SeekerOfTruth
Puritan Board Freshman
I was listening to a podcast, and on the podcast, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 was being read in the ESV translation. There was something that bothered me. Here is the text:
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous[a] will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
What bothered me was the phrase “men who practice homosexuality”. This brought to mind the recent trend of so-called “same sex attracted Christians” who claim to be Christians that suffer from same sex attraction but do not act on it. Sinful desires are sins themselves that should be mortified. This text appears to support the idea of having desires that are not acted on with the use of the words “who practice”. I then looked at the NKJV translation of this text:
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor [a]homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were [c]sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Here the NKJV says “nor homosexuals, nor sodomites”. The footnote from the ESV translation says “the two Greek terms translated by this phrase refer to the passive and active partners in consensual homosexual acts”. So it seems that the NKJV translates the passive as homosexuals and the active as sodomites. The ESV combines the listing of two different types of sinners into one listing as “men who practice homosexuality”. The ESV appears to mistranslate the text to follow the modern trend of softening sin.
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous[a] will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
What bothered me was the phrase “men who practice homosexuality”. This brought to mind the recent trend of so-called “same sex attracted Christians” who claim to be Christians that suffer from same sex attraction but do not act on it. Sinful desires are sins themselves that should be mortified. This text appears to support the idea of having desires that are not acted on with the use of the words “who practice”. I then looked at the NKJV translation of this text:
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor [a]homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were [c]sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Here the NKJV says “nor homosexuals, nor sodomites”. The footnote from the ESV translation says “the two Greek terms translated by this phrase refer to the passive and active partners in consensual homosexual acts”. So it seems that the NKJV translates the passive as homosexuals and the active as sodomites. The ESV combines the listing of two different types of sinners into one listing as “men who practice homosexuality”. The ESV appears to mistranslate the text to follow the modern trend of softening sin.
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