Paul likely lived in Ephesus in 52-54AD. Ephesus was home of the Seventh Wonder of the World, the Temple of Artemis. At that temple, Artemis was distinctly different than the Greek version of Artemis in Macedonia. In Macedonia Artemis was worshiped as a hunter, and one with nature. In Ephesus, Artemis was a Fertility Goddess. It is likely that temple prostitution existed in the great Temple of Artemis. And since there is little prohibition against homosexuality, there would have likely been male temple prostitutes as well. ACTS records much activity at Ephesus. And Ephesians was Paul's epistle to the Jewish Church there.
Paul likely wrote Romans several years after his life in Ephesus. He would have been knowledgeable of the culture at Ephesus, including any Shrine Prostitutes there, both male and female. The male prostitutes were called "Dog" in Hebrew colloquial. This is explained in the NRSV Bible footnotes for DEUTERONOMY 23.17-18, which is a prohibition of temple prostitution, or their wages, within the House of Yahweh. Also, "Dog" is a traditional colloquial for a sexual "dog" position. Missionaries famously banned that position in areas colonized by Christian nations, punishing those found not to be using required position, which we colloquially call "missionary" position. It might be speculated that male temple prostitutes were expected to assume the "dog" position. And that female prostitutes assumed the "missionary" position in Ephesus, and that using other positions were contrary to cultural practice, or "backwards".
That may explain the Greek word ἀρσενοκοίτης which translates literally to "manbed". This was used by Paul in the espistle to the CORINTHIANS and to TIMOTHY. ἀρσενοκοίτης earliest found usage is in the Greek New Testament codex. Since then, the word has been defined specifically by Christians. We have zero definitions of ἀρσενοκοίτης by those within Ancient Hellenistic Culture, who weren't of Jewish or Christian faith.
The first translation of ἀρσενοκοίτης is in the Old Latin translations of the Bible, and then in the 382AD Latin Vulgate. This was the Latin word "masculorum" which translates to "male-prostitute" without much debate. At any rate, because of the lack of usage of "ἀρσενοκοίτης" in any other ancient Greek works, the Biblical prohibition against ἀρσενοκοίτης has always been considered ambiguous.
That changed with the 1946 edition of the RSV New Testament (before it was revised in 1972) when ἀρσενοκοίτης was defined as "male homosexual". At first, this seems to be simply an advancement in scholarly understanding of ancient Greek words. However, it's easy to debate that the Romans of 300AD understood that "ἀρσενοκοίτης" meant "masculorum", since at that time Greek was still considered the top choice for Internationally Used Language, of the Roman Empire, and Latin was used primarily in Roman Law (and the Vulgate, for the Common People, which is the Latin meaning of "Vulgate", or their law)
Paul likely wrote Romans BEFORE he wrote the Corinthians, much early than he wrote to Timothy (it was the letters to the Corinthians and to Timothy that he used "ἀρσενοκοίτης". People consolidate their understandings as they age, so it's possible that Paul coined this word, ἀρσενοκοίτης, as his unique worldly beliefs, and they likely are the same as those expressed in Romans.
Without much debate, it could be argued that Paul was discussing Male Temple Prostitution, with the connotation of his words being implied, or already understood by his church to be about, those Male Temple Prostitutes.
As late as 1901, with the American Standard Version being published, the New Testament had frequent use of the word, "Fornication" or "Fornicator". This goes back through Biblical Interpretation History, all the way into Old Latin translations of Greek New Testament Codex. The Latin Vulgate uses variations of admonitions against Fornication numerous times. within 1 CORINTHIANS 6, the Latin Vulgate has 4 instances for fornication ["fornicarii", "fornicationi", "fornicationem", and "fornicatur"].
"Fornication" may have been a general prohibition against the use of Female Temple Prostitutes, especially considering that the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus was Fertility Goddess Temple, and in the tradition of keeping females virgin till marriage according to Jewish norms. However, males had not held accountable, and thus the prohibition against fornication would make males accountable for their actions.
Post World War 2, with the advent of common interpretation of the ambiguous word ἀρσενοκοίτης to mean "male homosexuality" also came the elimination of the word "Fornication" from modern Bible translations. This was a totally different scholarly tactic to take, considering that "homosexuality" was added, supposedly in order to make clear, and remove ambiguity.
"Fornication" was replaced in post World War 2, modern translations, with either "sexual immorality" or the starkly simply word "immorality" alone.
What could be going on with Scholarly Bible Interpretation post World War Two?
One needs to understand Our Culture, and what was going on at That Time Period, to understand this.
1901 was the last year that Fornication was in common usage in the New Testament, with the ASV Bible publication. After that time period the English speaking nations experienced World War One and World War Two. Over 100 million lives were lost worldwide. Authorities wanted Re-birth to take place.
After World War One, soldiers came home happily single and were loath to marry and make families. During World War Two the translators of the 1946 edition of the Revised Standard Version New Testament were told to soften the admonishments against Fornication, and to make clearer that the norm was marriage and family making. This was to become an actual cultural effort as part of the post World War Two recovery. And so fornication was removed and made ambiguous, and an ambiguous word was clarified to mean "homosexuality", and in turn the new ambiguous meaning of what was once "fornication" would become associated with the sin of "homosexuality."
Following World War 2, single males of family making age were fired from federal government in mass, as "suspect homosexuals". Likewise, the military dishonorably discharged hundreds per year into San Francisco on the same grounds of "suspect homosexuals." Churches around the nation focused away from the sin of Fornication, and refocused on Homosexuality, sometimes with fire and brimstone. And, in schools a new emphasis was placed on boy-girl relationships, dances, home-comings, proms, etc. Bullying of normal boys for not having crushes on girls became common, and calling boys that liked other boys "sissies" became epidemic in most schools.
There was a cultural backlash, with many protesting the new culture. The political system was strengthened, and McCarthyism made common calling such cultural renegades communist sympathizers, and "pinko-communists" became a common phrase for that era. Cultural complaints were squashed with the help of that technique.
Paradoxically, it appears that the use of Cultural tactics for Rebirth may have been largely influenced by the same Soviet tactic, employed in 1933 by Joseph Stalin, with the introduction of Article 121 under the Criminal Code, outlawing homosexuality. And the following year, abortion was also outlawed. This was after the depressive growth rates of the Soviets following World War One, the Revolution, and the Purges to stamp out decent. And the Soviet cultural tactic worked to give rise to improved birthrates.
The cultural shift away from focus on Fornication, and the refocus on Homosexuality, in post World War Two America, gave rise to the success of the Baby Boomer birthrate increases.
State Universities commonly explain the increased birthrate as pent up desire for making families during the war years. However, the Ivy League counter is that that does not account for the post World War One lull in family making.
And so taking all this into account, considering out culture and translations, and Paul's culture and writings, I do believe that he was writing with the connotation being "Temple Prostitution" as the context of his admonitions, which today we call "fornication" (female temple prostitution) or"homosexuality" (male temple prostitution)
