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arsenokoitēs

ἀρσενοκοίτης

GreekG0733“men who have sex with men, homosexuals, ...”

Appears 2 times · tap a cell to see the verses

1Co 6:91Ti 1:10
Compound of
arrēn, arsēnἄρρην, ἄρσηνmale9G730
koitēκοίτηbed4G2845
Word studyResearch-gradear-sen-ok-OY-tacenoun

What arsenokoitēs means

a man who has sexual intercourse with another male

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyContested

This word is a coinage. It does not appear in any known Greek writing before Paul used it, and outside the New Testament it shows up first only in writers who depend on Paul. So its meaning cannot be settled by tracing how earlier Greek authors used it, because there is none to trace. Instead, the word is built out of two pieces lifted straight from the Greek Old Testament: the word for a male (ἄρρην, ἄρσην) and the word for a bed, which in Greek as in English stands for sexual relations. Those two pieces sit side by side in the Greek of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, the verses that forbid a man to lie with a male. The most widely accepted view is that Greek-speaking Jews welded those two words into one noun to name the man who does what Leviticus forbids. It is the Greek echo of a fixed Hebrew expression that meant the same thing.

Both times Paul uses the word he drops it into a list of behaviors that shut a person out of God's kingdom or that the law stands against. In Corinthians it comes right after a companion word (μαλακός), and many readers take the pair to name the two partners in male-male intercourse. The single steady meaning across both verses is a man who takes another male sexually.

What scholars still argue over is not whether the word is about male-male sex, but how wide its reach is: whether Paul meant every form of it or only the abusive and lopsided forms common in his world, such as a grown man with a boy or with a male prostitute. Those disagreements are recorded below; they are about the word's scope, not about replacing its core meaning with something else.

1Co 6:91Ti 1:10

What scholars say about arsenokoitēs

Scholars across very different ethical positions converge on the lexical conclusion. The word is almost certainly a Hellenistic-Jewish coinage drawn from the Greek of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, where the words for male and bed stand juxtaposed; it is the Greek counterpart of the rabbinic Hebrew term for male-male intercourse. David Wright's 1984 study, endorsed by the standard lexicons (BDAG, LSJ, Louw-Nida, EDNT), refuted John Boswell's proposal that the word means a male prostitute, on the grounds that in comparable Greek compounds ending in this same element the first part names the object of the act. Robin Scroggs accepted the Old Testament derivation but narrowed the reference to pederasty; most scholars reject the narrowing, noting that Paul had precise pederasty vocabulary he chose not to use, that the Levitical source is categorical, and that non-pederastic male-male relationships were known in antiquity (Mark Smith, Bernadette Brooten). Dale Martin argued that the word's company in some early vice lists points to economic-sexual exploitation rather than male-male sex as such; John Granger Cook, Robert Gagnon, and Anthony Thiselton reply that the narrative attestations in Hippolytus and in Bardesanes (via Eusebius) tie the word to male homoerotic intercourse independent of any economic frame. William Loader's comprehensive synthesis affirms the Leviticus derivation and the male-male-sex referent while keeping that exegetical conclusion separate from any contemporary ethical judgment.

Where scholars disagree about arsenokoitēs

How wide a range of male-male intercourse the word names: every form of it, or only the exploitative forms most visible in the ancient world.

  • majorityThe word names male-male sexual intercourse categorically, taking its breadth from the Leviticus prohibition it is built on, which forbids the act as such rather than one abusive form of it.; David F. Wright, Vigiliae Christianae 38 (1984): 125-53; Robert A. J. Gagnon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice (Nashville: Abingdon, 2001), 312-32; William Loader, The New Testament on Sexuality (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 331-32
  • minorityThe word refers specifically to the adult male partner in pederasty, so that Paul had in view the exploitative man-and-boy pattern common in his culture rather than male-male relations in general.; Robin Scroggs, The New Testament and Homosexuality (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983), 106-22
  • minorityThe word's company in several early vice lists suggests it names a role of exploiting others through sex, perhaps but not necessarily homosexual sex, so its precise reference cannot be recovered.; Dale B. Martin, "Arsenokoitês and Malakos," in Biblical Ethics and Homosexuality (Louisville: WJK, 1996), 117-36

Whether the compound means a man who takes another male sexually or, as a minority proposed, a male prostitute who services either sex.

  • majorityA man who has sexual intercourse with another male, since in comparable Greek compounds ending in the same bed-element the first part names the object of the act, not the gender of the agent.; David F. Wright, Vigiliae Christianae 38 (1984): 125-53; BDAG (3rd ed., 2000), s.v. ἀρσενοκοίτης, 135; Louw-Nida 88.280
  • minorityAn active male prostitute, the male part naming the gender of the agent rather than the partner, so the word is not specific to male-male sex.; John Boswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980), 341-53
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • David F. Wright, "Homosexuals or Prostitutes? The Meaning of ΑΡΣΕΝΟΚΟΙΤΑΙ (1 Cor. 6:9, 1 Tim. 1:10)," Vigiliae Christianae 38 (1984): 125-53article
  • BDAG (3rd ed., 2000), s.v. ἀρσενοκοίτης, 135lexicon
  • Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon Based on Semantic Domains, 88.280lexicon
  • Horst Balz and Gerhard Schneider, Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (EDNT) 1:158dictionary
  • Robin Scroggs, The New Testament and Homosexuality (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983)monograph
  • John Boswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980), 341-53monograph
  • Dale B. Martin, "Arsenokoitês and Malakos: Meanings and Consequences," in Biblical Ethics and Homosexuality, ed. Robert L. Brawley (Louisville: WJK, 1996), 117-36article
  • John Granger Cook, "μαλακοί and ἀρσενοκοῖται: In Defence of Tertullian's Translation," New Testament Studies 65.3 (2019): 332-52article
  • Robert A. J. Gagnon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics (Nashville: Abingdon, 2001), 303-39monograph
  • Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NIGTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 440-53commentary
  • Mark D. Smith, "Ancient Bisexuality and the Interpretation of Romans 1:26-27," Journal of the American Academy of Religion 64.2 (1996): 223-56article
  • Bernadette J. Brooten, Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 260-83monograph
  • William Loader, The New Testament on Sexuality (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 325-34monograph
  • William L. Petersen, "Can ΑΡΣΕΝΟΚΟΙΤΑΙ be Translated by 'Homosexuals'? (1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:10)," Vigiliae Christianae 40.2 (1986): 187-91article

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of ἀρσενοκοίτης

dative m p

ἀρσενοκοίταις

1Ti 1:10

nominative m p

ἀρσενοκοῖται

1Co 6:9