Know How To Respond: Is It True The Bible Didn't Condemn Homosexual Behavior Until 1946?
By Asher Clark
Many Christians have heard that the Bible says “homosexuals” will not enter the kingdom of God. But the term “homosexual” wasn’t used in any translation of the Bible until 1946—and the head of the translation committee that first added it eventually admitted they had been wrong to do so. - The Reformation Project
Perhaps you have run into this argument.
Perhaps you have run into this argument, common among progressives, anti-theists, and apostates alike. The presuppositions necessary for this position are that homosexual actions are inseparable from homosexual identity and that the Bible prohibiting same-sex behaviors therefore is a personal attack against the identity of the person. The argument is simply as follows,
Premise 1: The Bible didn’t prohibit homosexuality as such until the RSV translation in 1946.
Premise 2: What the Bible was prohibiting previously to the RSV was slave/master relationships or pederasty.
Premise 3: Because the Bible didn’t prohibit homosexuality as such until 1946, Christian ethics on sexuality are confused.
So what should we say to these things?
Unfortunately, the charge about the RSV is true in some sense. But this doesn’t change anything at all from the truth of the Christian sexual ethic for the last two millennia. The progressive advocates accurately identify a translation choice used first in the RSV. This translation is mirrored in many contemporary translations and seems to have been unwise. There are two dominant views of translation philosophy, one of idea for idea like the NIV or NLT, and one of word for word, like the ESV or KJV. Translations like the ESV and NASB, which claim to be close to “word for word” in their philosophy, still make the choice to use “homosexual” in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral...nor homosexuals...will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God,” (NASB, emphasis mine).
These contemporary translations opt for contemporary vernacular at the expense of the clarity of the original Greek. It seems that the western world with their assumptions of two or more equally valid sexual orientations (e.g. “heterosexual” and “homosexual”) even imported this into their translation of the word of God. Whereas the older translations reflect a time when Christian morality was known and assumed, including all of its heteronormativity. For comparison, let's look at two older English translations, the 1611 KJV and the 1599 Geneva Bible. For our purposes verse 9 suffices.
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind… - KJV
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor wantons, nor buggerers… - 1599 Geneva
A Tale Of Two Greek Words
So Paul actually uses two words, malakos, and arsenokoites, to which the modern translations reduce to the simple “homosexual.” The older versions use terms strange to us, but accurate to the two Greek terms.
First, malakos: this is probably best understood in current terminology as effeminate. The word is used only three times in the New Testament. The other two refer to metaphorically soft clothes, implying effeminacy. As Thayer's Greek Lexicon comments, “...effeminate, of a catamite, a male who submits his body to unnatural lewdness...” A catamite is the “recipient” in the act of sodomy. These were either sex slaves, or just homosexual men preforming the unnatural role of playing the woman, (Romans 1:27, Leviticus 18:22).
Second, arsenokoites: the KJV translates this as “abusers of themselves with mankind.” This is the sodomite or the “pitcher” to put it crudely, in the homosexual act. The word is used only twice in the NT, the only other use is also by Paul, speaking of whom the law is for, in 1 Timothy 1:10… This word is much less ambiguous than malakos. Clearly indicating the same prohibitions in Leviticus and the rest of the Torah.
So did the Bible first prohibit “homosexuality” in 1946 with the RSV translation?
Yes. The word homosexual as we understand it is foreign to the biblical texts, but that is because all the modern baggage of an “orientation” is also foreign to the biblical text. The Scripture prohibits sodomy as an action, clearly, and without any ambiguity. God’s law typically speaks by prohibiting an action, and then also prohibiting the desiring of that action. This principle is seen in the Ten Commandments prohibiting theft and then later coveting. This is also seen in Christ teaching that desiring adultery is tantamount to committing adultery. This clearly prohibits both sodomy and identifying as homosexual in any form (e.g., desiring sodomy).
Consider the following:
“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” - Leviticus 18:22 KJV
“If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.” - Leviticus 20:13
“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.” - Romans 1:26-27
These texts consistently demonstrate the biblical pattern of prohibiting a specific behavior. The hermeneutical gymnastics used on these texts by progressives is folly. The progressive perspective shows the presupposition of rebellion against God and not a humble heart that is seeking to be taught the law of God. They do this by begining with what is inerrant in their world, their god, namely homosexual identity and practice.
Gospel Hope
But for Christians, our identity is not to be found in our sinful desires or behaviors. Christians find their identity in the work and person of the risen Christ. Paul agrees, “...Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God,” (1 Corinthians 6:11 NASB). If you struggle with same sex tempations and sexual sin, in the name of the Lord Jesus I invite you to come and drink at the well of living water. Drink deeply of him who will never run dry. Run to Christ and be washed, sanctified and justified.
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Asher Clark is an undergrad bible student at Whitefield College, a husband to Anne, a father to Thea Grace, and lives in New England working as a rural EMT. He is passionate about apologetics, culture, and evangelism. He blogs at wretchedyetredeemed.wordpress.com and can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/asherc1996