In his letter to the Corinthian congregation (and later in a letter to Timothy) Paul sets out the moral codes for Christians to live by and to keep the congregation clean. Among many things, he says those committing homosexual acts will not inherit God's Kingdom.
“What! Do YOU not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, ... nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men … will inherit God’s kingdom.” – 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10
“[The] law is promulgated, not for a righteous man, but for persons lawless and unruly, ungodly and sinners, ... fornicators, men who lie with males, ... and whatever other thing is in opposition to the healthful teaching” – 1 Timothy 1:9, 10
Pro Gay Argument
The ancient Greek words used for “men who lie with men” in these verses are arsenokoitai in 1st Corinthians, and arsenokoitais in 1st Timothy. The words were coined by Paul. They never appeared in Greek literature before he used them. There were other words for “homosexual” at the time. Had he meant to refer to homosexuality, he would have used one of the words already in existence. Boswell claims that Paul was probably referring to male prostitution, which was common at the time. If the words don’t mean prostitute, they probably meant some sort of immoral man, but not a homosexual.
Response
In 1984 David Wright demonstrated that arsenokoitai and arsenokoitais were formed from the Greek Septuagint’s translation of the Mosaic Law, in the scriptures that prohibit homosexuality.
Leviticus 18:22
English: “lie down with a male the same as you lie down with a woman”
Greek: “meta arsenos ou koimethese koiten gynaikos”
Leviticus 20:13
English: “when a man lies down with a male the same as one lies down with a woman”
Greek: “hos an koimethe meta arsenos koiten gynaikos”
Paul coined 179 terms in the Christian Greek scriptures. Just because they are original does not mean they cannot be understood. He did not simply make up a few random sounds and string them together – he used words already in existence in Leviticus and put them together to form a compound word.
Arsenos means “man”
Koite means "lay" or can also mean “bed” or “couch”
Paul took a description in Leviticus "men who lay," and turned it into a noun: "man-layers." Therefore, the compound word clearly refers to men – and men only – in a sexual way.* We can also see here that arsenokoitai and arsenokoitais have no connotations of prostitution, despite what some claim.
Clearly, then, the Apostle Paul did not simply 'invent' the word. He formed the new compound word directly from the Greek translation of the Mosaic Law. Boswell’s efforts were “dealt a simple and decisive blow” when this was discovered, writes Thomas E. Schmidt.
However, there’s additional reasons to not believe Boswell. Why would the word really mean “male prostitution” when male prostitution is already mentioned previously in the same verse? The New International Version renders the verse “Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral . . . nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders . . . will inherit the kingdom of God.” Would it make any sense to list male prostitutes twice?
And if the word arsenokoitai simply meant some sort of “immoral man”, what would be the point of putting it in the list? Fornicators, adulterers and male prostitutes have already been mentioned. Why mention yet another type of man who is vaguely immoral in some unspecified way?
Conclusion
It is clear that arsenokoitai means homosexuals, and was taken directly from the Greek translation of the Mosaic law. Hence, such efforts to undermine these verses are pretty shallow, and easily disproved. The New World Translation accurately says, “Neither fornicators … nor men who lie with men [arsenokoitai - "man-layers"] … will inherit God’s kingdom.”
< Back to Romans Chapter One | Main Menu | NEXT: The Book of Jude>
* The word is somewhat like our modern word homosexual. It’s another compound word, this time of homo, which is from the greek for "same", added to the word sexual. The word koite is also used at Hebrews 13:4 to talk about the “marriage bed.”