The Bible, Translation, and Conversations About Queer Children
For parents and families who look to the Bible for guidance, conversations about LGBTQ+ children can feel overwhelming, emotional, and deeply personal. This page is offered as a starting point for respectful dialogue, not to tell anyone what they must believe, but to provide historical and linguistic context that is often missing from modern discussions.
The information presented here is factually accurate, historically grounded, and drawn from mainstream biblical scholarship, translation history, and ancient-language studies. It focuses on how the Bible has been translated over time and how certain modern English words came to appear in the text, rather than on promoting any single theological position.
Many parents find it helpful to understand how the Bible came to say what it says in English today before using it to make decisions that affect their children, families, and relationships. The information below is intended to support thoughtful, informed conversations: with me, with faith leaders, with family members, and most importantly, with queer children themselves.
If you are a parent, family member, or faith community member navigating questions about queer children, you are welcome to start a conversation here.
Curiosity, care, and accurate information can coexist with deeply held beliefs. This page is meant to support dialogue - not division - and to ensure that decisions affecting children are made with both conviction and understanding.
An Invitation to Conversation
The Bible was written over a period of roughly 1,500 years, by many authors, in different historical and cultural contexts. It was not originally written in English.
The original languages of the Bible are:
Hebrew (most of the Old Testament)
Aramaic (small portions of the Old Testament)
Koine Greek (the New Testament)
There are no surviving original manuscripts. Instead, the Bible has been preserved through thousands of handwritten copies, which scholars compare to reconstruct the earliest possible text. Modern Bible translations do not translate from earlier English Bibles, but instead return to these ancient Hebrew and Greek sources.
The Bible and Translation: A Brief Overview
No English Bible used the word “homosexual” until 1946.
This includes:
The King James Version (1611)
The Geneva Bible (1560)
The Douay-Rheims (Catholic Bible, 1609–1610)
The Revised Version (1885)
The American Standard Version (1901)
For over 400 years of English Bible translation, the term did not appear.
A Key Historical Fact About English Translations
The word “homosexual” is a modern term, first coined in 1869, and it describes a sexual orientation or identity. Ancient writers, including the authors of the New Testament, did not have a concept of sexual orientation as we understand it today.
In the ancient world:
People were categorized by actions, social status, and power, not identity
Sexual ethics focused on issues like exploitation, excess, idolatry, and abuse
Loving, mutual same-gender relationships as a social category were not discussed
This means that when modern readers see the word “homosexual” in the Bible, they are encountering a modern concept inserted into an ancient text.
Why This Matters
Two Greek words appear in a small number of New Testament passages and are frequently cited in discussions about sexuality.
Malakoi (μαλακοί)
This word literally means “soft.” In ancient Greek moral writing, it was used to criticize:
Moral weakness
Lack of self-control
Indulgence or excess
It was not a technical sexual term and did not describe a sexual orientation.
Earlier English translations rendered this word as:
“Effeminate”
“Soft”
“Weak”
Arsenokoitai (ἀρσενοκοῖται)
This word is rare and appears to have been coined by the Apostle Paul. It combines Greek words meaning “male” and “bed,” but its exact meaning is debated.
What scholars agree on:
The word is ambiguous
It is not clearly defined anywhere in the Bible
It does not describe a sexual orientation
Its usage in ancient sources is often associated with sexual exploitation, coercion, or abuse, rather than mutual relationships
Because of this uncertainty, translators historically rendered the term cautiously and inconsistently.
The Greek Words Often Discussed
In 1946, the Revised Standard Version (RSV) became the first English Bible translation to use the word “homosexual” in the New Testament.
This decision reflected:
Mid-20th-century cultural and psychological assumptions
Emerging sexology language of the time
A desire for modern clarity, even where ancient meaning was uncertain
The choice was controversial almost immediately.
By 1971, the RSV revised the wording, removing “homosexual” and replacing it with more general language. Members of the translation committee later acknowledged that the original term was too broad and risked misrepresenting the ancient text.
The 1946 Revised Standard Version (RSV)
While scholars differ on theology and ethics, there is broad agreement that:
The Bible does not address sexual orientation as we understand it today
Ancient authors were not writing about LGBTQ+ identities
Translation choices significantly shape modern interpretation
The word “homosexual” reflects modern assumptions, not ancient categories
Scholars may still debate what specific behaviors certain passages critique, but the idea that the Bible directly condemns modern LGBTQ+ people as a group is not a settled linguistic conclusion.
What Scholars Agree On Today
This page exists because:
Parents deserve accurate information
Children deserve to be discussed with care and honesty
Faith-based conversations are stronger when grounded in historical context
Translation is interpretation, and interpretation has consequences
Understanding the Bible’s translation history does not require abandoning faith. It simply asks us to recognize that English words are not the same thing as ancient meaning.