Part 1 (New Testament - a): Against the Christian Oppression of Individuals on the Basis of Sexual Orientation and Identity
A significant and relevant feature of the issue of homosexuality and Scripture is the small number scriptural passages that are used to address the topic. In fact, there are only six passages of Scripture in the entire Bible that are interpreted as directly addressing the issue. I recognize that there are additional arguments about homosexuality and gender identity that are theological in nature, rather than being directly scriptural in nature. First, I examine the relevant Scripture.
Passage (1) and passage (2): As noted above, the Greek word translated as “homosexual” in some modern translations is the word arsenokoites (αρσενοκοιτης). The only two New Testament occurrences of arsenokoites are 1 Corinthians 6:9 (Note 2) and 1 Timothy 1:10 (Note 3). Both passages present lists given by (the first century Christian teacher and biblical writer) Paul of prohibited behaviors, most of which have clear biblical meanings attested by frequent use and are easily understood. Included in the two above lists are three hapex legomena, one being malakos, which seems to have a basic meaning of "soft" and is translated by the KJV and the NAS as "effiminate," and the second being loidoros, which is translated "reviler" and the third being epiorkos, (Note 4)
I argue here on the basis of the widely accepted principle of biblical interpretation that biblical meaning and significance relies upon how the word is used in context in various biblical and extra-biblical passages of the New Testament era. Words used more frequently have a more established meaning, and words used with extreme rarity may be difficult to define, other things being equal. In the present case, the two words in question in this list, arsenokoites and malakos, have insufficient usage in New Testament Greek, ancient Greek literature, and in the Hebrew Bible to stand as the basis for a significant doctrinal position.
In previous articles I have examined virtually all of the New Testament Scripture that can fit in the category of prohibition of behavior (often called “vice” lists). This analysis identifies approximately 150 different prohibition or vice words in over 500 Scripture references. Within these references I have identified no less than 48 individual (Greek language) prohibition words that are used at least five times in the New Testament, covering the widest range of behavioral prohibitions likely including almost every significant ethical issue you can think of. (Note 5) (Please see my previous articles What is Right, Parts 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12.) Of course the list includes untruthfulness or deceit, adultery and sexual immorality, blasphemy, slander and other forms of abusive speech, coveting and greed, hypocrisy, murder, hate, strife and quarreling, sensuality and lewdness, prostitution, idolatry, jealousy and rivalry, arrogance, fraud and deprivation, uncontrolled drinking, verbal abuse, selfishness, favoritism … Here I have listed over twenty items and I could go on.
The variety and extent of documents and the diversity of authors found in the New Testament provides ample opportunity for the validation of important ethical concepts through a multiplicity of references and contexts. The issue of homosexuality is simply not among the list of ethical topics that are clearly addressed by the New Testament. The question arises, how can we construct a significant moral doctrine or directive which affects untold numbers of individuals, families and churches based a scant collection of references with obscure meaning?
The issue of homosexuality is simply not among the list of ethical topics that are clearly addressed by the New Testament.
The variety and extent of documents and the diversity of authors found in the New Testament provides ample opportunity for the validation of important ethical concepts through a multiplicity of references and contexts. The issue of homosexuality is simply not among the list of ethical topics that are clearly addressed by the New Testament. The question arises, how can we construct a significant moral doctrine or directive which affects untold numbers of individuals, families and churches based a scant collection of references with obscure meaning?
My methodology in my analysis is not of the nature of a survey of the literature, as if a majority of scholarly opinion would be sufficient to remove the obscurity around this word and these verses. The questions around the meaning of these texts indicate that it is possible that the word arsenokoites refers, in simple terms, to homosexual sexual activity. Or, it could refer to pedophilia, or to homosexual prostitution. Some argue that the linguistic construction indicates “many beds,” which would indicate a meaning of promiscuity, such as the use of the Greek word for “bed” in Romans 13:13 where the translations are, variously, "sexual promiscuity," "licentiousness," "debauchery," or "unchaste.” The use of the words in question is highly debatable. The witness of the rest of the New Testament is clear on behaviors characterized as licentiousness or sexual promiscuity. It is anything but clear on the meaning of the word arsenokoites.
I am puzzled by the reasoning of authors who quote multiple scholars in debate over subtleties of possible meaning and historical factors as if this will close the historical distance and create clarity of meaning when such is not warranted, particularly in this case of a dis legomena which is not well attested elsewhere in ancient Greek literature. After such an exercise by Hall, he quotes NT scholar Gordon Fee who actually says “this is the first appearance of arsenokoites in preserved literature, and subsequent authors are reluctant to use it, especially when describing homosexual activity.” (Hall, p. 39, quoting Fee). So Hall is, in one breath, stating that Paul seems to have created or invented the word and that after Paul’s use of the word (two times in the New Testament), that it is rarely found elsewhere, and then, in the next breath, coming to the conclusion that he knows definitely what the word means. I am mystified by this course of reasoning, and I have to conclude that Hall and others have other reasons for their conclusions, but decisive evidence for the meaning of this word is lacking. (And this is leaving aside the question of Paul's tendency to state behavioral directives which we must interpret to be culturally specific, a topic addressed in the next article.)
Due to the rare instances of use, and the historical distance, it simply is not clear from this single word what behavior is in question. Paul's use of the word in the two passages above provides a very thin and insufficient textual foundation for building a doctrine on such a significant and debatable issue. Granted, there are other relevant passages. In what follows, I will examine these in turn.
Notes
(2) 1 Corinthians 6:9-11: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor malakos, nor arsenokoitai, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor loidoros, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”
(3) 1 Timothy 1:8-10: “But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that the law is not made for righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and arsenokoitais and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever is contrary to sound teaching.”
(4) Arsenokoites is a dis legomena, having two occurrences in the Greek New Testament. There are many hapex legomena and dis legomena in the New Testament. We should take a very guarded approach to the meaning of these words, unless the issue or doctrine in question is well attested by other Scripture. It is well known in New Testament Greek text analysis and language analysis in general that the meaning of words is not reliably determined by analysis of the component parts. The linguistic construction of arsenokoites includes arsen which means “male,” and koites, another word of extremely rare New Testament use, with only 4 uses, with the general meaning "bed," or, by context, possibly marriage bed, or sexual intercourse, or sexual excess, or variously by translation, debauchery, licentiousness, or sexual promiscuity (see Romans 13:13).
(5) For my analysis of the frequency and specific passages dealing with sexual behavior, see What is Right, 8: Sexual Immorality, 3/12/2020. Article includes a list of Greek words, the frequency of use, and the accompanying NT references.
Bibliography
Bauer, W. (1979). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Second Edition ed.). (W. F. Gingrich, Trans.) Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Friedrich, G. K. (Ed.). (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament: Abridged in One Volume. (G. W. Bromiley, Trans.) Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans / Paternoster Press.
NASB-NIV Parallel New Testament in Greek and English. (1987). (A. Marshall, Trans.) Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.
NCBC - North Clackamas Bible Community. (2010, October 25). Vice and Virtue Lists from the New Testament. Retrieved from Bible Study Resources from NCBC: https://bcresources.net/2200000-nts-frg12-lit-frm-vv-lists-nt-art-bcrx/
Renn, S. D. (Ed.). (2005). Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words. Peabody, Massachusetts, USA: Hendrickson Publishers.
Strong, J. L. (1984). Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Thomas, R. L. (Ed.). (1981). New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.