Bible Question: What is effeminate |
Bible Answer: Johne: Presumably you had 1 Corinthians 6:9 in view when you asked what effeminate is. The passage says this: "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals." ..... Charles Ryie exegetes it thus: "_effeminate nor homosexuals_ Both expressions refer to homosexuals, the first to those who allow themselves to be used unnaturally, and the second to active homosexuals. Paul's warning is given against the background of incest, homosexuality, pederasty, and other unnatural sexual vices that were prevalent among the Greeks and Romans. Socrates and 14 of the first 15 Roman emperors practiced homosexuality." --Extract from Ryrie Study Bible, Moody Press, page 1825. ..... Word study note: The word in this passage translated effeminate in the NASB is from the Greek word malakos, meaning effeminate or soft. The word translated homosexuals comes from the Greek arsenokoites meaning sodomites. ...... To the point of your question I would observe that while in English the word 'effeminate' has several shades of meaning, in this particular passage -- which, by the way is the only passage in which the word appears in the NASB version of the Bible -- it has by its context and by the Greek word that supports the English translation, a very definite and specific meaning, which is the willful, consensual submission of one's own body to sodomy or other homosexual perversions. Thus, the Apostle is not labelling them merely as harmless 'sissies' or merely as males having feminine traits. No, Paul includes them in his list who, along with idolators, adulterers, drunkards, thieves and various other categories of the unrighteous who will not inherit the kingdom of God. Read Paul's complete list in 1 Corinthians 6:9,10. --Hank |