1 Corinthians 6:9–10

Context

In the first part of chapter 6, Paul rebukes the Corinthian believers for taking one another to court before secular tribunals (vv. 1–8). Verses 9–10 follow that rebuke with a list of ten sins, including fornication, idolatry, adultery, theft, covetousness, drunkenness, reviling, and extortion. Verse 11 immediately adds, "And such were some of you," and then says that they have now been washed, sanctified, and justified. Verses 12–20 address being joined to a harlot.

Interpretation

• As a warning about life before conversion: Read together with verse 11, the list is taken to describe the old life the believer has left behind and to warn against returning to it. Many denominations agree that the passage does not mean a person who commits a single one of these sins thereby falls from salvation. Instead, they understand it to describe the condition of remaining in such a life without repentance.
• As an emphasis on the consistency of salvation and life: The Wesleyan tradition and some evangelicals read the passage chiefly as a warning that justification must lead to actual transformation of life.

Debates and Issues

The chief point of contention is the meaning of two words in the list. The first is malakoi, which originally meant "soft ones." The second is arsenokoitai, a compound word first attested in the Pauline epistles. Many scholars believe it derives from words used in the Greek translation of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. In Korean, the New Korean Revised Version renders the two terms as "those given to lust" and "sodomites."

• Traditional interpretation: Most conservative denominations and the Catholic Church hold that the two words refer to both partners in same-sex sexual acts. In this view, the terms apply to homosexual conduct today.
• Revisionist interpretation: Some scholars and denominations note that these terms may have referred to exploitative relationships of the time, such as the prostitution of boys or relations between masters and slaves. On this basis, they conclude that the terms are difficult to apply directly to consensual same-sex relationships.

Some English translations have combined the two words into the single term "homosexuals." This practice has prompted a further translation debate over the need to distinguish between orientation and conduct. For details, see Homosexuality and the Church.

Some within the church also object that sexual sins receive particular emphasis, while the other sins in the list, such as covetousness, drunkenness, and reviling, receive less attention.

Related Passages

• 1 Corinthians 6:11
• Galatians 5:19–21
• Ephesians 5:5
• 1 Timothy 1:9–10