"Nor men kept for unnatural purposes..." (page 2)

Leolaia

For a so-called "literal" translation like the NWT, this is a very non-literal rendering of Greek malakoi (lit. "soft ones"). The precise nuance has been debated for many years, from "effeminate men" to "male prostitutes" to "younger males in a pederast-type relationship", largely on the basis of how the word is used in other classical writings and how it is used with arsenokoitai in the same NT passages. The term is rather ambiguous and the precise meaning is debatable. What is interesting about the NWT rendering, which is rather euphemistic considering what the word possibly signified, is how it imports a notion of unnaturalness (e.g. being contrary to nature) into the expression which did not exist in the actual word. This makes a better fit with the text in Romans 1:26 (which is referenced with 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 in the 1984 NWT) than would otherwise be the case.

PopeOfEruke

arsenokoitai

Leolaia

is the first syllable in that word really necessary?

Pope

Narkissos

lmAo...

VM44

Leo, has the word ever been translated as "un-natural" other than in the NWT?

Cheetos

I can speak for myself, that I am EXIT only and will always be EXIT only, and I think that if anything was to go IN through the OUT door would be very "unnatural for me and would cause me much grief!

And I conceder myself a great specimen of a man.

Narkissos

Euphemisms, of necessity, read the current prejudices of the translators (and the intended readers) into the text.

Just checking the NRSV, I see it reads "male prostitutes" in 1 Corinthians 6 (the "professional" and "financial" aspects of "prostitution" are also read into the text); it uses "unnatural," otoh, in Jude 7, "pursued unnatural lust," for the expression apelthousai opisô sarkos heteras, "going after a different flesh" -- an expression which is, btw, conceptually opposite to that of homosexuality, and rather refers to the angel/human relationship.

Interestingly the para phusin, "against nature,"of Romans 1:26 is used positively in 11:24. Cf. also 1 Corinthians 11,14 where Paul's idea of "nature" extends to male/female hair length.

VM44

"...also 1 Corinthians 11,14 where Paul's idea of "nature" extends to male/female hair length."

Didn't the Watchtower try to "explain" this away once by saying that in that area of the world men's hair "naturally" didn't grow as long as a woman's? I don't recall if they gave any empirical proof of that statement however.

Narkissos

Watchtower 3/15, 1968 (!)

•
In what way does "nature itself teach" that it is a glory for women to have long hair but a dishonor for men to have long hair, as the apostle Paul wrote at 1Corinthians11:14,15?—G.N.,Canada.
The comments made by Paul to support what he was writing concerning the position of women in the Christian congregation were very meaningful to the Corinthians. He wrote: "Does not nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him; but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her?" (1 Cor. 11:14, 15) Under certain circumstances a Christian woman should wear a head covering as a sign of her recognition of theocratic headship. (1 Cor. 11:5) And this should have been suggested by what occurred naturally among those to whom Paul wrote, and by the customs with which they were familiar.
The Corinthian congregation was probably composed largely of Greeks and Jews, and among such people it is natural for women to have longer hair than men. This is not necessarily true among all peoples. Scientists usually recognize three characteristic types of hair: the long straight hair of Orientals and Indians, the short wooly hair of Negroes and Melanesians and the wavy hair of Europeans and Semites. Of the first two types, "the difference of length in man and woman is scarcely noticeable" if allowed to grow uncut. But not so with the third type. In general, among men "the length rarely exceeds 12 to 16 in. [30 to 40 centimeters], while with women the mean length is between 25 and 30 in. [63 and 76 centimeters] and in some cases has been known to reach 6 ft. [1.8 meters] or more."—TheEncyclopædiaBritannica, 11th Ed., Vol. 12, p. 823.
Additionally, those Christians were aware that it was the general custom for men to clip their hair to a moderate length. This was common with Jewish men, the long uncut hair of Nazirites marking them as men not following the general custom. (Num. 6:5) In contrast, Jewish women usually had their hair of considerable length. (Luke 7:38; John 11:2) Even the Greeks reading Paul’s comments would have appreciated his remarks concerning women having longer hair than men. This would have been emphasized to them by the fact that, in Corinth, shaving a woman’s head, or clipping her hair very short, was a sign of her being a slave girl or of being in disgrace for having been caught in fornication or adultery.—1 Cor. 11:6.
So Paul could draw on these normal differences to illustrate that there was a distinction between the sexes. The difference should have served as a reminder to those in the congregation.
What about the length of one’s hair today? Just as the natural length of hair differs among races, so do customs and personal tastes. The short style of men’s hair in the Western world is patterned after the Roman custom, and it is considerably shorter than the style common for Jewish men in Jesus’ time. Similarly, women today quite often cut their hair shorter than was usual among ancient women. Yet, there is still a marked difference between the sexes. So, while personal taste and local custom have a definite bearing on how long a Christian man wears his hair, he does want it to reflect his masculinity. Similarly, Christian women style their hair modestly and with evident femininity, so it will be a glory for them.—1 Pet. 3:3; 1 Tim. 2:9; 1 Cor. 11:15.
In either case, though, mature Christians, men or women, take into consideration how their personal appearance will affect others. This is so that "in no way are we giving any cause for stumbling, that our ministry might not be found fault with; but in every way we recommend ourselves as God’s ministers."—2 Cor. 6:3, 4.

frankiespeakin

"Nor men kept for unnatural purposes..."

Men "kept" in a cage for horny Porpoises that nolonger live in the sea but walk on dry land, to have sex with durring intermission at a Gladiator event?

DannyHaszard

I researched for a Bible reading 20 years ago it means literally catamite or pedotrast (sic) a 'boy kept for homosexual preversion' someting that was popular in their slave society

"Nor men kept for unnatural purposes..."

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