The Centurion's Servant and the Greek 'Malakoi'
Submitted by J on January 20 2002 04:40:49
In reply to Another boy? submitted by Nate on January 17 2002 19:16:53
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Dear Nate, Thanks for your interest in the post; I’m glad that you enjoyed it. Having a bit of background in New Testament Greek, perhaps I could expand a bit on the two issues you raised – the first about the identity of the centurion’s servant and the second about the word translated ‘effeminate’ in the KJV. I considered including the servant of the centurion in my list of unnamed boys in the New Testament, but did not feel the evidence of his ‘boyhood’ was conclusive enough to warrant it. The story of Jesus’ healing the centurion’s servant is found in both Matthew and Luke. In the first, the centurion refers to him as o paiV mou (the boy of me) and in the narrative, Matthew refers to him also as o paiV (the boy). Luke, however, refers to this same person as a douloV (slave), except where he quotes the centurion, who (as in Matthew) refers to him as o paiV mou (the boy of me). In the introduction to the account, Luke uses the term entimoV (dear) to describe how the centurion felt about this particular servant. In both accounts, where the centurion is speaking in general of a servant who is under his command, he calls him doulw mou (slave of me). That the servant is a loved boy is purely speculation, though it is definitely a possibility. As for the word translated in the KJV as ‘effeminate’ being a loved boy – as I understand it, the loved boy definition was put forth by Christian gays as evidence that Paul was condemning the practice of pederasty and not adult male homosexuality. The translations of the original Greek malakoi are quite varied from translation to translation: KJV – effeminate NIV – male prostitutes TEV – homosexual offenders (together with arsenokoitai) NEB – homosexual perversion (together with arsenokoitai) NKJV – homosexuals ASV – effeminate NRSV – male prostitutes DNT – those who make women of themselves YLT – effeminate ISV – male prostitutes NJB – self-indulgent The word malakoi is used three times elsewhere in the New Testament, twice in Matthew 11:8 and once in Luke 7:25. Each of these occurrences is in respect to soft clothing worn by one who is rich. Luke’s gospel expands the context that these clothes are expensive and worn by those who indulge in luxury. The New Jerusalem Bible (last on the list of translations above) seems to capture this sense with ‘self-indulgent’, while the others all link it with softness in the sense of effeminacy or passivity in homosexual relations. Using New Testament context alone, the NJB translation would seem to be the best translation, eliminating any connection with either homosexuality or pederasty in the ancient Roman world. Hope this information was helpful in some way and thanks again for your interest in and feedback on my study of boys in Scripture. Love in the Lord, J |
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