"Pillows are Sinful?" | Homosexuality & Greek

I really don’t make it a practice to write about the same subject for two days in a row. I just think there’s one more thing that needs to be discussed.
If you read yesterday’s post, you saw where I took an article titled “Ten Things I Wish the Church Knew about Homosexuality” and responded to it, point by point. There were a TON of views. My goal in writing the article was to help Christians have answers to some of the commonly used arguments in favor of homosexuality, and specifically, homosexual marriage. I think there’s one more point that I need to cover.

Before that, though, let’s have a story.

Backyard Football

I loved to play football when I was a kid. Whether it was tag, flag, or tackle, I’d want to be on a team and play. Some of the most fun I had playing football was when it would be an impromptu game with some of my friends from school. The first thing you have to do when you start a game, though, is determine what areas are “out of bounds,” and then you have to determine where the “end zones” are. Now it sounds like it should be objective. For anyone who has ever played tag football in a backyard, you realize objectivity and rules can be thrown out in an instant.

If one kid (usually the kid whose parents owned the back yard) didn’t like the way the game was going, he’d try to change the rules. If I scored a touchdown, he might say that the end zone isn’t where I thought it was, but further down the “field.” How convenient.

The same is true when it comes to many discussions about morality. If someone doesn’t like the direction that things are headed, well, they change the rules. This is certainly true with homosexuality.

Some argue that Paul never talked about homosexuality. Now keep in mind that the English word “homosexual” (in some form) is quite plainly found in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10 in most modern translations. So what’s the argument about?

Well, they say it’s the Greek. Here are the basic ideas behind their argument:

1. One of the words Paul uses, “malakos,” doesn’t mean “homosexual,” but rather only means “soft.” Some will further illustrate by comparing it to a pillow or blanket.


2. The other word, “arsenokoites,” has no meaning attached to it. It was a word unique to Paul, and thus, no one knows what it really means.

I don’t know about you, but that sounds a whole lot like some convenient backyard football rule changes. Those who defend homosexuality don’t like where the discussion is going, so they change, hide, or misconstrue the meaning of Greek words. Of course most people don’t speak koine Greek, either, so when these arguments are thrown out there, it's hard for them to make an intelligent response. Honest people are then confused because they don’t have a good way to disprove this point, which sounds at least plausible.

I want to look at this argument from a couple angles.

Let’s think about this first: There has to be a reason that these words keep getting translated as “homosexual” or “homosexuality.” I haven’t heard of any vast Bible translator conspiracy against homosexuals. One must have to think that those who have invested years of study in translating the sacred text have to have at least a little bit of understanding about the Greek words and their meaning. To suggest that no one really knows what arsenokoites means is inaccurate. Surely the translators must have some idea, or they wouldn’t have translated the words the way they did.

Also, look at the context in which these words fall. In 1 Corinthians 6:9, the words fall in the midst of a discussion of who will not “inherit the kingdom of God” (i.e., go to Heaven). In 1 Timothy 1:9-10, the words appear in a description of those for whom the “law” is for – the “lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane.”

Think about this – how could simply being “soft and fluffy like a pillow” ever adequately fit into the context of these passages? Consider that these passages also discuss people who are idolaters, adulterers, thieves, greedy, drunkards, and kidnappers. How does a “fluffy pillow” kind of person fit on a list with those who are lawless, disobedient, ungodly, a sinner, unholy, and profane? Obviously, the translation of the term requires more than the previously mentioned, over-simplified meaning.

We haven’t even looked at the Greek yet. Let’s do that.

The Greek Text

(*This might be something good to write in the margin of your Bible – D.H.)

The phrase in 1 Corinthians 6:9 is translated from the Greek phrase “malakoi oute arsenokoitai.” “Oute” is a conjunction which gives us the word “nor” in most English translations, so we’ll leave it alone. The passage in 1 Timothy 1:10 simply has the word “arsenokoitais.”

Let’s first take a look at the word malakos. It’s found at least four times in the New Testament. In Matthew 11:8 it is used as an adjective to describe soft, fine clothing. The same is true in Luke 7:25. 1 Corinthians 6:9 isn’t referring to clothing, but rather to people. They are soft, fancy, luxurious^[1], even effeminate people. One might also inject the word “flamboyant” into the discussion.

The next word, arsenokoites, is found in both texts. This is the one which many will suggest has no clear meaning. I’d suggest doing a little more research.

Before we do, let’s think about compound words for a moment. If you know that the word “life” refers to the biological process of metabolizing food, growing, etc., and you know that “time” refers to the measure of the duration of a process, then what happens when you put them together and get the word “lifetime?” Could you figure out the meaning of “lifetime” without ever actually looking it up in a dictionary? Sure you could.

That’s why I won’t tell you what it means. You can figure it out on your own.

The word arsenokoites is a compound word. The first of the words is “arsen,” which refers specifically to a male^[2]. Interestingly, it’s the same word used in Matthew 19:4 when Jesus quotes from Genesis 1:27, where we read that “God made them [humankind, D.H.] male and female.”

The second part of the compound word comes from the word “koite.” This word is found at least four times in the New Testament, and can refer to a bed (Luke 11:7), but more often refers to a sexual relationship (bed, Hebrews 13:4; conceived, Romans 9:10; lewdness, Romans 13:13). Notice that at least in Hebrews 13:4, the Biblical idea of the marriage sexual relationship between a man and woman (cf. Matthew 19:4-6) is the topic. This is what’s referenced when the word is used by itself.

Now what happens when you put those words, arsen and koites together into a noun? Well, koites tells us it’s a sexual relationship, and arsen points out that it’s specific to the male gender. So, we have a “word picture” of men lying in bed together for sexual relations^[3].

What Paul was Writing

You see, Paul was writing in such a way as to describe the actions of these people. He wasn’t coining a term, but was describing the sin itself. When you take his words, and you paint the complete picture of dainty, flamboyant men lying in bed together for sex, what do you get?

A word coined near the turn of the 20^th century – homosexual.

Christians, don’t let unfounded arguments stump you. Study the truth, and understand it yourself. Be ready to give an adequate answer when the Faith is challenged (1 Peter 3:15).

-Daniel Howell

---

^[1] Newman, B. M. (1993). A Concise Greek-English dictionary of the New Testament. (110). Stuttgart, Germany: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft; United Bible Societies.

^[2] Mounce, W. D. (2006). Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (1097). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[3] Liddell, H. (1996). A lexicon: Abridged from Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English lexicon (pp 119–120). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.