Theology Interpretation Project

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1 Thimothy 1:3-11

 

This letter was thought to be written by Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to Timothy who was on a mission in Ephesus. However, historians and theologians have never been able to prove that it was written by Paul himself. Instead they thought it was written by someone else, who signed himself as Paul. This was common in the past. Timothy was born to a Jewish mother who became Christian, and he was introduced to scripture from a young age. When Paul was on his second missionary journey, he met Timothy who decided to join and help him. They traveled to Ephesus together, but then had to separate as Paul had other concerns elsewhere. He entrusted it to Timothy knowing it was going to be challenging to convince Ephesians. After some time, it was speculated that Timothy wanted to join Paul as he was becoming discouraged. Therefore, this letter motivated Timothy to stay in Ephesus as he had to correct the false teachings spreading in that region. The false doctrine was a distraction from God's commandments and created confusion. Since the word "speculations" is used, this indicates that the people over there were misinterpreting the teachings. However, I think the same has been done to this letter in modern Christianity. This letter is often used to condemn the LGBTQ+ (especially LGB) community. This text can be found in the New Testament, it was the first letter to Timothy.

 

The letter affirms that pure love is the purpose of the instruction. Thus, if teachings did not produce love from a pure heart, they were most probably not glorifying God. When talking about love, same-sex relations are never mentioned. "The aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith". The word agapē which means selfless and sincere love is the origin of the word love. That is if the love between two people, independent of their gender, is pure, it glorifies God.  

He goes on and states that the law was made for sinners where he includes: sodomites (or, in other translations, homosexuals). This has been used nowadays all around the world and doomed many Christian gay people. However, the word homosexuality was translated in 1946 from the ancient greek word Arsenokoitai (ἀρσενοκοίτης ). The closest translation to it is "men who took active roles in non-procreative sex". This definition does not exactly mention sexual orientation. Considering the historical times in which it was written, Arsenokoitai was used to denounce pedophilia, abuse, and forced prostitution, basically anything that relates to abusive sex. Hence, the teachings were condemning immoral relations, lust, and prostitution rather than homosexuality as we know it today. Also, if it denounces homosexuality, why does the letter never mention women? It would be weird to detail men laying with men but women laying with women would be spared.  

It's also important to add is that Christians of this time started to follow Jesus’s teachings and were deeply immersed in new scripture. This means that even if gay people were sinners, instead of excluding them, as many Christian communities are doing nowadays, Christians should not judge them and instead try to include them as much as possible. This is illustrated in the bible through the story of Mary Magdalene, precisely in the verse: “Let Him Who Is Without Sin Cast the First Stone". It is why in his letter, the writer does not exclude sinners but on the contrary, says that they are the ones who need the law. 

 

In conclusion, I think that these errors should be fixed and the public should be aware that there might be differences between what they read and what was actually meant. Another example of that would be “Man shall not lie with man, for it is an abomination,” Leviticus 18:22, which had a completely different meaning in an 1800s German Bible: “Man shall not lie with young boys as he does with a woman, for it is an abomination.”

 

References:

-https://um-insight.net/perspectives/has-%E2%80%9Chomosexual%E2%80%9D-always-been...

-https://www.rwuc.org/2020/03/20/arsenokoitai/

-https://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/agape/