Beaudreaux
Well-Known Member
Second part 2 of 2:
Paul could not have meant malakos in the literal sense of 'soft', other than to apply a critical stereotype such as "softies", perhaps with Stoic and Hellenistic Jewish influences in the background. What makes the persons "soft" is unclear and unspecified. Some interpreters have argued that it could refer to a man who undertakes a passive sexual role, thus resembling a woman in practice. (32). That interpretation relies heavily on reading Leviticus 18:22 into the text. The Greek nuance could be given as 'effeminate, which may be close to the meaning, as the KJV and ASV render the word. However, we have another interpretative problem here, for the KJV, 17th C. Elizabethan meaning of 'effeminate' may not carry the same meaning that we apply today. What is clear is that the term is derogatory and appeals to prejudice. Paul most likely used the word in the same way within a broadly based social connotation of ridicule of the effeminate person. (33) Such ridicule appealed to sexist prejudices of the time, in which being soft, lazy, cowardly or enjoying a life of luxury and ease were characterisations of things feminine. This is the proper way to render Matthew 11:8, also, where malakoi and malaka designate effeminate, "soft" persons, as found in king's houses ("queens"?) . However, if effeminacy was the intended Pauline usage, Attic Greek had available two other words that Paul could have used. These are androgunos, from which we derive the modern word 'androgyny', and thelubrios. Neither word was used by Paul so his meaning may have had broader connotations, suggesting a class of persons such as that carried by the term "'queers" or "queens" today.
In Plutarch's Erotikos the similar word, malthakos, is used in relation to passive sexuality in men. (34) Similar usage by the imperial physician, Caelius Aurelianus, shows that the word related to heterosexual men. (35) Thus malakos does not mean 'homosexual' or 'male prostitute.' It could be taken as a reference to effeminacy or perhaps to the passive partner in a pederastic relationship. However, this latter interpretation may be reading more into the word than Paul intended, for 'malakos' is not one of the usual words used to describe pederastic partners. These are the words 'erastes', (the lover), 'eromenos', (the beloved), and 'paidika' (the beloved 'boy' or youth). (36) Thus 'malakos' appears to be used by Paul as a technical term and its meaning is unclear. (37) The most likely rendering is effeminate or softies, with distinctly derogatory, misogynous connotations.
Malakoi is followed by the rare word, arsenokoitai, which is more difficult to translate than malakoi. Morphologically it is a compound word: arseno - 'man' + koitai - 'lying the bed', thus the transliteral meaning is, 'man lying the bed'. The etymology of the word is problematic, however, being ambiguous as to whether the word means 'a man who lies the bed (with anyone)', in which the first part of the word, arsen- is the subject, or whether it means 'one who lies with men', with arsen- taken as the object. John Boswell takes the former, subjective usage of arsen, and translates arsenokoitai to mean 'male sexual agents', that is, active male prostitutes. (38) In this case it is not a specific reference to homosexuality, as such persons may service either sex. Boswell bases this on comparisons with other compound words beginning with arsen, in which the meaning 'man' is applied as subject, pointing out that the form arreno- is used where an objective sense exists. This pattern is not always followed in Greek, however, so homoerotic association with the word is not removed, necessarily.
Arsenokoites could have been derived from the Septuagint as a new word (neologism) coined by Paul based on Leviticus 20:13, which reads: kai hos an koimethe meta arsenos koiten gynaikos ... (and whoever lies with a man as with a woman... ) in which the words arsen and koite that come next to each other are joined to create a new word. In which case the objective sense of the arseno- compound may be used an the word rendered as 'one who lies with men'. In translating the word from the Greek LXX to the Latin Vulgate, Jerome followed this meaning and rendered it masculorum concubitores. Such usage does not of itself clear the ambiguity of the original Greek, however.
Looking behind the LXX, it has been argued that arsenokoites appears to be a compound of the translation of mishkav zakur ('lying of a male'), two Hebrew words that are used in Rabbinic literature to refer to same-sex, pederastic practice. (39) This is conjecture, since the Rabbinic term, mishkav zakur appears in written sources dating from well after Paul. Pederastic associations of the words certainly appear in Rabbinic and Early Christian writings that post-date Paul, also. (40) That does not mean that the words held that meaning for Paul. At best, the intentional meaning of the Greek words is unclear and three recent commentaries differ markedly in their interpretation of the words. (41) Lexicographically, it does not necessarily imply or deny that same-sex acts are involved. The word is therefore imprecise. However, it neither means 'sodomite,' as rendered in the NRSV, nor is the word properly to be translated as, 'a man who has intercourse with males', as rendered in some modern discussions of the usage in the Pauline texts. (42) To its shame, the revised version of Bauer's Greek-English Lexicon renders arsenokoites as, 'a male who practices homosexuality, pederast, sodomite'. Such renderings read more into the word than the Greek allows and perpetuate homophobic, heterosexist prejudices.
Arsenokoites is variously translated in English Bibles, following the objective sense discussed above. Thus, we read thei that don leccherie with men (Wyclif); 'abusers of themselves with mankind' (Tyndale, Coverdale, Cranmer, Geneva Bible, KJV and ASV); and the liers vvith mankinde, (Douai-Rheims). Modern translations extend this view, rendering arsenokoites as 'male homosexual offenders, perverts' (NIV) and 'sodomites' (NRSV and JB). The "Good News Bible" (TEV) 1966, the Living Bible, 1971, and New English Bible, 1970, conflate malakoi and arsenokoites with the renderings as homosexual perversion (TEV), 'homosexuals' (LB) and 'guilty... of homosexual perversion' (NEB). There is no evidence for such usage elsewhere in ancient Greek literature. To argue that the two words, malakos and arsenokoitai refer to passive and active partners in homosexual intercourse, belies the historical and lexicographical evidence and perpetuates a homophobic prejudice. (43) Either a grave error in mistranslation has occurred or a deliberate act of mistranslation has injected a bias into the texts. What once was a specific concern with justification through faith (Paul's concern in writing to Corinth), with certain rhetorical references that play on community prejudices of the time (Paul's series of reprobate lists- 1 Cor. 5:10; 5:11 and 6:9-10), has been accommodated to become a blanket condemnation of homosexuality. Graeco-Roman pederastic practices and/or prostitution may lay behind the text, but there is no reference to homosexuality generally or in a universal way that can be applied today.
....what? I'm sorry, could you repeat that?
