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What Else Did Paul Say?

Take heart, my friends, because we are almost to the end of the so-called "clobber passages." We will look at the next two at the same time, since they are both attributed to Paul and their wording is almost identical. The first passage comes from 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, while the other passage comes from 1 Timothy 1:9-11.

In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Paul says, "Don't you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don't fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people — none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God." Sometimes, "male prostitutes" and "homosexuality" are translated together as "men who have sex with men," supposedly because the original Greek words refer to the active and passive partners in male on male sex.

Similarly, in 1 Timothy 1:9-11, Paul says, "For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders. The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders, liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God."

I know that these quotes are a lot to take in, so let's tackle 1 Corinthians 6 first. This time, we will look, not to the passage around the quotes, but to the original Greek. The words in question are malakoi (μαλακοι) and arsenokoitai (αρσενοκοιται).

First, malakoi (μαλακοι). It has been translated many ways in different versions of the Bible, including "effeminate," "male prostitutes," "boy prostitutes," and "sexual perverts." However, when used in Matthew 11:8 and Luke 7:25 to describe clothing, malakoi is translated as "soft," "fine," or even "expensive." It can also be translated as "loose" or "pliable." When applied to human beings, this could refer to somebody with lax or lazy morals, someone who is easily swayed from following Jesus or from doing what is right. In non-biblical writings of the same time period, malakoi was used to describe men who were lazy or cowardly. That is much different than being a sexual pervert, a male prostitute, or simply effeminate!

Arsenokoitai (αρσενοκοιται) is much harder to translate. This is because it seems as though Paul was the first to use the word. The KJV Bible translates arsenokoitai as "abusers of themselves with mankind," since the term "homosexuality" was not coined until the late nineteenth century. Other translations include "homosexual perverts," "men who have sexual relations with other men," or "sodomites" (which, as you may have guessed, is a term that comes from the misunderstanding of the true sins of Sodom and Gomorrah). But what did Paul mean by it?

Arsenokoitai is a compound word made up of arsen, which means "man," and koitai, which means "beds." Many translators have taken this to mean a "male who beds other males." But why would Paul make up an entirely new word to say this? After all, the Greek language already had a word for sexual activity between men, which was paiderasste. As a result, Paul's arsenokoitai has perplexed translators for centuries. Some believe Paul was referring to male prostitutes in pagan temples, as he did in Romans 1. Others believe that he was referring to any sex done for economic gain, including prostitution. During the Protestant Reformation, arsenokoitai was translated as "masturbation." However, that translation fell out of favor by the twentieth century.

The point is that since Paul was the first to use the word arsenokoitai, the best that we can do is guess at what he meant. To make it even more difficult, the word was never widely in use, even after he coined it. None of the Greek homoerotic literature of the time uses the term arsenokoitai, and the only other time it appears in the Bible is in 1 Timothy, also written by Paul.

1 Timothy gives a similar story. The Greek word in question is the mysterious arsenokoitai, along with pornos (πόρνος) and andrapodistes (ἀνδραποδιστής). Pornos is often translated as "adulterers," "fornicators," or "immoral persons," while andrapodistes is translated as "men-stealers," "slave traders," or "kidnappers."

This helps us if we realize that the sins in this passage are grouped together deliberately. "Lawless" and "rebellious" are closely related, as are "ungodly" and "sinful"; those who "consider nothing sacred" and who "defile what is holy"; those who "kill their father," "or mother," and "or commit other murders"; those who are pornos, arsenokoitai, or andrapodistes; and those who are "liars" and "promise breakers." The first category refers to people who break the law; the second refers to those who are sinful; the third refers to those who are unholy; the fourth refers to murderers; and the sixth refers to liars. So what did Paul mean by the fifth category?

When pornos, arsenokoitai, and andrapodistes are lumped together, their meaning becomes clearer. Pornos comes from the Greek word "to sell," referring to male prostitution. Andrapodistes translates as a slave trader or a kidnapper. So if we translate arsenokoitai within the context of the passage, we come to the conclusion that Paul is condemning the male prostitute (pornos), the man who pays to lie in bed with him (arsenokoitai), and the slave trader who enslaved the male prostitute (andrapodistes). He is not condemning homosexuality itself, but he is condemning slavery, and in particular, the sex slave trade.

1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy are a good example of how our English translations cannot fully express the diversity of expression that the biblical writers used in their native Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Things are not always what they seem, and in this case, our assumptions are proven to be wrong. What Paul has to say about homosexuality is in truth nothing at all. What he is arguing against is really idolatry and slavery, both of which I'm sure we can agree are wrong.