Endnote 6 – Homosexuality and the New Testament

In 1 Timothy 1:9–10, arsenokoitai is grouped with two other Greek words, pornoi (often translated variously as “immoral persons” or “fornicators”) and andropodistai (translated variously as “menstealers,” “kidnappers” or “slave traders”). Scroggs, pp. 118–121, makes the interesting argument that the three terms should be taken together and translated as “male prostitutes, males who lie with them, and slavedealers who procure them.” If so, the reference is not to homosexuality in general, but to a particular form of it.