by God's prohibition. Rather, it was those who entered into homosexual conduct in the course of their idol worship who were being condemned.
Likewise, in Romans , we find no condemnation of homosexuals. Instead we find those heterosexuals who, again because of their idol worship, were entering into homosexual behavior against their nature.
Therefore, there is no reason to believe that Scripture is now doing an about-face on what it has already failed to say, nor that Paul is changing what he believes on the subject in this one misunderstood verse of Scripture - a verse whose interpretation has never been fully agreed upon by scholars throughout the centuries.
In the light of other Scripture on the subject, the most reasonable interpretation of this verse would be 'temple prostitute'.
As to the other word in question... The translators have used 'effeminate', 'voluptous person', 'male prostitue' and 'cadamite'. The most likely translation seems to be effeminate. But here, we need to excercise caution.
The word 'effeminate' has a vastly broader meaning now than it did back in the time of Paul. Today the word can apply to those men who may have soft, fine features or who use mannerisms more closely associated with the idealized female of the species. And even those arbitrary lines - the ones separating the manly men from the effeminate men - are drawn in vastly different places depending where you are and what time you are living in.
The word in Paul's time was most often used in the context of sexual behavior. Within that behavior you have the passive role and the active role. When Paul lived, for any man, in any sexual situation, to take on the passive role was unnatural. It would identify you as effeminate.
That standard is no longer applied to heterosexual couples today. Women are often the ones who initiate the sexual act and are often the ones who take on the active role in the act itself. This is true even in good Christian homes.
If the standard is no longer accepted by the Church in monogomous, heterosexual marriages, then neither can it be accepted as it applies to homosexual unions.
Once again, Scripture says nothing about homosexuality per se.