3 REASONS WHY 1 CORINTHIANS 6:9 PROHIBITS HOMOSEXUAL SEX

By: Admin Chris

There is a viral post that caught my attention. This post came from a liberal Christian who
provided an interpretation of 1 Corinthians 6:9 that justifies homosexuality and homosexual sex.
Let's look at what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6:9. 

1 Corinthians 6:9

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 "arsenokoitai"
(homosexuals),

1 Corinthians 6:9 is one of the passages that conservative Christians use to justify traditional
sexual morality against advocates of liberal sexual ethics who support homosexuality. Even the
author of the tweet agreed with me on this point. He said:

"Okay I think we have to talk about 1 Corinthians 6:9. This is one of the most common Bible
verses they use against homosexuality [1]." 

Obviously, he will disagree with the translation that I provided because he doesn't think that the
Bible is condemning homosexuality. In my previous post, I gave three reasons why Leviticus
20:13 prohibits homosexual sex. Today, I will give three reasons why 1 Corinthians 6:9 prohibits
homosexual sex as seen below.

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REASON #1: Leviticus and Homosexuality

The Greek word used in 1 Corinthians 6:9 is "arsenokoitai." Liberal scholars point that this does
not refer to homosexuality. The author of the tweet said:

"Prior to Paul writing "arsenokoitai" in 1 Corinthians, there has been no known use of the word,
meaning Paul most likely formed the compound word. However, this does not automatically
mean "homosexuals", nor does it mean "homosexual acts" [3].

However, he did not consider the fact that "arsenokoitai" is used in the Greek Septuagint, the
Greek translation of the Old Testament. The word "arsenokoitai" or ἀρσενοκοῖται" is seen in 1
Corinthians 6:9 [4]. The same variant, ἄρσενος κοίτην, can be seen in Leviticus 20:13 [5]. 

Leviticus 20:13
13 And who ever should bedded with άρσενος (a male) κοίτην (as the marriage-bed) of a
woman, [an abomination did both]; to death let them be put to death!  they are liable

As I noted above, I provided three reasons why Leviticus 20:13 prohibits homosexual sex, so the
arguments that I gave would work here as well. Other than that, Trent Horn, a Catholic apologist
from Catholic Answers, made this point. He said:

"The fact that arsenokoitai matches the Greek words in the Septuagint’s translation of Leviticus
20:13 is unmistakable. The word breaks down to arseno (or “male”) and koite (or “bed”). It
literally means “man-bedder.” It makes more sense to say that malakoi referred to the soft or
effeminate passive recipient of same-sex behavior, while arsenokoitai referred to the active
partner in that kind of intercourse, and not just sexually exploitative relationships [7]."
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2ND REASON: Same-Sex Committed Relationships in Ancient Culture
There are liberal Christians who believe that what's condemned in 1 Corinthians 6:9 is not
homosexuality itself but male to male or female to female prostitution because they argue that
ancient Greco-roman culture has no concept of committed relationships back then. Although it's
true that the cases of prostitution were rampant in the surrounding culture of Christianity, it's not
true that there were no committed and loving relationships back then. There were records of
lesbian and gay relationships, even during the time of Plato. In the Symposium, Plato wrote:

"The women who are a section of the woman do not care for men, but have female attachments;
the female companions are of this sort... For if we are friends of the God and at peace with him
we shall find our own true loves, which rarely happens in this world at present. I am serious,
and therefore I must beg Eryximachus not to make fun or to find any allusion in what I am
saying to Pausanias and Agathon, who, as I suspect, are both of the manly nature, and belong to
the class which I have been describing [8]."

It's not true that there were no examples of same-sex committed relationships during the time of
the apostles. Therefore, it makes more sense that the reason why Paul and other writers did not
mention same-sex marriage is that it's simply not marriage and sexual acts between same-sex
couples are sins. 
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3RD REASON: Marriage in 1 Corinthians 7
Paul listed sins, including sexual sins, in 1 Corinthians 6. What some people have not considered
in the discussion as to whether 1 Corinthians 6;9 prohibits homosexual sex is that in the next
chapter, he made statements about marriage. This is what we can see in 1 Corinthians 7.

1 Corinthians 7:1-2
1 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote. It is well for a man not to touch a woman.
2 But because of the temptation to immorality, each man should have his own wife and each
woman her own husband.

This verse is important for at least two reasons. First, Paul argued that sexual activity should be
within the bounds of marriage in order for the sexual act not to be considered fornication or
sexual immorality. This means that any sexual act outside of marriage is a sin. However, the
problem with liberal Christians is that Paul defined marriage consistently as to how this is
defined by the Scriptures. Marriage is between a man and a woman which is why Paul said that a
man should have a wife and a woman should have a husband. Because homosexual sexual acts
are sexual activities outside of this strict definition of marriage, it follows that this is a sin. 

Second, this passage shows the power of God to transform a relationship where there is a
temptation to immorality to a relationship where there is a reflection of Christ's love to the
Church, His bride (Ephesians 5:22-25). Paul was aware of the temptation between man and
woman to commit to fornication, as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6:9. As such, God, not the
culture, instituted marriage so they cannot sin. However, Paul was also aware of the temptation
between two men to engage in "arsenokoitai" or in male-to-male sex, but he did not even
mention each man to have a husband or each woman to have a wife. This is important because if
marriage is instituted by God for us to not commit sexual sins, and there are no instances of
homosexual marriage in the Scriptures, it only means that there can't be a marriage between two
males or two females. This is different from relationships between man and woman where sexual
temptation exists but an option of marriage is offered to them for their salvation. 

In another tweet, he said:

"I have to add lang na I took time to research this waaayy before pa, especially during the time
na confused ako. I'm not an expert on the Bible but I've read so much about homosexuality in the
Bible because I still am a practicing Christian and I don't wanna abandon my faith [9]."

Let us pray for Christians that they may not be confused of liberal interpretations of Scriptural
passages that were foreign during the time of the apostles. Let us also pray for them that they
may not abandon their faith and uphold the faith held by the apostles and continued by the
Catholic Church in terms of sexuality and marriage. 
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References:

[1] https://twitter.com/kristoffer_val/status/1307592266928717825?
s=21&fbclid=IwAR09FmM1uV8tFkOov0678HpS5Oud_eaTUMYUD1VGiZsFyld49SQUf3BtS
0Y

[2] facebook.com/1926549144236044/posts/3336665149891096/

[3] https://twitter.com/kristoffer_val/status/1307595995622993920
[4] https://biblehub.com/interlinear/1_corinthians/6-9.htm
[5] https://biblehub.com/sepd/leviticus/20.htm
[6] https://studybible.info/interlinear/Leviticus%2020:13
[7] https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-bible-on-homosexual-behavior
[8] https://classicalwisdom.com/greek_books/the-symposium/3/
[9] https://twitter.com/kristoffer_val/status/1307599013286354944