# Effeminate missing?



## BG (Jul 4, 2017)

Does anyone know why the word effeminate is missing in first Corinthians chapter 6 verse 9 in most modern translations?


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## Afterthought (Jul 4, 2017)

It's combined with "abusers of themselves with mankind" and translated as "homosexual acts" (or something along those lines). That is, there are two words in the Greek referring to two kinds of homosexual activity (or at least, the word translated "effeminate" is believed to be referring to a kind of homosexual activity) that are then translated as one word "homosexual acts."


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## Contra_Mundum (Jul 4, 2017)

This note is found in some editions of the NIV:
The words _men who have sex with men_ translate two Greek words that refer to the passive and active participants in homosexual acts.​Some translations appear to be rendering the two Gk words as a single Eg concept, presumably because it could be conceived as a single Gk thought. The KJV tried to represent the two words in two ways: one a *word*, the other by *expression*. The NKJ has made a similar effort, only by using two different Eg words for the two Gk words.


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## BG (Jul 4, 2017)

Bruce, what do you think is the right translation?


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## Bill The Baptist (Jul 5, 2017)

Robert Gagnon, in his massive _The Bible and Homosexual Practice_, argues that _malakoi_ should be translated as "effiminate males who play the sexual roles of females." He acknowedges that this Greek word has a very broad semantic range, however in light of Paul including it in a list of damnable sins, it seems something more serious than a mere limp wrist is in view. He goes on to discuss the usage of_ malakoi_ in the works of the first century Jew Philo, who uses the same Greek word to speak of a certain type of men who "accustoming themselves to be infected with a female disease, drain away both their souls and their bodies, leaving no ember of the male gender to smolder, and with devotion practicing as an art to transform the male nature into female."

According to Gagnon, there was a distinction in the first century between males who simply had sexual relations with other males, and males who made themselves into females and also had sexual relations with other males. It is for this reason that Paul uses two distinct words in 1 Corinthians 6, however most modern versions have simply combined these in one general term to encompass all homosexual activity.

The purpose of Paul making a distinction here has more to do with the category of _arsenokoitai,_ which simply means "male bedders" than with_ malakoi_. In the first century, it would not have been difficult to imagine that God would condemn the _malakoi_, but many Gentiles probably would have found it acceptable for men to occasionally have sexual relations with other males so long as they still acted like men. Paul is here correcting this view and proclaiming that God will equally condemn both.

In the modern context, it is conceivable that these two terms would be combined, as most modern versions do, since we have a different understanding. Given its historical usage, however, it might even be appropriate to translate _malakoi _as transgender, but I don't know if any publishers are that brave.

Reactions: Like 1 | Informative 2


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## Dachaser (Jul 5, 2017)

Contra_Mundum said:


> This note is found in some editions of the NIV:
> The words _men who have sex with men_ translate two Greek words that refer to the passive and active participants in homosexual acts.​Some translations appear to be rendering the two Gk words as a single Eg concept, presumably because it could be conceived as a single Gk thought. The KJV tried to represent the two words in two ways: one a *word*, the other by *expression*. The NKJ has made a similar effort, only by using two different Eg words for the two Gk words.


They would seem to be including all homosexual activities as being sinful.


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