Translation Note: 1 Corinthians 6:9 and the ESV

I led a Bible Study last Sunday afternoon at CRBC on the Bible and homosexuality.  In the survey of Biblical passages, we looked at 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and focused on the last two terms in Paul’s “vice list” in v. 9, which the KJV renders as “nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind.”  Lurking behind these English words are two Greek words:  malakoi (rendered “effeminate”) and arsenokoitai (rendered “abusers of themselves with mankind”).

The first of these two terms (malakoi) literally means “soft” and is understood here, thus, as “effeminate” or the one who takes the feminine role in the homosexual sex act.  The second term (arsenokoitai) is made up of the words for man and sexual intercourse, thus, is rendered here as “abusers of themselves with mankind” or one who takes the masculine role in the homosexual sex act.

We read several translations and noted the various ways modern translations used by evangelicals choose to render the two terms:

NIV (1984 ed.):  “nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders” (Note how these terms interpret the corresponding Greek words as referring specifically to deviant homosexual behavior [i.e., prostitution or offense] rather than homosexual behavior per se).

NIV (2011 ed.):  "nor men who have sex with men" (a footnote rightly explains that the phrase translates "two Greek words that relate to the passive and active participants in homosexual acts").

NASB:  “nor effeminate, nor homosexuals”

NKJV:  “nor homosexuals, nor sodomites”

One person in the study had a copy of the ESV and read this version of v. 9, which renders the two distinct Greek terms with a single clause, “nor men who practice homosexuality.”

The non-literal rendering here shows the ESV to be the legitimate daughter of the RSV which also combines the two terms, though it only uses one word, “homosexuals.”  Even the NRSV departs from its mother and sibling to translate the two Greek words independently:  “male prostitutes, sodomites” (cf. NIV).

The ESV’s rendering of the two distinct Greek terms in 1 Corinthians 6:9 with an indistinct, generic phrase illustrates its tendency to offer dynamic equivalence renderings that, IMHO, do not help the reader best understand what appears in the original and reveal its weaknesses as a translation, despite all the YRRs weighing down its bandwagon.

JTR