arsenokoitai nt meaning of this week many of you have asked about my earlier postings on ot nt and intertestiment exegesis on the homosexual issue i have refered you to the faq files which i find out no longer contains them they are too long for me to mail to each of you each article but will try to get them back on the faq file because of the renewed interest on this subject i will type with permission an article by james deyoung i think it is one of the best articles that i ve read todate from the conservative position i can t post it all at once so it will come piece meal and not daily after i m done retyping the entire article i will make it available for the faq file talk to clh also for those who can t get through to me you may try one of these rexlex fnal fnal gov lexrex almond fnal gov loren senders admail fnal gov the source and nt meaning of arsenokoitai with implications for christian ethics and ministry james b deyoung professor of new testament western conservative baptist seminary portland oregon traditional interpretation of arsenokoitai homosexuals in cor and tim refers to sexual vice between people of the same sex specifically homosexualitiy some restrict the term s meaning to active male prostititute but stronger evidence supports a more general translation namely homosexuals more recently the definition homosexual has been opposed on clutural and linguistic grounds the claim being that the term homosexuals is anachronistic in addition criticism of the traditional rendering says the term today includes celibate homophiles excludes heterosexuals who engage in homosexual acts and includes female homosexuals a concern for acts instead of the modern attention to desires was the only factor in the ancient world the foregoing oppositition to the translation of arsenokoitai by homosexuals has a number of debilitating weaknesses finally this study argues that paul coined the term arsenokoitai deriving it from the lxx of lev cf and using it for homosexual orientation and behavior the latter of which should be an occasion for church discipline i cor and legislation in society tim introduction coincident with the rise of the gay rights movement in recent years has been an increasing focus on the biblical statements regarding homosexuality or sodomy as part of this focus the meaning of the term arsenokoitai used twice by the apostle paul cor i tim has received vigorous scrutiny this issue is particularly crucial to contemporary society since so much of modern ethics is shaped by biblical statements more particularly the concern over gay rights and the place of gays or homosexuals in the church and in society require the resolution of biblical interpretation this study of historical linguistic and literary matters will survey and evalutate recent proposals for the meaning of arsenokoitai and present evidence to point to a resolution several writers and their positions represent the modern debate on this word three authors bailey boswell and scroggs have provoked considerable discussion and significantly encouraged the wider acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle in society in the church and in the ministry footnotes for convenience sake the term homosexual is used to encompass both same sex orientation and same sex behavior the meaning of this term is one of the main considerations of this study these times are differnt from just over a century ago then p fairbairn pastoral epistles edinburg could write of arsenokoitai thit it is a term for which fortunately our language has no proper equivalent unknowingly he thereby touched upon the basis for the contemporary debate and study the present writer endorses the pauline authorship of the pastoral epistles on the basis of internal and external evidence see donald guthrie new testament introduction th ed for an extensive discussion and citation of supporters of the pauline authorship for example see scroggs influence on m olson untangling the web the other side april for a study suggesting a further prohibition of homosexuality in the ot see a phillips unconvering the father s skirt vt jan for a bibliography of other sources dealing with arsenokoitai see the wisondisc religion indexes ny h wison co
