1 Corinthians 6:9-10 & 1 Timothy 1:9-10

These two references can be treated together because there are two Greek words that have been mistranslated to refer to homosexuals. In both cases the exact meaning of the original words is unclear and the translations are tenuous.

The words in question are malakoi and arsenokoitai. The Greek word, malakoi has been translated as: catamites, the effeminate, boy prostitutes and even sissies. The New Jerusalem Bible has the most accurate translation, “self-indulgent.” Up to the Reformation in the 16th century and all the way until the 20th century, in the Roman Catholic church, malakoi was thought to mean “masturbators.”

The word malakos (the plural is malakoi) is really a very simple word that means soft, as in soft clothing or fabric. The best conclusion we can draw is that this word is a general reference to people who are morally loose, or undisciplined, self-centered and only looking after their own pleasure. It has nothing to do with homosexual acts.

The second word in question is arsenokoitai. This has been translated as: homosexuals, sodomites, child molesters, perverts, homosexual perverts, sexual perverts or people of infamous habits. This word is much more difficult to understand because it only appears a few other times in literature outside of the Bible and it is always a part of a list of vices. Basically, scholars are guessing about what it means.

This is a compound word made up of two words, arseno, which refers to men, and koitai, which refers to “lying with,” as in having sex with. Specifically, it refers to the one who penetrates. So a literal English translation might be man lier, or man sleeper, or man penetrator. Now, does this mean the man is the one having the sex, or does it mean the man is the sexual object? We don’t know.

Both words have “traditionally” been used to refer to homosexual people, but recent scholarship has shown they do not refer to homosexual people or homosexual behavior in general. In fact, there was NO word which referred to homosexual people or behavior in general terms. But there were Greek words for particular homosexual behaviors. However, these are not those words.

One theory is that this refers to a kind of pederasty that was manipulative, abusive and widely condemned. Another theory is that it refers to fertility cult participants. While these words may refer to specific homosexual activities, they can’t be taken as references to a homosexual orientation or homosexual people in general.