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In response to
"what i find fascinating about a portion of the debate on the bible and homosexuality"
by
tRuMaN
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details, I had to look up how to spell the word,
Posted by
tRuMaN (aka Truman)
Mar 11 '10, 13:14
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1 Corinthians 6; 1 Timothy 1
In 1 Corinthians 1Co 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
The word translated as "practicing homosexuals" has challenged scholars for centuries, and has been alternately rendered as "abusers of themselves with mankind" (KJV), "sodomites" (YLT), or "men who practice homosexuality". The original term ἀρσενοκοίτης (arsenokoitēs), (Greek ἄῤῥην / ἄρσην [arrhēn / arsēn] "male"; κοίτην [koitēn] "bed: with a sexual conotation"), is very unusual if it means homosexuality, as Greek culture already used the word androkoitēs and languages rarely use different words for the same action. Paul's use of the word is the earliest example and within the Bible, it only occurs in this passage and in a similar list in 1 Timothy 1:9-10.
It is likely that the use of ἀρσενοκοίτης (arsenokoitēs)is taken from the Septuagint (LXX) reading of Leviticus 20.13 where the root forms (Greek ἄῤῥην / ἄρσην [arrhēn / arsēn] and κοίτην [koitēn] both appear.
1Timothy 1:9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a 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 10: and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching,
In 35 A.D., the secular philosopher Philo wrote that arsenokoitēs referred to temple prostitution while later Christian literature used the word to mean variously prostitution, incest or rape without any single clear meaning. In a treatise on sexual sin attributed to Patriarch John IV of Constantinople, in a paragraph dealing with coercive and non-procreative sex, is a sentence that would translate as In fact, many men commit the sin of homosexuality with their wives.
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