Arsenokoitais

(1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and 1 Timothy 1:9-10)

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NAS)

"Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God."

1 Timothy 1:9-10 (NKJ)

"Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine."

I will group 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and 1 Timothy 1:9-10 together for discussion purposes because the debate around each centers pretty much around the proper definition of one word - arsenokoitais (Strongs #733). The Greek word arsenokoitais has posed a problem for scholars throughout the years, as it appears to be a ‘slang’ word not commonly used. In fact it only appears twice in Scripture once in 1 Timothy 1:9-10 and again in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.

Because of these translation problems we see these passages interpreted various ways. For instance the King James translates arsenokoitais in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 as “abusers of themselves with mankind”, Worrell translates it as “sodomites” while the NIV, NAS and others translate it as “homosexuals”.

Arsenokoitais has the same translation problems in 1 Timothy 1:9-10. With the King James writing “them that defile themselves with mankind”, ASV is “abusers of themselves with mankind, New King James and Worrell say “sodomites”, NIV has “perverts” while the NAS and New Living write “homosexuals”. So who is right?

One thing is clear. That being that this interpretation debate is a relatively new one. For years these passages were always translated as ‘abuser of self” or “sodomite” (e.g. KVJ and Worrell). Because of the ambiguity of the literal meaning behind arsenokoitais the earlier Bible scholars felt an equally ambiguous ‘catch all’ word such as “sodomite” seemed appropriate enough. They and others since then have pointed out that if Paul wanted to specifically say “a homosexual man” there were certainly words in the Greek language to do so as homosexuality was a rather common practice in both the Greek and Roman cultures (Paul wrote his letters in the Greek language). Paul elected NOT to use these words and instead used the more ambiguous word arsenokoitais. So what DOES arsenokoitais mean?

Strongs (#733) doesn’t offer much help saying that the word means “sodomite” and “abuser of (that defiles self) with mankind.” The same translations used by earlier versions of the Bible such as Worrell and King James (Note: these translations came out long before the current homosexual debate was raging and thus the Bible translators felt no compunction to have to ‘side’ with one group or another…).

Another piece to the puzzle can be found by studying what the sins of the Sodomites really were and gaining clues from that (see the article titled “Sodom and Gomorrah”). God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33) and given half a chance, Scripture will interpret Scripture. Furthermore, all Scripture (if properly interpreted) will ‘line up’ with other Scriptural truths, such as the Law of Agape love that is the great commandment and covenant we are now under (Matthew 22:37-40; Galatians 5:14; Romans 13:8-11; John 13:34). If our conclusions don’t line up with these truths or contradict other Scriptural truths, then we’ve missed it and we need to begin again.

So what does make sense with these passages? Does being a homosexual seem to fit into the same ‘line-up’ as the ones Paul describes in these passages? We can easily see how fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, thieves, drunkards, swindlers, murderers and the like break the great commandment of Agape love. But does a loving homosexual relationship? I just don’t see it. Sometimes a good dose of common sense is good when interpreting the Word of God.

What does make sense is the word “sodomite”, for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were one very unloving pack of totally self-absorbed folks. They cared little about God, nor were they concerned about others. In fact, Ezekiel 16:49-50 describes them as cruel, selfish people who thought nothing of raping and killing strangers. Mercy and compassion were hardly in their vocabulary! Now folks like that I CAN see breaking the great commandment of Agape Love! But every homosexual person that’s ever walked the planet earth? No…

So there lay the subject with me until I came across an article written by Paul R. Johnson for “Second Stone” magazine titled "A New Look at Arsenokoitais" (1994 January/February issue). In this article he wrote:

"The Greek compound term arseno-koitais literally means ‘the male who has many beds’. The word arsen means ‘male’, the adjective o means ‘the’, and the term koitais is defined as ‘many beds’. Thus, the entire phrase means a male with multiple bed-partners; a promiscuous man. Everywhere that the word koitais is used in the plural in the Bible denotes promiscuity. However, when the same word is used in the singular form, the Bible gives approval because the singular denotes monogamy."

Finally a literal description of the word that makes sense! Furthermore we can clearly see the ‘lifestyle’ of the people of Sodom in these passages. Translated in this manner, these verses now fit in with the rest of the Bible (e.g. the Law of Love).

So what is God teaching us through these passages? First, that He is not for or against any particular sexual orientation. What God is against is a lifestyle of casually jumping from one bed partner to the next without regard to the consequences of such a union. Such sexual practices are self serving (read SELFISH), don’t foster long lasting commitments between partners and can spread diseases such as AIDS like wildfire!

Are there homosexuals who practice such a lifestyle? You betcha and God is against it 100%! But God is also against heterosexuals practicing the same kind of ‘lifestyle’ (or “death-style”) as well.

For a more in depth look at this subject read "Calling the Rainbow Nation Home"

by Rev. Sundby

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