ἀρσενοκοῖται arsenokoitai — a compound of arsēn (male) + koitē (bed, intercourse) — precise meaning genuinely contested

Editorial note

This entry presents what biblical scholars say about the Greek word arsenokoitai and the genuine textual difficulties involved in determining its precise meaning. It documents the major scholarly positions without preferring any. It does not advocate for a theological or contemporary-ethical interpretation, and it does not tell readers what these passages mean for their faith or practice. Those questions belong to the reader — see our About page for the four-way sensitivity test.

The word

Arsenokoitai (ἀρσενοκοῖται) is a Greek masculine plural noun. The singular is arsenokoitēs (ἀρσενοκοίτης). It is a compound of two Greek words:

• arsēn (ἄρσην) — male
• koitē (κοίτη) — bed, sexual intercourse, the act of sexual relations

The literal etymological reading is approximately male-bedder or one who beds males.

The rarity problem

This is the critical textual issue with this word. Arsenokoitai appears only twice in the entire New Testament — 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10. Beyond the New Testament, the word appears extremely rarely in surviving Greek literature before Paul. Some scholars (Dale Martin, others) argue that Paul may have coined the word.

This matters for a specific reason. The standard method for establishing the meaning of an ancient Greek word is to compare its uses across multiple authors, periods, and contexts — building a sense of its semantic range from accumulated examples. With a word that may appear only in Paul and a small number of later authors who may themselves be drawing on Paul, this method cannot operate with full confidence.

The word’s components — arsēn + koitē — are clear. The full meaning of the compound is not necessarily the simple sum of its parts. Compounds in Greek (and English) often carry specialised meanings that go beyond their components: English bookworm is not a worm in a book.

Paul’s possible source — Leviticus

The Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) translation of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 uses both arsēn and koitē in proximity:

• Leviticus 18:22 LXX: kai meta arsenos ou koimēthēsē koitēn gynaikos — and with a male you shall not lie [the lying] of a woman
• Leviticus 20:13 LXX: kai hos an koimēthē meta arsenos koitēn gynaikos — and whoever shall lie with a male [the lying] of a woman

The two words arsēn and koitē appear together in these passages. Some scholars (Robert Gagnon, Bernadette Brooten in part) argue that Paul deliberately constructed arsenokoitai by combining these words from the Leviticus passages — implying a deliberate connection to the Old Testament prohibition. Others (Dale Martin, John Boswell) argue that even if Paul did construct the word from Leviticus, the meaning of his compound is not necessarily identical to the Levitical prohibition.

The 1 Corinthians 6:9 list

The verse appears in a list of behaviours:

“Or do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral [pornoi], nor idolaters, nor adulterers [moichoi], nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts [malakoi … arsenokoitai], nor thieves [kleptai], nor the greedy [pleonektai], nor drunkards [methysoi], nor verbal abusers [loidoroi], nor swindlers [harpages], will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10, BSB)

The Greek list, in order: pornoi, eidōlolatrai, moichoi, malakoi, arsenokoitai, kleptai, pleonektai, methysoi, loidoroi, harpages.

The 1 Timothy 1:10 list is similar but distinct, pairing arsenokoitai with andrapodistai (slave-traders / kidnappers) — a juxtaposition some scholars treat as significant.

Scholarly positions — document all, resolve none

Position 1 — Male same-sex intercourse broadly

The compound of male + bed/intercourse most naturally refers to males who engage in sexual intercourse with males. BDAG’s primary definition supports this reading. Scholars in this tradition (e.g. Robert Gagnon, David Wright, James DeYoung) argue that:

• The components are clear and the most natural reading is general
• The Septuagint connection to Leviticus 18:22 / 20:13 supports a broad reference
• The word’s pairing with malakoi in 1 Cor 6:9 most naturally describes the active and passive partners in male same-sex intercourse
• Greek had more specific terms for pederasty (paiderastēs), male prostitution (pornos), etc., that Paul could have used had he meant those specifically

Position 2 — Specific exploitative practices

Other scholars (John Boswell, Robin Scroggs, William Petersen) have argued that arsenokoitai referred specifically to exploitative practices — pederasty (adult men with boys), male prostitution, or economic exploitation through sex — rather than to all same-sex relations between adult equals. Supporting arguments typically cited:

• The pairing with andrapodistai (slave-traders) in 1 Timothy 1:10 suggests a context of exploitation
• Ancient Greek and Roman culture had specific institutions of pederasty and slave sexuality that scholars in this tradition argue would have been the contextual referent
• The rarity of the word in pre-Christian Greek literature means specific contextual meaning cannot be ruled out
• Some scholars (Boswell) have read post-Pauline uses of the word in contexts that suggest exploitation

Position 3 — Uncertain meaning

A third position — articulated by Dale Martin, Bernadette Brooten in part, and others — accepts that the word’s rarity makes certainty about its precise scope impossible. The word may have been understood clearly by Paul’s original audience but its exact meaning is not recoverable from surviving evidence with confidence. Translations should reflect this uncertainty rather than overdetermining the meaning in either direction.

Critique of Position 2

David Wright’s 1984 article Homosexuals or Prostitutes? The Meaning of ARSENOKOITAI offered a sustained scholarly critique of John Boswell’s pederasty-and-prostitution reading, arguing that the post-Pauline Greek uses of the word do not consistently support the exploitation-specific reading and that the Levitical-source argument supports a broad reference. The Wright-Boswell exchange is one of the most extensively documented scholarly debates over this word; both positions have continued to find defenders.

Translation history

The variation in English translation reflects the genuine scholarly uncertainty. The public-domain translations:

• KJV (1611): “abusers of themselves with mankind” — describes the action descriptively without using a specific modern category
• BSB: combines malakoi and arsenokoitai into a single English phrase, “men who submit to or perform homosexual acts”

Copyrighted modern translations diverge along a documented arc:

• The RSV (1946) was the first major modern translation to introduce a then-modern English category-label into the verse. Subsequent RSV editions revised that rendering.
• The NRSV (1989) later substituted a different traditional church term, derived from Genesis 19.
• The NIV (1984) used a compound formulation combining a category-label with a moral modifier; the NIV (2011) revised toward a behaviour-describing rendering rather than a group-identifying noun.
• The ESV retained a behaviour-plus-modifier construction.
• The CSB and NLT opted for further variations on the same axis.

Many modern translations combine the rendering of malakoi and arsenokoitai into a single English phrase, which obscures that they are two separate Greek words.

To compare specific renderings, see the BibleGateway links in the section below.

What this word does not, on its own, resolve

Whether arsenokoitai refers to all male same-sex sexual activity, only specific exploitative forms, or some range in between is a genuine and unresolved scholarly debate. The word’s rarity in pre-Pauline Greek prevents the standard method of establishing meaning through multiple contextual uses. Both major scholarly positions have credible defenders. The lexicons (BDAG, the older Liddell-Scott-Jones) document the word’s etymology and primary lexical sense without claiming to resolve the contested questions of its precise scope in Paul’s usage.

The contemporary ethical implications of these passages depend on interpretive judgements that go beyond the lexical meaning of the single Greek word. This site does not make those interpretive judgements.

Read in other translations

The passages above use the BSB and KJV — both public domain. To read 1 Corinthians 6:9 in copyrighted modern translations, follow the links to BibleGateway:

• 1 Corinthians 6:9 — NIV →
• 1 Corinthians 6:9 — ESV →
• 1 Corinthians 6:9 — NLT →
• 1 Corinthians 6:9 — NASB →
• 1 Corinthians 6:9 — CSB →

For 1 Timothy 1:10 (the second NT occurrence of arsenokoitai): NIV · ESV · NLT · NASB · CSB.

See also

• /word/malakoi/ — the word paired with arsenokoitai in 1 Corinthians 6:9
• /word/toevah/ — the Hebrew word in Leviticus 18:22 / 20:13