Cited from www.religioustolerance.org.. the term "homosexuals"
has no meaning during Paul's time.. it was a termed coined rather
recently..
I Corinthians 6:9:
The passage: In his first epistle to the church at Corinth, Paul
lists many activities that will prevent people from inheriting the
Kingdom of God (heaven). Robertson's Word Studies refers to this
passage as: "a solemn roll call of the damned even if some of their
names are on the church roll in Corinth whether officers or
ordinary members."
The King James Version of the Bible translates verse 9 and 10
as:
1Corithians 6:9-10: "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."
(Emphasis ours)
This verse has been translated in many ways among the 25 English
versions of the Bible that we have analyzed. The two activities of
interest here have been variously translated as:
effeminate. In the English language, this covers a wide range of
male behavior such as being unmanly, lacking virility. One might
think of the characters "John," the receptionist on NYPD Blue, or
"Jack" on Will and Grace.
homosexuals, variously described as: "men who practice
homosexuality," (ESV);
"those who participate in homosexuality," (Amplified);
"abusers of themselves with men," (KJV);
"practicing homosexuals," (NAB);
"homosexuals," (NASB, CSB, NKJ, The Great Book: The New Testament
in Plain English);
"homosexual perversion," (NEB);
"homosexual offenders," (NIV);
"liers with mankind," (Rhiems); and
"homosexual perverts." (TEV)
Many of these entries are restricted to gay males; lesbians are
often excluded. Unfortunately, the term "homosexual" is commonly
defined in two different ways: as a behavior (engaging in same-sex
activity) or as a sexual orientation (being sexually attracted only
to members of the same sex). Most of the biblical translations
appear to refer to behavior rather than orientaiton.
male prostitutes, also described as "men kept for unnatural
purposes." It is not clear whether the term "male prostitutes"
(NIV, NRSV, CSB) is restricted to homosexuals or may also include
men who are heterosexual prostitutes.
catamites, also described as "boy prostitute." This is a young male
who is kept as a sexual partner of an adult male. (Jerusalem Bible,
NAB, James Moffatt)
pederasts: male adults who sexually abuse boys; an abusive
pedophile (an adult who molests young children) or abusive
hebephile (an adult who molests post-pubertal teenagers).
perverts: a person engaged in some undefined sexual perversion.
(Phillips, The Great Book: The New Testament in Plain
English)
sodomites: a name derived from the city of Sodom which is described
in Genesis 19. (NRSV, NKJ). The men of the city are described as
wanting to rape male visitors; many Christians interpret this as a
blanket condemnation of all homosexual behavior.
Comparing religious conservatives and liberals: Conservatives and
liberals often interpret this passage very differently.
Conservatives typically use the NIV or KJV versions of the Bible.
They generally interpret passages literally, and believe that Paul
was inspired by God to write epistles which were inerrant. These
translations condemn "homosexual offenders" and "abusers of
themselves with mankind." Essentially all Fundamentalist and other
Evangelical Christians believe that this verse condemns all
homosexual activity, whether by males or females. They view it as
valid today as it was in the first century CE. Verse 6:11 states
clearly that once gays and lesbians become saved, then they will no
longer wish to engage in homosexual activities. They will
presumably become heterosexuals
From a forum on homosexuality and the Bible in the Philadelphia
Inqurier: 1
A. Mohler: "I believe it explicitly relates to homosexuality. It
has been understood that way in the Christian Church from the
earliest era."
T. Crater: "It [malakoi] can have a meaning that's not carnal. But
the way it's used -- it's embedded in the same context with
adultery -- it's pretty clear what the meaning is...A hallmark of
Evangelicals is that we take a literal, normal, face-value
interpretation of the Bible. Some people attempt to keep some form
of Christianity and hold on to homosexuality, too. It leads to
strange interpretations of the Bible."
Liberals generally do not believe in the inerrancy of the Bible.
They believe that Paul was writing from his own knowledge and
experience. During the 1st century CE, even an educated person like
Paul would know very little about human sexuality, compared to
present-day sexuality researchers . From the same forum: J. Nelson:
"Paul used the Greek word malakoi. They translate it as effeminate
and so on. It could mean that; it might not. It can mean soft. Paul
was a Jewish theologian. Someone from a Jewish background would
consider that behavior unacceptable. Many Greeks did not."
D. Bartlett: "There's considerable debate over what the Greek words
mean. We just don't know. I've read most of the debate, and I don't
know."
K. Stendahl: "When people come to me -- deeply Christian people --
and say, `This is the way I am created. This is how God made me,
how He makes me feel love,' I have to respect that. We know many
things people [like Paul] did not know at that time. One should
read the Bible with some kind of reason." 1
Further discussion: The NIV contains the phrase: "homosexual
offenders." Suppose for the moment that Paul had written
"heterosexual offenders" or "heterosexual sexual offenders." We
would not interpret this today as a general condemnation of
heterosexuality; only of those heterosexuals who commit sexual
offences. Perhaps the appropriate interpretation of this verse is
that it does not condemn homosexuals. Rather it condemns
homosexuals who engage in sexual offences.
The original Greek text describes the two behaviors as "malakoi"
(some sources quote "malakee,") and "arsenokoitai." Although these
is often translated by modern Bibles as "homosexual," we can be
fairly certain that this is not the meaning that Paul wanted to
convey. If he had, he would have used the Greek word "paiderasste."
That was the standard term at the time for male homosexuals. We can
conclude that he probably meant something different from persons
who engaged in male-male adult sexual behavior.
"Malakoi" is translated in both Matthew 11:8 and Luke 7:25 as
"soft" (KJV) or as "fine" (NIV) in references to clothing. It could
also mean "loose" or "pliable," as in the phrase "loose morals,"
implying "unethical behavior." In the early Christian church, the
words were interpreted by some as referring to persons who are
pliable, easily influenced, without courage or stability.
Non-Biblical writings of the era used the world to refer to lazy
men, men who cannot handle hard work, and cowards. [John] Wesley's
Bible Notes defines "Malakoi" as those "Who live in an easy,
indolent way; taking up no cross, enduring no hardship." 6 One
knowledgeable but anonymous reviewer of our web site said that the
word translated here as "effeminate" really "means men not working
or advancing ideas so as to concern themselves with love only. Not
working for the good of the whole....Our present culture has all
sorts of connotations associated with the word 'effeminate' that
simply don't apply" to Paul's era. It would seem that the word
"effeminate" can only be regarded as a mistranslation.
"Arsenokoitai" is made up of two parts: "arsen" means "man";
"koitai" means "beds." The Septuagint (an ancient, pre-Christian
translation of the Old Testament into Greek) translated the Hebrew
"quadesh" in I Kings 14:24, 15:12 and 22:46 as "arsenokoitai." They
were referring to "male temple prostitutes" - people who engaged in
ritual sex in Pagan temples. 4 Some leaders in the early Christian
church also thought that it meant temple prostitutes. Some
authorities believe that it simply means male prostitutes with
female customers - a practice which appears to have been a common
practice in the Roman empire. One source refers to other writings
which contained the word "arsenokoitai:" (Sibylline Oracles
2.70-77, Acts of John; Theophilus of Antioch Ad Autolycum). They
suggest that the term refers "to some kind of economic exploitation
by means of sex (but no necessarily homosexual sex)." 2 Probably
"pimp" or "man living off of the avails of prostitution" would be
the closest English translations. It is worth noting that "Much
Greek homosexual erotic literature has survived, none of it
contains the word aresenokoitai." 5
Still others thought that it meant "masturbators." At the time of
Martin Luther, the latter meaning was universally used. But by the
20th century, masturbation had become a more generally accepted
behavior. So, new translations abandoned references to masturbators
and switched the attack to homosexuals. The last religious writing
in English that interpreted 1 Corinthians 6:9 as referring to
masturbation is believed to be the [Roman] Catholic Encyclopedia of
1967.
Many would consider catamites, (a boy or young male who engaged in
sexual activities with men) to be a likely valid translation for
the first behavior. Such boys were often slaves, kept by rich men
as sex partners. The second term might then refer to the men who
engaged in sex with the catamites. That is, they are abusive
pedophiles. The New American Bible 3 contains a footnote which
reads:
"The Greek word translated as 'boy prostitutes' [in 1 Cor. 6:9]
designated catamites, i.e. boys or young men who were kept for
purposes of prostitution, a practice not uncommon in the
Greco-Roman world....The term translated 'practicing homosexuals'
refers to adult males who indulged in homosexual practices with
such boys."
Harper's Bible Commentary (199
comments that the passage refers to "both the effeminate
male prostitute and his partner who hires him to satisfy sexual
needs. The two terms used here for homosexuality... specify a
special form of pederasty that was generally disapproved of in
Greco-Roman and Jewish Literature."
Many religious liberals might agree that the center portion of 6:9
might be accurately translated as: "male child abusers and the boys
that they sexually abuse." i.e. the two behaviors probably relate
to that portion of pedophiles who are child rapists, and the male
children that they victimize. The verse would then refer to the
crime of child sexual abuse and has no relation to homosexuality in
the normal sense of the term: i.e. consensual sexual relations
between adults of the same gender.
It is worthwhile to check the words attributed to Jesus by the
author of the Gospel of Matthew. He also had a list of sins that
could bring doom on a person: Matt 15:18-20: "...those things which
proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile
the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These
are the things which defile a man..." It is worth noting that
homosexual behavior is not one of the behaviors that is mentioned
in this passage. One might conclude that Jesus did not consider it
important.
Most liberal Christians, gays, lesbians, therapists, and human
sexuality researchers believe that an adult's sexual orientation is
fixed. A gay or lesbian Christian can go through a religious
conversion and be "saved." But that act will not lead to a
conversion to heterosexuality. Having a religious conversion may
well result in people abandoning various forms of sinful behavior,
such as slander, theft, alcoholism, greed, swindling etc. But one's
sexual orientation cannot be changed. Homosexual behavior is not
intrinsically sinful any more than heterosexual behavior is. Either
can be sinful if they involve exploitation or manipulation or are
not carried out safely in a committed relationship. Most
conservative Christians disagree, and believe that homosexuality
refers to behavior, not orientation
