1 Timothy 1:9-10 Pederasty

Dear Reader,

Welcome back to our blog series on clobber passages. To reiterate, "clobber passages" are texts in the Bible notoriously used against the LGBT+ community. We have covered Genesis 19:1-9, Leviticus 18:22, Deuteronomy 23:17-18, Romans 1:26-27, and 1 Corinthians 6. In this post we will be discussing 1 Timothy 1:9-10.

"Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine."

We have discussed in this series about the word "arsenokoitai" which the King James Version (KJV), stated above, has translated to "for them that defile themselves with mankind" and other Bibles take it a step further and outright translate the statement to "homosexual". As we discussed in the blog post about 1 Corinthians, Paul made "arsenokoitai" up! It never existed in written or spoken literature until around 55 CE. Modern translations are not accurately depicting Paul's intentions for this word as many theologians surmise. It is proposed that "arsenokoitai" could mean many different things such as those who masturbate, those who use sex as power, prostitution, and/or pedophilia. 

Post Barthian gives the best summary of 1 Timothy 1:10 which says, " Timothy 1:10 contains a vice list that is very similar to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 that begins with the phrase 'pornois arsenokoitais andrapodistais' that is translated as 'fornicators, sodomites, slave traders' (NRSV) and in other significantly different ways in other Bible translations...the rare term arsenokoitais most likely referred to a pederast, and this is confirmed by 1 Timothy 1:10 by its place between pornois, and andrapodistais, because lexicons define pornois as male prostitutes and most Bible translations define andrapodistais as slave traders. If 1 Corinthians 6:9 prohibits both catamite and pederast activity, then 1 Timothy 1:10 expands this prohibition to condemn the entire sex slave trade industry, by condemning those who enslave catamites to sell them to pederasts too.  Potentially this verse may be generalized to condemn sex trafficking today, but any general condemnation of all homosexual activity (especially consensual, monogamous same-sex relationships) are not discussed in this vice list. The author of 1 Timothy is repeating to the Gentile Christians in Ephesus in more specific terms, which was already written to Corinth (perhaps because the sale of catamites to pederasts was more prevalent in Ephesus than Corinth.)."

In conclusion, 1 Timothy 1:9-10 is not valid to use against those in the LGBTQ+ community. With proper context, we can see that this text is more likely attacking the sex slave industry rather than sexual orientation or identity. 

In our next post in this series we will discuss our final clobber verse, Jude 1:7. If you have any other verses you'd like us to contextualize please leave a comment and/or send us an email at queerchristianfamilyvalues@gmail.com.

Until next time,
Alexander M. Burchnell

Edited by Christopher J. Burchnell

Sources

Religious Tolerance http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_bibc7.htm

Post Barthian https://postbarthian.com/2017/10/11/clobber-verses-six-scriptures-cited-gays-lesbians-sex-relationships-lgbtq/

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