Dale Martin's "arsenokoites and malakos" tried and found wanting

In the multifaceted debate regarding homosexuality and the church, an issue that has surfaced is the proper interpretation of 1 Cor 6:9-10, where Paul writes that neither "homosexuals nor sodomites" (NKJV) shall inherit the kingdom of God. At first glance, the meaning of "homosexuals and sodomites" seems rather clear. But "Not so!" say those who advocate the normalization of homosexuality. Thus, this passage has become a hot issue with scholars aligning themselves along two basic lines of thought.

Some say that the original words in Greek have been translated in an unnecessarily harsh way that condemns all homosexual behavior when in fact, they contend, Paul was merely condemning homosexual rape and other forms of sexual exploitation. This would be a revisionist approach/perspective.

Others reject this revisionist interpretation and hold that the traditional translation of the text (for example, as rendered above in the NKJV) is fair and accurate. This would be a traditionalist approach.

So, who's right? Who most accurately represents the perspective of Paul regarding this text and the perspective of Scripture as a whole? And what implications might our findings have not only for the church's deliberation on this issue but for our understanding of how Scripture itself is to be approached?

Rather than rely on the conclusions of others, I felt challenged to do my own research on the debate. I sought material that would enable me to look at both sides of the debate in order to sort through the issues. In the process, I came across an article that seemed to represent well those who are critical of the traditional interpretation--an article by Dale B. Martin titled "Arsenokoites and Malakos: Meanings and Consequences." (1) This article appealed to me because the key words in the title, arsenokoites and malakos, are precisely the two controversial words from the passage that are often translated deprecatorily as "homosexuals and sodomites." I therefore decided to do an assessment of Martin's article to see how well it stands up under scrutiny. I share my findings here with the understanding that space limitations prevent my dealing with all of the issues of Martin's essay. (2)

Martin's article refocuses the debate over the Bible's view of homosexuality by offering a new perspective regarding the interpretation of the Greek words arsenokoites and malakos. However, more significantly, as one reads the article one finds that Martin is offering more than a difference of opinion regarding the nuances of meaning for these words; he is proposing a whole new litmus test for interpreting Scripture and determining which passages have abiding validity for today.

Arsenokoites: divide and conquer

We begin with the dissection of the word arsenokoites. Martin notes how interpreters have frequently split the word into its two root words, arsen (=male) and koites (=to bed or sleep with sexually; like the English word coitus). Thus, they have tended to assume that it refers generally to any man having sex with another male.

This is a faulty assumption, Martin says, because the meaning of a compound word is usually more than the sum of its parts. He gives as an example the word "understand" and notes that understand does not mean to stand under. Or, consider the word "chairman." Martin says, "None of us ... takes the word 'chairman' to have any necessary reference to a chair, even if it originally did." Therefore, to leap to the conclusion that arsenokoites refers to men having sex with other males is "linguistically invalid," Martin says. It is "naive and indefensible."

Martin is correct in cautioning against jumping to conclusions regarding the meaning of compound words. To conclude that the meaning of a compound word is simply the sum of its independent parts is not always a justifiable conclusion or method. However, to assert as Martin does that this method is linguistically invalid, naive, and indefensible clearly goes too far. Anyone who has ever studied German knows that German words often are created by combining two or more previously independent words. For example, the words zusammen (adv.--"together") and binden (verb--"to bind or tie") combine nicely to form zusammenbinden, "to bind or tie together." So, in translation, it is perfectly legitimate to begin by looking at the two words that combine to form the compound word as a clue to its meaning. However, that method does not always reap entirely satisfactory results. For example, zusammenbrechen is made up of zusammen and brechen (verb--"to break"), but to translate this word as "to break together" would make no sense. One must look further to discover its actual meaning--"to crumble, smash or break to pieces." It is other than the sum of its parts. (However, further examination reveals that zusammen also carries the meaning of "altogether" in the sense of "completely," so zusammenbrechen could mean to break altogether/completely as in "to crumble, smash or break to pieces.")