Paul's Writings and Idolatrous Practices of the Time by Rev. Marj Creech
(feel free to copy this, but include my name and website address so that I can get comments and questions)
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We've tried to set the stage about the very common practice of idolatry throughout the then-known civilized world. Idolatry and the practice of "temple or cult prostitution" were rampant throughout the whole time of the writing of the Bible, some hundreds of years (longer if we consider the time of oral tradition and of editing). Many different myths were believed and re-enacted by both the common people and the priests of the many gods that they worshipped. Today we call these religions "fertility cults." At the time in cultures surrounding the group calling themselves the "Hebrews," these religions were the known and acceptable ways to worship the "higher powers." I'm not going to go into detail about specific cults--but I will make some of the research available later for those who are interested. I find it fascinating. "Women's Spirituality" as practiced especially from the 1970's on, has revived some of this information in the form of goddess worship re-enactment. But there is a lot of "picking and choosing" that goes on and a lot of interpretation by those of today. If you want to know what really went on in Biblical times, read from a variety of sources, including research from "straight white males," the Bible and commentaries, as well as from feminist and other more modern perspectives, and draw your own conclusions.
The general gist of a fertility cult is that priests and priestesses of the god and/or goddess (often a "couple") represent the deities and re-enact the stories of cosmic significance that had been passed down for ages. In Mid-Eastern climate you have distinct seasons of extreme raininess and extreme dryness. Each seems to last way too long and this delay puts the people of the farming cultures into a panic that the crops are going to fail and everyone is going to starve. This happened enough to be a real life and death concern (think of the seven years of famine that gave Joseph his fame working for Pharaoh). The Israelites were one of the few religions that said that God has now said (in the writings of the prophets; this is my paraphrase), "I am not interested in your sacrifices, but in kindness and mercy... I especially want you to stop sacrificing your children... Furthermore don't make any engraved images of Me as if you can control ME... If you but turn away from these ridiculous images of me and trust the covenant I have made with you, I will take care of you." The ancient Israelites were surrounded by people practicing fertility cults and they often succumbed to joining them. Read Kings or Chronicles (2 Kings 17, for instance, or 2 Chronicles 31), about this or that king erecting Asherah poles or worshipping in "the high places", or, on the other hand, turning back to YHWH (in deference to Orthodox Jews, I pronounce this "Jehovah," since the name of God is not to be spoken) and tearing down the high places and killing , or running out of town, the priests of other gods and goddesses. Asherah poles represented the goddess Asherah , a consort (female counterpart) of Baal. Perhaps the pole was a "phallic symbol." Representations of Asherah (poles or images) were actually IN the Jerusalem temple for several periods of years, according to the Bible. The Israelites wavered from idolatry to worshipping Jehovah (the LORD, in most of our translations) throughout the writings of the Old Testament. However, the thing we may have read over, (is this because I have never heard a radio or tv evangelist or preacher talk about this?) is the mixing of sex with worship in Biblical times. But it is there, in great abundance.
For instance read Hosea, whose wife Gomer (not Pile) was a prostitute. God often used the events of the prophets' lives as symbols of what they were supposed to teach the wayward people. For example, read Hosea 4. Note how turning away from God is equated with having sex with shrine prostitutes of the false gods. And being faithful to God is turning away from prostitution with other gods. God is husband to Israel, but "she" turns away and is unfaithful with other gods. The unfaithfulness is symbolized in a real physical way: you could go have sex "on every hill and under every spreading tree" with a priest or priestess representing a god or goddess. The sex could be seen as a sacrifice of "seed", that is sperm, so that the deities blessed the supplicant with crops, or cattle, or more children. Or you could actually sacrifice your infants or small children by throwing them into the fire surrounding the god Molech. According to some ancient sources, these infants were often the offspring of temple prostitutes. ( I really believe the story of Abraham attempting to sacricice Isaac was a story-teller's device--not that it didn't really happen--to build up to the climax of Israel's God saying emphatically, "NO! No more human sacrifices--I will provide animal sacrifices from now on!" This is progress ,which we Christians see ending in Jesus' once and for all sacrifice, stopping even animal sacrifices.)
Or the sex was a re-enactment of a god or god-man or a human male having sex with a goddess. In one such myth , the human male (Atys) strays to another female lover, then castrates himself in order to show his remorse and his complete devotion to his goddess. Sometimes a marriage between a male and female god was consummated in a public sex act by two selected people, often the male ruler of the community and a "lucky" virgin. Sex between two people is a cultic act of fertility, celebrating the fertility of the earth and of all life, or supplicating the gods to come be fertile soon. St. Augustine, an early church father, in the fourth century (AD), in one of his famous books, City of God, writes of a cult that disgusts him as he watches it unfolding on the streets of the town from which he is writing. Men danced in a frenzy praising the goddess and then castrated themselves with shards of broken pottery. Another historian of the times said they then threw their detaches penises into the porches of the houses lining the streets, while continuing to dance.
Modern scholars sometimes say historians may have been exaggerating or repeating rumors, but there is ample evidence of similar behaviors across cultures and centuries, even millennia. The Hijras of India, who have existed for centuries and still do today, (though in a less elevated cultural status), demonstrate the same type of myth: men devote themselves to a goddess and castrate themselves (castration in these cases meaning ALL external genitalia are removed, usually in an ecstatic state of worship ,without anesthesia) in an act of sacrifice and devotion to the Hindu Mother Goddess. The Hijras are like priestesses, blessing or cursing the births of male babies, and blessing or cursing marriages, depending upon if they are paid and honored or not. Augustine describes the castrated male worshippers as then putting on women's garb, doing up their faces in white make-up, and "mincing" through the streets, begging for money, as an act of deference to themselves as representatives of the goddess.
This cult of Cybele they represented was present in Rome in the first century as well, having been brought there a couple of hundred years before Christ from Egypt. It seems very obvious to me that Paul was writing about such practices in both Romans 1 and in the "sin lists" in 1 Timothy 1:10 and in 1 Corinthians 6:9. I believe the "malakoi" were these "mincing" castrated men serving a goddess. Can I be certain? No, research continues in this fascinating field. I believe the"arsenokoitai" were the aggressive, uncastrated partners in male-male cult encounters, perhaps representing the male god taking the female, who might be an actual female, a castrated male, or a submissive intact male. Was it always a holy, other-worldly experience or was it an excuse for orgies and reckless sex? Knowing human nature, I suspect it was both. Either would have been abhorrent to the Orthodox Jew, raised as Pharisee, Paul of Tarsus.
Now with this knowledge in mind, which is verified in the Bible itself and in the writings of early church fathers, as well as in non-biblical texts across centuries (I'll write down my references when I get time ), look at the actual text of Romans 1. It's about people turning from God to idols--actual idols made in the form of birds and animals, reptiles and humans. (There is also evidence that these idols could serve as dildos! I mean these folks were at least as creative as we are today--look at sex toys today made in the form of goddesses.) First they turned away--even though they had the knowledge of God. Look at the parallel passage in Hosea. (4: 6-14, especially). Here also the people turn from knowledge and exchange Glory for something disgraceful, that is, shrine prostitution.(Some translations of Hosea 4 have this as exchanging God's Glory; in my NIV it is the Glory of the priests, but is still capitalized, as it is still God's Glory.) Was Paul referring to this prophetic passage, as he often references the Bible of his time? ,
Regarding Romans 1:26, there is no reason to assume the women were doing their "unnatural" acts with each other! If you are arguing with fundamentalists, or are one yourself, why not read this literally, without adding in your or their own bias against lesbianism? The "likewise" in verse 27 could refer to many other similarities--the "unnaturalness" of many and varied sexual practices that were not "kosher," such as women in control in a sex act, multiple male partners, orgies, sex with the under-aged, or anal intercourse. Look at anal intercourse as a possibility, women with MEN!!--it would be almost exactly what the men were doing in verse 27. The men left their women (wives in some translations)--this was mentioned as an added embellishment and to distinguish that the women in verse 26 didn't have to leave anyone to be unnatural. Note that in Hosea 4:14, the women are doing cult prostitution, but God says I won't punish them because the men are doing the same thing! Paul says that the men who do such practices in Rome have already received their penalty, in their own bodies ,perhaps meaning STD's of the time as well as an ironical reference to this Hosea passage. I have found no evidence that women had sex with other women in cult prostitution--there is no mention of such practices in the Old Testament's many descriptions of the practices--or in the New Testament either! The women could have been practicing lesbianism among themselves, but it wasn't important in a patriarchal society. It makes sense: women don't exchange the "seeds" of fertility.
Lesbianism, then and in modern times, is more likely to be discounted, winked at, lusted about by men, but is not of religious or of political significance, where the "real power" of a society lies. The hubbub about lesbianism in the1960's onward I suspect is because with the equal rights movement, the powers that be realized they could no longer condemn male homosexuality and ignore lesbianism. I honestly believe that Paul, in verse 26, is condemning the practice of women being cult prostitutes with men, probably anally, to prevent pregnancies and to please their "clients", ( there is a mention in one ancient text of ANET ( Ancient Near Eastern Texts), of female prostitutes receiving more money for anal rather than vaginal intercourse) and verse 27 is about male cult prostitutes having sex with men, either as "tops" or "bottoms." Therefore, I believe you can't condemn male homosexuality with this passage either, unless it is in the context of idolatrous practices. If it's not about lesbianism, it's not about homosexuality in general. Even if the "therefore" in verse 27 refers to general homosexual practices, which makes no sense considering how they viewed the importance of sperm (inheritance rights and the production of children--the baby was contained entirely in the sperm), the passage is clearly about sex in the context of idolatry. Sex plus idolatry in a Biblical text is a pretty blatant reference to cult sex.
And the idolatry came first, before the sexual practices. It is a downward spiral. If you are gay, but didn't start your homosexuality with idolatry and turning away from God, if you aren't now mixing your homosexuality with your turning away from God, and if the rest of Romans 1, that is, verses 28-31, doesn't describe you, then this passage is not speaking to you or about you! (Well, you may have disobeyed your parents, but why pick and choose?) If you have turned away from God because people today told you God has rejected you, it is THEY who are the liars, who pass judgment on themselves. The people Paul speaks to in Chapter 2 of Romans, the traditional Jews, are guilty of legalism, whereas God requires righteousness, a real circumcision of the heart by God's Spirit. Be freed from legalism and saved by God's grace. God breaks our bondage to trying to follow the letter of the law, which, in the case of using Romans 1 to condemn homosexuality, is not even the law but a poor misguided interpretation of the law. God gives us the freedom to live in Christ AND be blessed with the expression of human love and our unique sexuality. Choose whom You serve: man's interpretation of law or freedom in Christ and what God is telling you in your heart.