Some people use St. Paul’s views in his letters to the Corinthians and to Timothy to say that homosexuality and homosexuals are bad.
What do the Bible verses say?
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the
kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the
sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor soft
men, nor men who have sex with men, nor thieves,
nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor
swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:
9-10
We know that the law is made not for righteous people
but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinners,
the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers
or mothers, for murderers, for prostitutes, for men who
have sex with men, for kidnappers and liars and
perjurers. 1 Timothy 1:9-10
How do we know that these verses criticize only
penetrative (anal) intercourse between males and
not all male-male sex?
Both verses criticize males who have sex with males. One
Greek word (arsenokoitai) used for such people literally means
males-bed or male-bedders, i.e. males who go to bed with
males for sex. The word comes from the Leviticus verses
prohibiting men penetrating men and therefore has a similar
meaning here. A second Greek word (malakoi), used in 1
Corinthians only, literally means soft men and, in this context,
means men who are anally penetrated by other men.
Therefore the 2 words used in 1 Corinthians cover both the
man who does the anal penetration and the man who is
penetrated. In 1 Timothy only the man who penetrates is
criticized.
What were the reasons for this criticism of male-male
penetrative sex?
The 2 main reasons for this criticism appear to be:
• It was thought that God made men to sexually penetrate
and women to be penetrated. Therefore a penetrated
man would be acting like a woman and this would be
wrong.
• Men penetrating men reminded people of the practice of
strong or unruly men sometimes raping weaker men, as
was attempted at Sodom and Gibeah.
What does the criticism of male-male penetration
mean for men who are attracted to other men?
If a man is attracted to or loves other men without having sex
with them, the criticism of male-male penetration is irrelevant.
The Bible has positive stories of non-sexual same-sex
attraction and love, e.g. David and Jonathan, Jesus and two of
his followers.
What does the criticism of male-male penetration
mean for men who have sex with other men?
The criticism of male-male penetration does not apply to
straight, bisexual and gay men who have such penetrative sex
provided that no one is harmed, directly or indirectly, by the
penetration. See how this conclusion is reached.
What is the relationship of these verses to other
Bible verses?
Paul’s criticism of male-male penetration in 1 Corinthians and 1
Timothy repeats his similar criticism of sex between males in
Romans 1:27 (shameful lusts and shameful acts and men were
inflamed with lust for one another). It also reflects the
prohibition of sex between males (don’t let another male
penetrate you) in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. In each of these
cases, the criticism or prohibition refers only to male-male
penetration, not to other forms of sex between males.
What does Paul mean?
In 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10, Paul uses 2 Greek
words to refer to males who have sex with other males. The
words are arsenokoitai and malakoi.
Arsenokoitai
Arsenokoitai is one of the Greek words used to mean men who
have sex with men (or more accurately males who have sex with
males) in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10. It refers to the
active or penetrating man in anal sex between males.
Arsenokoitai literally means males-bed or male-bedders, i.e.
males who go to bed with males for sex. Paul appears to have
created it by joining the two words arsenos (male) and koiten
(bed or sexual-lying) in the Septuagint Greek translation of
Leviticus 20:13, which prohibits the sexual lying of a man with a
male. The Corinthian Christians and Timothy would have
easily recognized the meaning of the word from its constituent
parts. It seems that Paul intended that arsenokoitai cover all
penetrating males who have sex with males.
The Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other
Early Christian Literature defines arsenokoites as a male who
engages in sexual activity with a person of his own sex,
pederast 1 Cor 6:9 …… of one who assumes the dominant role
in same-sex activity, opposite malakoi …… 1 Tim 1:10; Pol 5:3.
(3rd Edition, p 135).
Arsenokoitai refers only to males who actually have penetrative
intercourse with other males. It does not refer to males
attracted to other males without the sexual activity. It covers
any male who has penetrative sex with another male, whether
homosexual, bisexual, or primarily heterosexual but having
occasional sex with men.
Malakoi
Malakoi is the other Greek word used to mean men who have
sex with men (or more accurately males who have sex with
males) in 1 Corinthians 6:9. It probably refers to the passive or
penetrated person in anal sex between men.
The basic meaning of malakoi, when applied to people, is soft
men with a frequent consequent meaning of effeminate men ie.
men acting softly or gently like women in various ways. While it
is not clear what Paul really means by malakoi, this discussion
may help to clarify its meaning.
The conclusion of the discussion is that the case for malakoi
meaning men who have passive sex with other men appears to
be stronger than its meaning effeminate men, particularly
because Paul criticizes men who have sex with men elsewhere
in his letters (Romans 1:27) but does not similarly criticize
effeminate men.
False views about these passages
Arsenokoitai should be translated as “homosexuals” (this is
false)
There are three reasons why arsenokoitai should not be
translated as homosexuals (as appears in TNIV, NASB,
Holman, NLT, Net, NKJV)
1. The Third Edition of the Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament and Other Early Christian Literature defines
arsenokoites as a male who engages in sexual activity with a
person of his own sex, pederast 1 Cor 6:9 …… of one who
assumes the dominant role in same-sex activity, opposite
malakoi …… 1 Tim 1:10; Pol 5:3. (page 135) The references
to practices homosexuality and sodomite in earlier editions of
the Lexicon have been removed.
2. While dictionaries usually define homosexual in terms of both
same-sex orientation and same-sex activity, arsenokoitai refers
only to the same-sex activity. Using homosexuals incorrectly
covers those men of homosexual orientation who do not
partake of same-sex activity, i.e. those who are celibate. On
the other hand, there are also men who are bisexual or who
are primarily heterosexual but have occasional sex with men,
eg. in prisons where there is no sexual access to women, or in
certain countries where such sex is culturally allowed if the
heterosexual is the insertive partner. Such men see
themselves as heterosexual or bisexual and would strongly
object to being called homosexual. Therefore they would
(wrongly) not see themselves as being covered by arsenokoitai
if it is translated as homosexuals.
3. The word homosexuals covers both same-sex attracted
males and same-sex attracted females. It is therefore
inappropriate as a translation of arsenokoitai, which specifically
refers to males only.
Malakoi should be translated as “male prostitutes” (this is false)
There are six reasons why malakoi should not be translated as
male prostitutes (as appears in NIV, TNIV, Holman, NLT, NCV,
NRSV)
1. The Third Edition of the Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (page 613)
states that male prostitutes is too narrow a rendering of
malakoi.
2. There are no known instances of malakoi being used to
directly mean male prostitutes in ancient Greek or Greco-
Roman times.
3. Paul’s writing style indicates that he would have been more
likely to use a direct word such as pornoi if he had meant to
refer to male prostitutes instead of using a word (malakoi) with
multiple meanings, none of which directly refers to male
prostitutes. While Paul did indeed use pornoi earlier in the
same verse, its translated meaning of the sexually immoral is
more general than prostitutes.
4. The use of male prostitutes (in the sense of effeminate call-
boy) was supported by Gordon Fee (The First Epistle to the
Corinthians) and Robin Scroggs (The New Testament and
Homosexuality). Male prostitutes was Fee’s best guess
because malakos is immediately followed by arsenokoitai
(244). For Scroggs, the use of malakos would almost certainly
conjure up images of effeminate call-boys if the context
otherwise suggested some form of pederasty (65), and
arsenokoitai provided this context (108). However as both
authors recognized, malakos was not a technical term used to
describe effeminate male prostitutes (Fee 244) or pederastic
people (Scroggs 64). Further, arsenokoitai does not mean just
pederasts but all males who have sex with males. Accordingly,
neither author has made a convincing case for the use of male
prostitutes as a translation of malakoi.
5. Some people might misunderstand male prostitutes to mean
men who sell their sexual services to women instead of the
male-male sex of Paul’s time. Also, there is nothing in the
immediate context to indicate that the selling of sexual services
is involved.
6. It is possible that Paul may have used malakoi as a
euphemism for pornoi because he used pornoi earlier in the
verse. However, this seems unlikely because the derivation
would be malakoi’s main meaning of soft, then its associated
meaning of effeminate men, a subset of whom are men who
have passive male-male sex, some of whom may be male
prostitutes. The association is very indirect.
Other interpretations
The Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance give
excellent background accounts and various
interpretations of 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10
References
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early
Christian Literature, Third Edition, rev. and ed. by Frederick
William Danker, 2000
Perseus Digital Library
Henry George Liddell & Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon,
revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones
with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie, 1940
John H. Elliott, “No kingdom of God for softies? or, what was
Paul really saying? 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 in context”, Biblical
Theology Bulletin, Spring 2004. This article is also here. It
gives a thorough look at the meanings of malakoi and
arsenokoitai.
Dale B Martin, “Arsenokoites and Malakos: Meanings and
Consequences,” in Biblical Ethics and Homosexuality: Listening
to Scripture, ed. by Robert L. Brawley, 1996, pp. 117-36.
C T Lee, Paul’s Malakos: Its Evolution from Classical Greece
Through the Roman World. This paper is here.
J. B. DeYoung “The Source and NT Meaning of Arsenokoitai,
with Implications for Christian Ethics and Ministry”, The
Master’s Seminary Journal 3/2 (Fall 1992) pp. 191-215. This
article is also here (pdf). The article has good detailed
background but comes to the wrong conclusion that
arsenokoitai should be translated broadly as homosexuals.
