A
former student sent me a question. He
asked, “How do you understand “the childbearing” in I Timothy 2:15”? Short answer: “With difficulty”. Long answer:
This is a complicated one, so I thought I’d share my thoughts with the
four or five of you who read this.
In
order to address this question, I think that at a minimum we need to address the
immediate context, the range of word meanings, Paul’s understanding of
salvation, the OT reference and finally Paul’s audience.
The
immediate context is not without difficulties but in general is clear. Paul is defining gender roles and proper
behavior when believers gather together.
He is writing to Timothy to assist him (Timothy) in his task of
correcting certain doctrinal problems in Ephesus. This tells us a few of things. First, this applies to gatherings of
believers. He is talking to and about
men and women who follow Christ as their savior. Second, the reference to women is in the
context of Christian gatherings, not specifically to roles of wives and mothers. Third, this is to correct some issue or
issues in the gatherings in Ephesus.
There
are a couple of difficult words here. The
first is the word for salvation. It can
mean spiritual salvation or deliverance from an immediate danger or
problem. If Paul means deliverance from danger,
then there should be some reference to the problem. This seems to be absent. Perhaps we can say that the problem is the
strife in the community meetings, but it is difficult to see how childbearing
would deliver women from that. Thus, by the
process of elimination, I will assume that Paul has spiritual salvation in
mind.
The
second difficult word is the word for childbearing. This is the only New Testament usage in the
noun form, so we don’t have much help from New Testament authors. It is singular and part of a prepositional
phrase. The preposition phrase denotes “means”. It could be rendered something like “by means
of childbirth”. In this case the
singular takes on a collective meaning.
Or it could be rendered something like, “by means of the childbirth”. The definite article is present and this
would preserve the singular number of the noun, but it changes the meaning to
refer to a known specific birth.
Whatever
the meaning, the grammar of the prepositional phrase (δια της τεκνογονιας) tells us that this is the
means of the salvation. The tense and
voice of the verb, σωθησεται
- future passive, tell us that the subject, “woman”, is not the active agent in
her salvation. The active agent comes
from the prepositional phrase. So,
whatever we conclude, the woman must be passive in her salvation and the noun
of the preposition phrase must be the active agent.
Even
though the noun in the prepositional phrase δια της τεκνογονιας means
something like “childbearing”, I think it is safe to say that Paul does not
mean that women are eternally saved through giving birth to children. That would present some significant
theological difficulties. First and
foremost, it would present a means of salvation other than by grace through
faith. It would also present a separate
means of salvation for men and women. Further,
it would seem to violate what Stott calls the “principle of harmony” - that the
Bible is word of God and thus does not contradict itself. It would seem to be inconsistent with the way
Paul interacts with women like Priscilla, Lydia, Euodia and Syntyche. There is
no mention in any of his interaction with these women about salvation through
having children. We also come up against
the problem of single women. If women
are saved through giving birth, what of those who are not married? Should they have sex outside of marriage, so
they can have children and be saved? In
Paul’s words, “May it never be!”. If he
doesn’t mean that women are saved by having children, then what does he mean?
The
OT reference may provide some further insight.
In the context of I Timothy, verse 2:15 is a contrast to a historical
argument from Genesis 3. Paul makes the
point that in the garden of Eden the woman was deceived, and it is implied that
paradise was thus lost. Then, in 2:15 Paul
says that she will be saved δια
της τεκνογονιας. The parallel to the Genesis story seems
pretty obvious to me. In Genesis 3,
after Adam and Eve sin, God pronounces the curse and then immediately, in
Genesis 3:15, pronounces the hope of future salvation through the descendent of
the woman who will crush the head of the snake.
As Paul writes, this flow of logic would be fresh in his mind. In I Timothy 2:15, he simply finishes the
thought of Genesis 3 in his modern terms.
If
this is the case, then a translation something like, “but she will be saved by
means of the birth [of the child]…” fits very nicely. I admit that it is not the most natural
meaning at first glance, but when we consider Paul’s audience, it seems to me very
probable. This is late in Paul’s
ministry. Timothy has been his disciple
for some time and has grown to the point where Paul trusts him to correct false
doctrine in Ephesus. He and Paul have a
deep history together. With this in
mind, it is not difficult to see that in a personal letter, it would not be
unreasonable for Paul to expect Timothy to understand an indirect, yet poetic, reference
to salvation through Christ. This “δια της τεκνογονιας” could even be language
the that Paul and Timothy had used together.
Next,
we must say a few words about the phrase, “if they continue in faith, love and
holiness”. As evangelicals, we are very
sensitive to anything that may indicate salvation by works. So how are we to understand this conditional
statement. Put more formally, this is a
third-class condition, which broadly means that the author is expressing uncertain
but likely fulfillment. It is like a
proverb. If you act this way, that will
most likely be the result. Paul presents
this kind of formula:
If
they (women) continue in faith, love and holiness, then they will be saved δια της τεκνογονιας.
I
think this is a reference to what Carson calls, “the persevering quality of
saving faith” or the like. In other
words, faith that saves is faith that perseveres. If we mix in the third-class condition, Paul
is saying that most likely their faith will persevere. It is an encouragement. It is probably an over-translation, but you
could almost say, “since they will continue…”
Finally,
the phrase, “with a sound mind” is probably a reference to Paul’s argument in
2:9-12. There he describes behavior that
results for sound thinking.
So,
what did Paul mean by σωθησεται
δια της τεκνογονιας? A possible over-translation to make the point
to our ears today could go something like this:
"But,
she (the woman) will be saved by means of that specific birth of the child
referenced in Genesis (i.e. Jesus and implied: just like all mankind), since they
will continue in faith and love and holiness with sound minds (in line with
what I was talking about earlier).”
Hope this is helpful,
my friend.
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