This article first appeared at desiringGod.org.
‘Effeminacy’ is an old-fashioned word. It was once commonly used before being banished from polite discourse. Recently, the word has enjoyed something of a comeback in evangelical debates over human sexuality and anthropology. Effeminacy, understood rightly, is also a biblical word and concept. What does it mean? How has it been understood historically? Should we use the term today?
Effeminacy in the New Testament
The word ‘effeminacy’ appears in older English translations of 1 Corinthians 6:9. The underlying Greek is malakoi, plural of malakos. In its immediate context, Paul appears to apply effeminacy to men who engage in homosexual practices. The word is preceded by ‘adulterers’ and then followed by an odd term, perhaps coined by Paul, once translated ‘abusers of themselves with mankind’ but now usually translated as simply ‘homosexuals’ (arsenokoitai).
Commonly, interpreters argue that the two terms (malakoi and arsenokoitai) refer to the passive and active partners of homosexual activity. So, for example, the ESV translates both terms together with the phrase ‘men who practice homosexuality’. The case for translating 1 Corinthians 6:9 in this way is strong, but it has the obvious weakness of reducing two distinct concepts to one.
